Hiring Sales Staff
Did you ever wonder
why some people seem to be able to sell anything? These are the sort of people
that every company dreams of employing. But how do you find these people, or at
least avoid employing people who cannot meet the challenges you set for them.
When looking at looking at recruitment for sales jobs, there are a number of
things to consider:
Preparation
When you begin recruitment
for your sales team, it is important to plan and prepare what you are
specifically looking for and your budget. Recruitment is expensive and so you
want to make sure you get the correct candidates for the role.
Before
you interview anyone, you need to know the level of compensation you are going
to offer the candidate, including basic salary and sales compensation.
Obviously it depends on your budget, but a salary and sales compensation will
help you to attract top quality candidates.
Next
it is a good idea to write out a full job description. This will include what
work needs to be carried out before a sales call, and how you expect the
employee to deal with customers, as well as any administration that needs to be
carried out. You should also include your expectations in terms of number of
calls per week. Just think through everything that you expect of the person
performing the role, and then write it down.
Good recruitment starts with being clear about what you want and
conveying this to prospective candidates.
Recruiting
There are many
different recruitment methods, and it really depends on your budget and
requirements. It also depends on how proficient you are at writing and placing
ads and finding the right candidates. This can take time, but is cheaper than
using an agency or going to an event. The main methods of recruitment are:
- Recruiting events
- Recruiting firms
- Outsourcing
- Do it yourself
Evaluation
At this point of the
recruitment process you will have a good idea of the level of experience you
want from the candidate, but there are still a number of things you should
consider closely:
- Have they sold to people before?
- Are they experienced or have they come
straight from school or university?
- If they are inexperienced, is your training
program good enough to get them up to speed?
- Do they have the skills to perform the job,
such as good computer and communication skills?
Experience is good,
but isn’t always the most important thing. Even an experienced salesperson will
still have to learn about your company and product. Three of the most important
things to look for at this stage are:
- Analytical skills
- Communication skills
- Technical skills
Choosing the right candidate
After you have
sorted through the resumes/CVs you received and narrowed the choice down to a
number of candidates, you need to start looking more closely at their abilities
and personalities. The interview process is obviously one of the most crucial
parts of the recruitment process, and is where you actually choose your new
employee. At this stage, the skills you need to look for in a candidate are:
- Adaptable
- Articulate
- Energetic
- Confident
- Enthusiastic
- Self reliant
- Show integrity
- Patience and perseverance
- Good listeners
- Sincere
- Pleasant
If you go through
this list and examine each candidate carefully, you will eventually find
someone who is right for your company. However, this is not the end of the recruitment
process.
Training
Perhaps the most important aspect of recruitment for sales
jobs occurs after you have hired a candidate. To make the candidate an
effective part of your company you need to give them the proper training. An
effective method of training is show how certain practices will increase sales
for the rep, as well as benefiting the company. This will both teach the rep
and motivate them, as it will show them the incentives for following the
procedures
Another good training method is to make
training fun and entertaining. Although this is not always possible, there are
times throughout training where you can make things lively and that way you
will keep their interest. You should also use practical examples to illustrate
your points, as this will show the new employee how to put the theory into
practice.
It
is always useful to give the new employee some handouts or electronic
information that they can view to remind themselves of the things that they
have learnt. This will help them if they get stuck at any point, and also
reinforce what you have taught them.
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By
following proper recruitment and training procedures, and offering the correct sales
compensation, you will find the best candidates for your sales jobs.