Have you ever wondered why some sales organizations are better than others? Why some generate billions in revenue while others are struggling to stay afloat? Sure, it might partly have to do with years in the market, higher marketing budgets, and better products, but the number one reason why some top companies are the best is because they know how to recruit and hire top sales people.

The best business owners and hiring managers understand the critical importance of having a highly successful and top-performing sales team, and they take sales recruitment very seriously. They are strategic in their hiring process. They prioritize this function. They know that their hard work and additional efforts in recruiting and hiring for sales will pay off tenfold when they have the best team in the market.

Here’s how top companies hire top sales people. Take a few tips from the greats, and you could be on your way to a more successful future.

They Stay Up to Date

Sales recruiting and hiring is ever evolving. It isn’t stagnant. Especially considering the sales process has drastically changed over the last decade and technology has become more involved in the hiring process than ever before, it’s critical that companies stay up to date with current hiring trends and challenges as well as changing sales hiring needs and requirements.

The top companies hire top sales people because they continuously review their hiring processes and take steps to adjust them and approve them when the market demands such changes. They do not use the same old process they used when they first started their businesses.

They’ve altered the ideal sales candidate description to suit today’s sales process. They’ve invested in the right technology, like applicant tracking software, email tracking tools, social media, and video interviewing. And they’ve changed their sales compensation, their sales roles, and their talent needs as required. They know that staying in the past can result in the company’s death, so they don’t use outdated recruiting methods.

They Always Recruit

If you want to hire top-performing reps, you need to always be recruiting. What are the chances that great candidates are going to apply when you only offer a one-week window for applications? What are the chances you’ll find your ideal candidate when you’re under a time crunch? The chances are slim. You’ll end up settling for mediocre or downright terrible reps because no quality candidates have applied.

Top companies know that, to find the best, they must always be recruiting. This allows them to make more thoughtful hiring decisions because they’re not in a rush. This allows them to keep searching for the right candidate instead of settling. And this allows top candidates to apply whenever it’s convenient for them.

If you want to mimic top companies’ successful sales hiring methods, then you should start by creating a continuous recruitment process.

They Consider Cultural Fit

Top companies know that the majority of sales skills can be taught and that experience isn’t always that important. With effective onboarding and training programs, they can create the great sales people that they want and need on their teams.

But they also know how critical cultural fit is. No matter how talented a sales rep, if cultural fit isn’t there, the new hire will not stay around for the long term, and this will lead to wasted time, effort, and money. Top companies make sure that they prioritize cultural fit when recruiting and hiring new sales people.

They Engage Sales Recruiting Experts

The best employers understand that, though they might be great at many things, they’re not hiring experts or sales experts. And they make the strategic decision to engage sales recruiting experts in order to ensure that they only hire the best sales people in the market.