Apart from death and taxes, there is one more unavoidable certainty in life. Business leaders will always find acquiring and retaining good sales people an ongoing challenge.
I’ve been hiring sales people and building sales teams for almost a decade and I have some tips for those of you willing to trust our experience in building solid sales people for organisations of all sizes, scales and budgets. Before you try to build your team – take some of these tips on board.
Don’t think that you can interview and objectively judge competent sales people when you don’t know exactly what the numbers involved are yourself. Be clear on exactly what your targets, order value, territory, average lead time, conversion percentage and product is. Be clear and decided on your expectations, and follow through on this post hire. Once you start interviewing, be decisive and hurry up.
If the portfolio is empty, say this at interview stage. The right person will love that. If territories are controlled, tell them. If you’re travelling 60% of the time, be open. If you can be flexible on these details, state the level of flexibility and the boundaries around it. Don’t fudge the OTEs.
If you’re expanding, you should always be on the lookout for another sales person. Hiring purely because someone is leaving may have you trying to hire while you’re under pressure and exposed. This is prime bad decision-making territory. Plus, hunter sales people rarely like to farm accounts for too long. Don’t be lackadaisical about hiring just because the numbers look fairly healthy. Move your heavy hitters into new and interesting territory. Keep them busy and elevated with newer staff chasing them.
Right now, we are in the peak of a candidate-driven market place. We are at 100% employment, and every software house in the country has near identical ads posted online, dominating job portals and agency sites. Find a way to update, remodel, reword and invigorate your team to personalise and attract a thinker. Stand out from the crowd. Naturally earnings are important, but a lot of sites offer good remunerations. Your product and your manager are the primary variables here and will be a huge influence on your preferred person either accepting or declining an offer.
I realise that this is difficult in a demanding workplace, with market pressures. I’ve seen bad hires clear a sales floor within weeks. Look at your team. If they reflect what you want, then bear them heavily in mind when hiring. Likewise, if they don't, get a plan in place of who or what needs to change.
Be realistic. Not everyone will be your top biller and you don’t need them to be. Your medium, consistent billers are equally important. Trust your judgement. Live with it. It gives your existing team confidence and pride that they are worth protecting.
Have decent onboarding plans organised. Have very clear expectations in the first weeks, months and years. If someone isn’t responding quickly and naturally to what’s happening, make sure it’s addressed immediately. This is the fairest way for someone to know if what they are doing is good, bad, indifferent or amazing.
This should be as clear and straightforward as possible. Ideally, don't cap it – this drives people crazy. Explain it at interview and write it down. There shouldn’t be any secrecy here. Don’t overblow it either. Show what’s possible, and what’s currently an average achievement.
There’s an art to this – But together we can all be smart. Bespoke recruitment plans are built here routinely at RECRUITERS. Talk to us if you need support now, or in the future.
Want to learn more about how RECRUITERS can help your business? Check out our hiring solutions for sales teams here or learn how to build build an effective employer branding strategy here.
Patricia Lynch is the Sales & Marketing Recruitment Manager at RECRUITERS.
Office space photo by Shridhar Gupta on Unsplash
