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Why is hiring qualified salespeople so hard?

The second most challenging role to fill globally is that of a salesperson. (1) This statement begs the question, why is hiring a qualified salesperson so tricky?

  • Smaller businesses often provide the best opportunities because they are looking for the highest growth.  Compensation packages may be more lucrative for top producers, leaving mid and under-producing sales representatives switching jobs more frequently.
  • Sales vacancies often exist at critical times, such as during a heavy buying season or when a company needs to move inventory quickly. This often results in minimal time to locate and vet candidates and a lack of time to train new hires.
  • Sales roles aren’t interchangeable. This is one of the most challenging aspects of the interviewing process, yet often neglected. For example:
    • A sales position in a company with established training and processes is quite different from a company creating a new sales position. Some people do very well with established accounts, inbound leads, transparent processes, scripts, templates, etc. However, it takes an entirely different type of salesperson to take on outbound prospecting, qualifying, setting up processes, etc. This “jump in and do the work” sales effort in and of itself can take years to build in addition to generating sales numbers.
    • Sales duties may require different skills in different companies. A candidate may be excellent at closing in one company with a prospecting team, warm introductions, etc. However, the same candidate may flounder in another company where they are responsible for the entire end-to-end process. In the same respect, a candidate may be knowledgeable and have insights into specific industries. However, that candidate may be unfamiliar with technology, adapting to office environments vs. fieldwork, etc.
  • Salespeople are often selected because they are likable and have the subject knowledge. Still, they lack specific skills to do the job well (e.g., they may be approachable but don’t know enough about the product/service/industry. They may have subject/product/industry knowledge, but they cannot communicate technical expertise in a language that buyers understand.)
  • Employers lack respect for candidates. That’s right. Instead of contacting candidates, many employers are simply not responding – not acknowledging receipt of the application, not rejecting a candidate, not letting them know of their status. How does this translate into finding qualified sales candidates? Candidates (and employees) mirror the behavior of leaders.
  • Employers lack the budget to do justice to the role of sales and the duties assigned to it. Salespeople are essential to businesses that desire growth. However, not having an adequate budget or expecting multiple responsibilities beyond sales will result in unpredictable performance. Ideally, salespeople should be hired in pairs, if not quads.  Having two or four salespeople allows for different skills across the team and all skill sets to be leveraged for best results.

Why is hiring the right salesperson so important?

According to a study by Gallup:

  • Increase productivity by 10%
  • Increase sales by 20%
  • Improve profitability by 30%.
  • Improve satisfaction ratings by 10%
  • Reduce absenteeism by 37%
  • Decrease employee turnover by 10% (2)

What are the best characteristics of top performers in sales roles?

  • A natural leader who people look to for answers
  • Able to influence others while building trust and authority
  • Willing to take a calculated risk
  • Highly competitive while still being a team player
  • Very motivated to exceed goals, continuously improve, innovate, etc.
  • Perseverant and determined
  • Results-driven and can see the endgame
  • Dislikes failure so is always looking to improve and grow

For more about the key traits of top performers, download our white paper on top performers here:

How to find quality top-performing salespeople:

Clarify the ideal candidate. – This isn’t just the body that will fill the empty seat and has the proper skills/training/education. The right candidate must also have skills such as fitting in with the role’s needs and the corporate culture, being a self-starter, and being willing to jump in and learn.

Get specific about expectations of the duties. Yes, this means creating an excellent job description. It’s not just about the roles and responsibilities, their job history, educational background, etc. It needs to attract the best candidates. Prospecting and vetting are essential for sales duties.  However, most salespeople don’t do it well. The requirement for prospecting and vetting skills needs to be in the job description.

Build a website career section. – Your company has a brand that isn’t just about attracting external (buying) customers. It’s also about attracting internal customers who are consumers of your values, culture, etc. Internal customers include workers/employees, vendors, and so forth. It’s customary practice these days to expect that before interviews, candidates research your company.  Therefore, provide them with valuable information to help them decide whether your company is a good fit before they even apply! Some ideas:

    • Interview current sales team members and ask them why they like working for your company, the best part of their job, etc. Post these as video clips.
    • Help candidates understand a bit about your corporate culture. For example,
    • What’s the hiring process, and how long does it generally take?
    • How do you onboard new hires?
    • What’s a typical day?
    • What are the expectations of sales team members?
    • Do sales team members interact with other departments (e.g., marketing, finance, product development, etc.), and why is this valuable?
    • What kind of training, career advancement, incentives, etc., might be available?

Quantify the success measures of the candidate. – How will this person be measured in terms of their performance of their duties?

Pro-Tip: Don’t make this just about quotas. People are more than just numbers. For example:

    • A candidate with the ability to service the customer can increase the lifetime value of that customer (the amount of money a customer is expected to spend with the company in their lifetime)
    • A candidate who becomes a successful salesperson in your company has future value:
      • The ability to mentor other salespeople,
      • By shortening sales cycles,
      • Helping build brand loyalty and awareness,
      • Working with your marketing team to communicate messaging that works,
      • Becoming a subject matter expert, and
      • The value they bring to their ability to climb the corporate ladder.
    • As you look at a new candidate, look beyond the initial sales ability and consider other measures of success. What might those people, and how might these be communicated as valuable to your organization?

Attracting the right talent. – Benefits? Opportunities, Strengths? Disqualify those who don’t match the criteria early!

    • One issue that can distract talent is vagueness about competitive salary, bonuses, opportunities for education, and career tracks. While some of this can be addressed in an interview, it’s better to include the salary range, the value of the compensation plan, etc., in the job description, especially when publishing it. Monster.com reports that companies who are transparent about compensation plans receive 25% better responses. (3)

Be proactive. – It’s not enough to post an employment ad and be done. Spend time doing other things to recruit and attract candidates as well:

    • Email earlier candidates that didn’t make the cut last time.  Perhaps they have gained extra training, have a new job that taught them skills they lacked before, have learned more about the industry, etc., making them a good fit now.
    • Investigate job boards. People are looking for jobs. You can set up alerts through GigaAlerts to help you target key talent that your competitors have not yet found.
    • Use social media but not just on LinkedIn, GlassDoor or Indeed.com. Instead, look for hashtags, sentiment, keywords, and other indicators that might suggest talent that is ripe for picking.
    • Work your network, whether in person, social media, or both, connect with people who may have someone they can refer to you. Assorted studies over the last several years indicate that anywhere from 85% of job vacancies are filled simply through referrals (4)

Integrity during the interview. –Interviewers use carefully composed interview questions to assess candidates on how they value integrity and if this matches the company’s values. The answers candidates give to questions about honesty and integrity should come naturally and honestly, not rehearsed. A candidate with the perfect skillset and a top-notch degree cannot overcome the lack of honesty and integrity. A reputation of questionable honesty and integrity will not get any candidate hired. It is equally essential that the interviewer exhibit honesty and integrity during the hiring process. Candidates need to know about the time investment required, the learning curve, workplace atmosphere, customer allocation, etc. If the candidate discovers that the interviewer has misled them, they will probably view the company negatively. Once word spreads across social media that people were lied to during the interview process, the company will find itself doing damage control. The candidate pool will shrink.

How in-depth is the onboarding? Getting new salespeople up to speed within the first 90 days is a pivotal factor that separates Best-in-Class organizations from their less productive peers. The first few months after a new salesperson is hired are the most critical to their retention, performance, and long-term success, so it’s essential to get your sales onboarding process right. (5)

    • Begin onboarding before a new hire’s first day by providing a welcome package, so they have a basic understanding of your company on day one.
    • Follow a formal onboarding process. It’s unfair to any new hire to expect success without onboarding, training, and ongoing coaching. Set time-based goals for learning and acquiring skills. Even the smallest companies have access to training these days through online mediums, podcasts, webinars, and even more formal classes.

PRO TIP: A best practice is to have 30, 60, and 90-day plans with scheduled check-ins to evaluate progress. Onboarding new sales reps is a crucial area of focus when looking to improve the ROI of sales training.

    • Establish expectations and supply training support.
    • Have your new hire shadow an experienced salesperson on sales calls.
    • Evaluate early performance. If someone is going off course, it is best to get them back on the path before acquiring bad habits.
    • Invest in continuous improvement in a variety of different ways.
      • Offer professional coaching sessions.
      • Supply educational reimbursement opportunities.
      • Explore cross-training in other departments to learn new skills as well as see the business from another perspective.
      • Work with vendor-partners for added training on products and services.
      • Look to free solutions such as EdX to take free online courses from universities such as Harvard, MIT, Cornell, Stanford, Purdue, and organizations such as Google, Amazon, Microsoft, Smithsonian, and many more.

Honesty and integrity are essential attributes employers look for in their job applicants.  Job applicants also are looking for honesty and integrity in the companies they are looking to join. Employees and candidates who are honest and open with their skills and abilities frequently find themselves getting multiple jobs as they provide complete customer satisfaction and work hard to achieve personal and company goals.

 

Uncertain times call for creative thinking. Contact Gavel International to be inspired with solutions that connect and engage your people.

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Sources

  1. https://www.manpowergroup.com/
  2. https://www.gallup.com/workplace/236465/attracts-best-employees-company.aspx
  3. https://hiring.monster.com/resources/recruiting-strategies/compensation/negotiating-compensation-salary/
  4. https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/new-survey-reveals-85-all-jobs-filled-via-networking-lou-adler
  5. https://brooksgroup.com/sales-training-blog/6-steps-successfully-onboarding-new-sales-reps/

 

Jim Bozzelli
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