If your sales team is operating at capacity, you need sales people. Even if your sales targets are being met, your sales team may be losing out on sales due to time constraints that hiring new sales people could help resolve, pushing your sales numbers even higher in the process. So when you need new sales people in these circumstances, what are the next steps?

When You Need Sales People: Identify the Roles for the Sales People You Plan to Hire

It is simple enough to recognize when you need sales people. However, in any sales department there are differentiators between the strengths, weaknesses, and overall roles of the individuals on the sales team. Before hiring new sales people, you should spend time considering the areas of greatest need for your current sales force as well as the roles that the new sales people will be expected to fulfill. Ask yourself questions like:

• What types and sizes of accounts do I need sales people to be working on?
• Do I need sales people who are more experienced in lead generation, or is our in-house lead generation performing so that I primarily need sales people for follow up and closing?
• Does the sales team need additional help in customer support or operations that would indicate that I need cross-functional sales people?

When You Need Sales People: Create an Ideal Candidate Profile

At the point when you recognize that you need sales people in order to keep your revenues growing, you may feel pressed for time and be tempted to rush into the hiring process with the same templates that you used for your last round of sales hiring. This can be a mistake, and a costly one at that. The needs of your sales team have changed since your last sales, changing your hiring requirements. Spend the time to create an ideal candidate profile for the sales people you want to hire, considering:

• Attitude. A positive attitude in sales is always important, but you may also wish to look at other aspects of attitude that can indicate sales strengths like long term client management.
• Personality. A sales person’s personality largely determines whether he or she will be a match for your company’s culture and find success with your organization.
• Sales Skills. Sales skills will overlap with the roles that you need sales people to have on your newly expanded sales team. Look at skills that you currently have to identify skills that will be helpful as your team continues to grow.

When You Need Sales People: Take the Opportunity to Review Compensation Plans

One of the most favorable times to review your sales compensation and incentive plans is when you are preparing to hire new sales people. Take this opportunity to review your sales compensation plan and whether it is encouraging your sales people to pursue sales in all target areas effectively. It is also a good idea to compare your compensation plan to the compensation plans being offered by your competitors, as your competitors may have made updates since the last time your compensation plan was reviewed. This can impact your ability to attract top performers, and knowing early on what your competitors are offering prepares you to negotiate with highly qualified candidates should such a step become necessary.

When You Need Sales People: Contact a Sales Recruiting Firm

A sales recruiting firm can assist you in all aspects of the hiring process, locating, attracting, and recruiting highly qualified sales candidates. A sales recruiting firm can also help you measure and understand the core competencies of the candidates you are considering for your needs through personality and skills assessments as well as other modules for predicting fit and performance, while saving your organization time and costs throughout the hiring process.