Sales can be a tough profession. It’s fast paced, demanding and easily affected by outside forces that are beyond the control of the sales person. On the plus side, when a person thrives in the sales environment it can be extremely lucrative for both the company and the professional sales person.  As you engage in sales recruiting, working closely with your recruiting team, you need to find the right people.

Studies have shown that as many as 35% to 45% of sales reps fail to meet their target sales goals. In addition, the turnover rate for the sales profession is over 26%.  It is important that sales recruiting teams use all of the tools available to help build a strong and successful sales team.

Your sales recruiting team needs to know what they are looking for.

Good sales people are out there. Your sales recruiting team needs to know the basics of what makes a good sales person: strong communication skills, self-confidence, strong objection-answering skills, good follow-up skills and a good fit with the company culture.

As a sales manager, it is important to specifically design and communicate what the recruiting team should be looking for. This information needs to be shared with the sales recruiting team regularly. Once you have determined the skills and competencies that you are looking for, it is important to review and redefine as is necessary to make sure your sales recruiting team is always looking for precisely the sales people that you need.

Your sales recruiting team should always be recruiting.

No matter where they are or what they are doing, your recruiting team should be on the lookout for good sales talent. This includes looking at the sales team of your competitors and also looking at your customers and seeing if there are talented people there. When excellent service is provided somewhere, note it, and know to exchange cards with that prospective sales person. Realize that many times a prospect will need to be nursed along over a period of time. The objective is to be continually prospecting.

Be a partner to your sales recruiters.

A common, two way, complaint scenario is this: the sales manager complains that the sales recruiting team sends them a mere trickle of potential candidates. At the same time the sales recruiting team complains about a lack of action on the part of the sales manager. In order to be successful in finding the right sales people, the sales manager and the sales recruiting team must work together and understand what the other is up against. These two positions need to be allies, not adversaries. To do this, good and regular opportunities need to be available for open communication. In addition, it is important that you and the sales recruiting team are on the same page. If you are interviewing regarding a sales competency that you did not originally share with the sales recruiting team, then it will be very frustrating for you as a sales manager and aggravating for the sales recruiters. It is crucial that all communication be specific and continual. When these two groups work together, building a strong sales team is the natural outcome.

When you make sure that your sales recruiting team is educated in the company sales needs, that they understand the importance of always being on the lookout for good talent, and that you have built and maintained a good working relationship with them, you will see success in building a great sales team.