How to Hire Salespeople

Salespeople occupy one of the most critical roles in a company, and hiring the right salespeople for your company is essential.

You want salespeople who are passionate about their jobs and who understand how important their role is in the structure of your company.

What you don't want are sales people who are "phoning it in," or "just doing their time," as these semi-engaged employees are occupying a position that could be taken by a passionate salesperson.

By honing your sourcing strategy and evaluating candidates for qualities that make them great salespeople for your company, you can hire the sales talent that your company needs now, and in the future.

Best Places to Recruit Salespeople

The best places to recruit salespeople, are places where salespeople naturally congregate.

Competitors

Recruiting salespeople from competitors is a great way to find talented sales professionals who are experienced in your industry. If they are a direct competitor, they may already be familiar with your product and familiar with strategies for differentiating and selling similar products. They may also come with the bonus of pre-established sales relationships and connections in your industry.

Industry Conferences/Meetups

Networking with salespeople at industry conferences and meetups can put you into contact with extraordinary sales talent. Be sure to talk with salespeople about what makes your company and your company's sales department unique.

Sales Recruiting Websites

Sales recruiting websites are a great place to recruit talented salespeople from. Here are some of the best sales recruiting websites to help you find your next salesperson hire.

Glassdoor

One of the main advantages of using Glassdoor to recruit salespeople, is that sales professionals can evaluate your company based on salary ranges and the testimonials of other salespeople working for your company. Sales professionals can also check out your Glassdoor profile to see if they will experience fit with your company's culture, which is the most important factor for salespeople when they evaluate a job.

SalesJobs.com

Salesjobs is a job board and talent community dedicated to sales professionals and distributes your job ad directly to qualified sales professionals in their network. Employers can easily schedule interviews with qualified candidates through the website's Interview Calendar feature.

SalesGravy

Is a job board and talent community that serves salespeople and employers from all over the world. SalesGravy also includes educational resources for salespeople, which promotes learning in their talent community. 

TheLions

This sales-focused job board specializes in connecting salespeople with jobs at startups and tech companies. 

Recruitment and Selection of Sales Personnel

To recruit the best salespeople in your industry, you need to appeal to their interests. As we mentioned, the top two things that sales professionals consider when evaluating a job opportunity are:

1. Company Culture
2. Compensation/Salary

Even if the demands of your sales position are fairly unique and/or cross-functional, it is essential to use search terms that sales professionals are using in your job description. Otherwise, they simply won't find your job advertisement.

Top Sales Roles

In order to gain a sense of the roles that these job seekers are looking for, it is instructive to examine the job titles that are being searched most often. Here are the top 10 job titles clicked on by sales professionals visiting Glassdoor's web site in July 2016:

1.    Customer Service Representative
2.    Store Manager
3.    Account Executive
4.    Sales Manager
5.    Call Center Representative
6.    Outside Sales Representative
7.    Inside Sales Representative
8.    Sales Associate
9.    Assistant Store Manager
10.  Regional Sales Manager

In your job description, be sure to highlight your company's culture and differentiate your company from others in your industry.

How to Find Good Sales People

Finding good salespeople is easy, if you know what you're looking for:

Find people who love to learn

Making sales for your company will always require some learning on the part of a new salesperson, and people who love to learn will be more effective at finding the best ways to sell your company's products or services.

Find people who want to be part of a team

Sales can be a competitive field, but good salespeople understand that everyone is on the same team and working toward the same goals. You want salespeople who will learn from each other and support each other, not salespeople who delight when their peers make mistakes.

Find specific accomplishments

Though experience in your industry is valuable, always look for specific accomplishments in the salespeople that you evaluate. Even if these accomplishments are in un-related industries, hard evidence of sales success is better than years of experience in which few accomplishments were achieved. 

Find people with a passion for sales

Sales requires a great deal of energy, but don't mistake jittery interview enthusiasm for real passion for sales. Good salespeople are passionate about the role they play for their employers and are motivated to develop their skills over time.

General Tips for Recruiting for Sales Positions

There are a lot of sales jobs out there, so you need to make your job opportunity as unique as your company and the people who work for your company.

Here are some general tips for recruiting salespeople:

Offer value

Offer a unique job opportunity at an exciting company, not just another sales job. 

Go where the salespeople go

Post your job to one of the job boards we listed earlier in this post and network with salespeople in your industry at events and meetups.

Make connections

If you don't hire a talented sales candidate, never miss an opportunity to make a connection for future job openings.

Find the right salespeople for your company

The demands put on your company's salespeople are unique, so screen applicants for qualities that are essential for on-the-job success. 

Make your hire

Don't wait to hire. If a candidate is clearly an A player, they are likely to receive other offers from your competitors.

How to Recruit (Contract) Sales Agents

Recruiting contract sales agents and/or remote contract sales agents can be a good strategy to deal with sudden spikes in demand for sales talent.

When recruiting contract sales agents, be sure that these sales agents:

• Have experience in your industry.
• Have experience selling products or services in the quality/price-range that your company offers.
• Have strong communication skills for the markets and demographics you are trying to reach.
• Have a proven track record of providing value for the companies they are contracted to sell for.

Recruiting Sales Staff

Once you have found your finalist candidate or candidates, it's time to recruit them onto your team. The new hire's experience in this introductory period is crucial for cementing their long-term engagement and retention.

When recruiting sales staff, always:

Communicate

Send new hires an orientation email with details for their first day on the job (exact location, contact info for co-workers, 1^st day schedule, etc.).

Onboard

It is crucial to orient new salespeople to your company's culture and onboard/train them into the sales role they occupy. Onboarding will help new hires to learn about your company more effectively and get them up to speed more quickly.

Develop and Retain Talent

After onboarding has concluded, it is important to emphasize continuous skill development for salespeople and offer opportunities to advance in their department and in your company. Without offering skill development resources or opportunities to advance, you will not be able to retain sales talent long term.

 

How Do You Attract Top Salespeople?

In recent years, the internet has become the dominant method for Americans to search for a new job. According to a study conducted by Pew Research, "Among Americans who have looked for work in the last two years, 79% utilized online resources in their most recent job search and 34% say these online resources were the most important tool available to them." Glassdoor is the fastest-growing tool for meeting this pressing need, with 30 million monthly unique users (comScore, December 2015). 89% of Glassdoor users say that they are looking for a new position or open to the possibility of a better opportunity (Glassdoor US Site Survey, Jan 2016), so a job posting on Glassdoor stands a far better chance of finding the perfect candidate. In fact, Glassdoor delivers 2x better applicant quality at an average 30% lower cost per hire compared to traditional job boards (Brandon Hall Group, 2014). You can begin today to attract top sales talent to your organization by posting a job on Glassdoor. By combining that with a branded employer profile, you can amplify your brand and leverage the massive talent pool at your fingertips.