The process that your organization uses to recruit sales professionals should be built using the same principles as you use for other business processes, by testing what works and what does not to ensure that you achieve measurable results. At the same time, your process to recruit sales people should be minimizing your exposure to risks, most particularly the risk of a costly mis-hire.

Recruit Sales Professionals by Building Your Recruiting Process

A successful process to recruit sales professionals is more than a timeline to hire. Your recruiting process should be developed based on sales recruiting best practices and the needs of your organization measured against the expectations of the top quality sales professionals you want to hire. Ask yourself the following questions about your current recruiting process to determine if your strategies are working as well as they could be.

• What is your job description doing to attract the most talented sales professionals?
• How is your screening and interview process performing to deselect underperforming sales candidates while highlighting top talent?
• What are your benchmarks for qualifying a desirable candidate?
• How does your recruiting process attract and recruit for longevity and future career moves with your organization?

Recruit Sales Professionals By Getting to Know Your Candidates

When an offer is extended and a candidate refuses the offer, organizations have little recourse but to turn to the next candidate. When this happens you may wonder how committed the candidate was throughout the process, and what could have been done differently to vet the candidate’s interest for warning signs. If you had had a relationship with the candidate, though, this scenario could have been avoided.

This principle of relationship development is important to sales people because they are using it every day as the foundation for their actions. When you recruit sales professionals, make sure that you are building relationships with them through the recruiting process. This will help you understand the candidate on a deeper level, and will also reduce time spent on candidates who are not 100% committed to working for you.

Recruit Sales Professionals By Acting Quickly

While the process to recruit sales professionals should never be rushed, one of the most important reasons for having a defined recruiting process in place is that it allows you to act quickly to recruit and make a candidate decision. If you are caught by surprise by the resignation of a sales person or if sales opportunities are coming in faster than your sales team can handle, you need to hire quickly to avoid losing sales. Acting quickly on the strength of your hiring process also allows you to capture your top sales candidates before they receive another offer. Look to the following for hints on where your recruiting process might be streamlined:

• The number of decision makers involved. As a general rule, the more managers and executives who have to sign off on a hiring decision the longer the hiring process will take.
• The number of candidates interviewed. If your process to recruit sales professionals is attracting top talent, you will likely need to interview fewer candidates in order to make a hiring decision.
• The speed of external resources. How long does it take for your reference, background, and other screening checks to be completed?

Recruit Sales Professionals with the Help of an Experienced Sales Recruiter

An experienced sales recruiter knows the ins and outs of the sales job market from both sides of the table, and can help your organization improve its process to recruit sales professionals who are talented, qualified, and committed. With an experienced sales recruiter on your side your organization can save time, costs, and frustration while improving your ability to attract the best of the best sales talent. Contact a sales recruiter with knowledge of your industry who will take a personalized approach to your need to recruit sales professionals, and watch your recruiting efforts take off.