After my initial preparation of this blog, I realized that its length was too long.\u00a0 So I have broken this into two parts.\u00a0 Part one will cover my first two points of building a job profile and discussing the recruitment process.\u00a0 I will put the second part out in one week and will cover the Interview approach and the use of sales assessment.\u00a0 Please let me know if you find this information worthwhile in your sales representative recruitment initiatives.<\/p>\n
A big challenge for the entrepreneur or small business is answering the question, “How do I hire the right sales representative?”\u00a0 Not an easy or simple task.\u00a0 After all, where is your focus?\u00a0 On your business.\u00a0 And most likely you have invested a lot of your time and capital in your business and what you believe is the value you bring to the marketplace.\u00a0 But hiring a sales person is not your forte.\u00a0 I want to provide you with a Best Practices approach to hiring your sales organization and helping you put a process in motion that will stay with you as you grow.<\/p>\n
With today\u2019s rapidly changing business climate, we see that the buying process is also changing just as fast.\u00a0 Buyers, whether B2B or B2C, are more demanding, better informed, and busier than ever.\u00a0 This puts a whole new spin on the sales role and the sales hiring process.\u00a0 Several research organizations have pegged hiring sales representatives as the number one challenge to business leadership.\u00a0 In one study, fully 95% of business owners and sales executives said they were not equipped to hire effectively or were not properly prepared to hire sales representatives.\u00a0 The same research found that there is little correlation between how one candidate interviews and how one actually performs in the job role.\u00a0 There is a great book on sales by Rick Page titled Hope is Not a Strategy<\/em>.\u00a0 I changed this slightly for sales recruitment and call it “In Hiring, Guessing is Not a Strategy.”\u00a0 When one thinks about the issue, hiring the sales organization may be the hardest thing to do in business.<\/p>\n There are two critical mistakes that are often made in the hiring process.\u00a0 Unfortunately, I have experience with both of them.\u00a0 The first is not clearly defining the job role.\u00a0 If you cannot clearly define the role \u2013 what the person needs to know, the expectations of sales performance, and how they will be spending their time \u2013 how will you know what to look for?\u00a0 The second has to do with the interview itself.\u00a0 Sales people are most often likable people.\u00a0 And when you begin the interview process, you may easily come across a person that you LIKE before you KNOW them.\u00a0 Big mistake!\u00a0 After all, an interview is a discussion.\u00a0 The conversation goes well.\u00a0 They say what you want to hear.\u00a0 You like this person.\u00a0 But have you really learned enough about them to make a decision?\u00a0 So let’s look at how to do it right.<\/p>\n There are four areas that make up this Best Practices approach to hiring a sales organization.\u00a0 If you put this process to work for you, invest a little time, and discuss it with your peers, you will increase your success percentage significantly.\u00a0 The first area deals with building a job profile or job benchmark.\u00a0 You need to clearly define the role and expectations.\u00a0 The second area is putting your recruitment process in place.\u00a0 Where and how will you promote this position?\u00a0 Third is preparing yourself and everyone that will be in the interview process on how to interview for this position.\u00a0 The last area looks at the use of assessments.\u00a0 Let\u2019s consider each of these areas in more detail.<\/p>\n Building the Sales Job Profile or Sales Job Benchmark<\/p>\n Defining the job role is not an easy task.\u00a0 You want to define the responsibilities, your expectations, and the activities for which the sales representative will be responsible.\u00a0 You can also identify any of the industry or technical expertise that may also be required.\u00a0 To write this profile, you should talk with anyone in your organization that will have an interaction with the rep.\u00a0 For example, Marketing will be developing some of the business and sales messaging that the rep will use.\u00a0 What are their expectations?\u00a0 What do they say would be a good profile?\u00a0 Customer service will interact with the rep.\u00a0 What are their expectations?\u00a0 Don’t stop there.\u00a0 Based on what you are selling, what will your customers expect in a rep?\u00a0 Build a detailed profile.\u00a0 Lay out the percentage of time they will be performing such tasks as prospecting, interacting with clients, and administrative work.\u00a0 If the job calls for 80% of the time on the phone, define it in the job profile.\u00a0 A good friend of mine, Ty Swain, CEO of Growth Dynamics, likes to say, \u201cIf the job could talk, what would it say?\u201d\u00a0 To build a proper profile, it may be worthwhile to get outside assistance to develop it.<\/p>\n The Sales Recruitment Process<\/p>\n Once the job profile is in place, you now need to set your sights on the recruitment phase.\u00a0 Factors to consider here include where and how you will post the position and whether you will use a recruiting service.\u00a0 Ask yourself, what I am looking for, where would be the best place to promote this position?\u00a0 The better you have written the job profile, the easier this decision may be.\u00a0 While there are a number of local and national posting boards, it may be better to be selective.\u00a0 Are there posting boards for your specific industry?\u00a0\u00a0 Would it be beneficial for you to only post this in a reasonably close area to your location?\u00a0 Consider using Linkedin.\u00a0 Linkedin has become a prime recruitment resource for both placing job ads and finding applicants. \u00a0Your ability to appeal to a smaller and more focused audience and a better prepared candidate will come through Linkedin.\u00a0 Whichever route you choose, make sure that you use the job profile to write the job ad.\u00a0 Clearly define the role expectations and activities.\u00a0 This will greatly reduce the pool of “not qualified” candidates.\u00a0 In the job placement ad you can also request the candidate to begin the “sales process” by requesting them to perform a sales activity similar to how you expect them to sell for you.\u00a0 You may ask them to write a letter (communications style) or schedule a call (appointment setting) in order to get the interview.\u00a0 Use the recruitment process as a tool to see how they sell themselves.<\/p>\n Summary<\/p>\n The initial two steps outlined above will give you a good start on developing your Sales recruitment Plan.\u00a0 These two steps need to be thought out before you even consider bringing in a candidate.\u00a0 In Part two, I will discuss the Interview Process and the use of Sales Assessments.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" After my initial preparation of this blog, I realized that its length was too long.\u00a0 So I have broken this into two parts.\u00a0 Part one will cover my first two points of building a job profile and discussing the recruitment … Continue reading