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Sales Recruitment Essentials

The slow but sure reopening of the economy is not only a relief, but is also an opportunity. You must reposition your business to meet customer’s needs in the business “new normal.” In order to capitalize on the opportunity, you must have a sales organization populated with real sales studs who can adapt to a very new sales reality. The talent pool of great sellers looking for their next opportunity has never been higher. Consequently, it’s a good time to make sure your sales hiring strategy includes some key elements used by the best sales recruiters.

Photographer: Sebastian Herrmann | Source: Unsplash
  1. First, you must have a solid compensation strategy to attract and keep top sales talent on your team. Real sellers want to know that they will be well paid for performance. They’ll have a goal to be at the top of your sales stack quickly. Any good outside sales recruiter should be ask about and guide you on compensation strategy before any recruitment ads are placed.
  2. You need to have a recruitment ad that will attract the right type of person. Real sellers want to know specifically what the position you have will offer in income potential. Use specifics on current top earners’ income.
  3. Use profiling to “check under the hood” of your applicants. There are personality profiles which are both scientifically measurable and associated with top sales performers. Resumes and previous sales experience are not going to reveal the truth about a candidate. Therefore, combining profiling with the next essential step become critical.
  4. Finally, you must have a good interview strategy. It will put your in a position of being able to make decisions based on a process. Never, ever hire by “gut feel.” It is the most common error made in the sales recruitment process.

Making sure you’ve got these 4 essentials wrapped up before you start sales recruiting will increase your success rate.

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Talent Acquisition

Money’s Tight, Can I Hire a Commission Only Salesperson to Get My Business Moving Again?

So, you’re ready to get business rolling again and you’re wondering if a commission only sales compensation plan will get you a good seller who can make a difference to your business without bringing additional financial risk into your world. The simple answer is a resounding…maybe, but probably not. It really depends on what type of business you have and whether you are comfortable with a high level of turnover.

Let’s first look at your particular business. Has anyone ever made a living selling your product or service on a straight commission basis? Is there someone you can point to in your organization about whom you can say “see Alan over there? He made $204562 last year.” If you cannot answer yes to both of these questions, you probably cannot continue down the commission only path. Seeing a path to good income is absolutely an essential element of getting a serious seller to consider your commission only offer.

An additional element of a company that can use a commission only compensation plan is that they make an ongoing investment in the success of the commission only salesperson. An example of this would be that the company will set up appointments for the salesperson, in effect, doing the cold calling for the salesperson. Home improvement companies will often have this compensation strategy and can indeed show people who are really making a lot of money doing what they will ask new sales reps to do.

Bottom line is that this compensation strategy will not work for the vast majority of business types we’ve worked with. And if it does work, as in the example of the home improvement business setting appointments for their salespeople, you will need to understand that you’ll always be in the recruitment business as turnover will be very high.

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