Even for highly experienced sales managers and executives, finding great sales people can be a contest. It takes a great deal of time and dedication to hire great sales people, which can give the impression that consistently successful sales hiring is difficult or out of reach. However, with the assistance of a dedicated sales recruiter, you can find the answers to your most pressing questions about the sales hiring process for great sales people, meaning you’ll never have to ask yourself these questions again.

Recruiting for Great Sales People: Where Do I Find Them?

Sales managers often ask “Where do I find the right sales people?” There is no one right answer to this question. Great sales people can come from employee referrals, college job fairs, responses to job descriptions, competitors, and even other industries. It takes time and effort to build a recruiting strategy that covers all possible avenues for finding great sales people, which is where a sales recruiter comes in. A sales recruiter’s job is to consistently find great sales people wherever they are located, and refer screened candidates to you. This means that instead of exploring each of these avenues on your own, you can find great sales people through your dedicated sales recruiter, simplifying the process and locking in time savings – time that can then be spent on your core sales strategies.

Recruiting for Great Sales People: How Do I Make Hiring Cost Effective?

Behind finding great sales people, making the sales hiring process cost effective is one of the areas of deepest concern for organizations. The costs in sales recruiting and hiring can mount quickly, and include:

• Direct and indirect costs for developing, writing, and distributing job descriptions
• Time and material costs for the interview process, encompassing telephone, initial and secondary interviews
• Candidate screening costs such as personality and skills testing, as well as background and reference checks
• Costs associated with mishires, which can easily exceed the initial recruiting outlay

Organizations that undertake the hiring process alone miss out on the discounted rates sales recruiting agencies can access for many of these tasks. Sales recruiters can negotiate lower rates in many of these areas for your organization through volume, since their work brings them into contact with job posting sites, screening and reference check services, and other service suppliers on a daily basis.

Recruiting for Great Sales People: How Do I Know the Candidate is Really Interested?

Extending an offer to a first choice candidate only to have the offer refused is a disappointing experience. Avoid wasting time with indifferent applicants by using a sales recruiter to gage candidate interest, and always aim for understanding with the candidate. Avoid using too many abbreviations, acronyms, or obscure terms in the job description and in interviews. If you do want to use these, explain them so the candidate can form a real understanding of expectations. You may also want to:

• Include interview questions such as, “Why would you like to work with our organization? Why now?”
• Ask candidates about their long-term career goals, and how your organization fits into the picture
• Discuss candidates’ backgrounds and past work habits with your sales recruiter, who will already have this information in hand

Recruiting for Great Sales People: Are All The Right Sales People Taken?

When organizations pursuing a recruiting strategy without the benefit of a sales recruiter can not reach ideal candidates, they default to wondering whether the right sales people are already working elsewhere. Many great sales people are in fact employed, but that does not mean that they would not jump at the opportunity to work for you. Never accept the fallacy that because the person you are looking for hasn’t applied, he or she is not out there. Rely on your sales recruiter to find the top candidates you are looking for so that you do not have to ask yourself these questions about your organization’s sales hiring again.