Unfortunately, sales rep jobs go hand in hand with high turnover rates and the inability to find skilled sales people to fill those jobs. With the right hiring approach, you can dramatically reduce your turnover rates and ensure that you’re not spending money on new hires that aren’t right for the job. Currently, businesses waste billions of dollars trying to fill sales rep jobs, but there is a better way and with a few tweaks to your hiring process, you can be assured of getting the highest quality sales reps your company needs.

Let’s take a look at some of the most common mistakes that make it hard to fill sales rep jobs.

1. Not hiring based on personality qualities needed for sales rep jobs.

The best sales people share similar traits and qualities that help them excel in a sales environment. A potential new hire that doesn’t have these inherent qualities is not going to be able to perform at the same level. Instead of focusing on experience in sales, look for personality traits like self confidence, the ability to establish a rapport quickly and a strong level of empathy. These are the people that can become sales stars with just a little coaching.

2. Not asking the right questions during an interview for sales rep jobs.

If your hiring department doesn’t have a lot experience in what is needed in the right sales candidate, they’re not going to know which kind of questions to ask to determine the characteristics and skills of the candidate. This is the instance where hiring a sales recruiter is perhaps the best solution. HR personnel simply don’t have the training necessary to ask these questions, while a sales recruiter knows exactly what to look for and which questions are going to help reveal the personality traits that are necessary for the position.

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3. Not offering the right kind of sales compensation plan.

If you want the right kind of candidate for sales rep jobs, you need to offer the right compensation plan. Offering a high base pay without the potential to achieve goals and earn more money encourages those who do not have a high level of self drive and motivation to take the job. Whereas if you offer a tiered structure that is incentivized, that is going to appeal to sales people who know they need to work harder for more money and they’ll be more apt to want to try harder. This gives you the best possible employees for sales rep jobs.

Most of these mistakes can be traced to the beginning of the hiring process. If you’re relying on your HR department to help you source new sales people, chances are they’ll be looking for the wrong qualities and that’s not their fault — they’re trained to find experienced people who appear to be good fits for sales rep jobs and they simply don’t have the experience or contacts that are necessary for hiring the right type of candidate.

A sales recruiter can make the hiring process much easier and much more effective, ensuring that you get the right people for the job. They have access to networks of talented sales people who have both the qualities you are looking for and the experience to back it up. This results in a better quality of new hires and ensures that you won’t be wasting your money on people who simply aren’t a good fit for the position. When you need to fill sales rep jobs, the best answer is working with a recruiter.