Recruiting a sales team isn’t easy. I once ran an ad for a week asking companies “Tell Me Your Biggest Sales Hiring Challenge Recruiting a Sales Team.” Nothing to buy, just tell me what doesn’t work for you when you hire salespeople.

Some of the complaints in recruiting a sales team were:

1. Applicants don’t show up for interviews.

The fact that 30-40% of sales applicants don’t show up is a good thing

I didn’t understand that one. And I don’t see that as a problem. I like to know they have no follow-through BEFORE I hire them.

The fact that 30-40% of sales applicants don’t show up is a good thing. I say “The mass of sales applicants are full of bull. They went into sales for all the wrong reasons and your job is to spot them. Get rid of them from your sales hiring system.”

2. Can’t find applicants for commission-only jobs.

Our clients don’t have that problem. If the sales cycle is longer than a couple of weeks, real salespeople need a draw to stay alive. That’s reality.

We prove in our ads that good quality salespeople make a pile of money. One of our clients pays a $50,000 bonus if their sales hire hits certain benchmarks in the first month.

If the sales cycle is longer than a couple of weeks, real salespeople need a draw to stay alive. That’s reality.

Salespeople who lack confidence in their ability to hit these benchmarks are not real salespeople.

3. Applicants who sound good in the interview, but can’t sell once they’re hired.

This was the biggest category. It is an interesting problem and it has two parts to it.

First, who are you letting in your office? What is your system for selecting applicants to invest energy in? Hint: if you’re using LinkedIn Profiles and job experience you are way off the mark.

Second, what are you doing in the interview? Why are you not getting to the heart of the matter when interviewing?

who are you letting in your office? What is your system for selecting applicants to invest energy in? Hint: if you’re using LinkedIn Profiles and job experience you are way off the mark.

People can be divided into many different categories. When it comes to hiring salespeople we divide applicants into two piles. “People who fulfill their potential” and “People who fail at it.”

Dr. Carol Dweck of Harvard University has a foolproof method. She explains people have two distinct worldviews when it comes to accomplishment.

There are those who believe in fixed prior ability and there are those who believe in growth of ability.

Malcolm Gladwell, the author and New Yorker writer, has suggested that as a society we value natural, effortless accomplishment over achievement through effort. We endow our heroes with superhuman abilities that led them inevitably toward their greatness. It’s as if Midori popped out of the womb fiddling, Michael Jordan dribbling, and Picasso doodling. This captures the fixed mindset perfectly. And it’s everywhere.

Malcolm Gladwell, the author and New Yorker writer, has suggested that as a society we value natural, effortless accomplishment over achievement through effort.

People with the growth mindset, however, believe something very different. For them, even geniuses have to work hard for their achievements.

Our clients use an interview that we call the FST Intelligence Interview Sequence. It’s based on this model. We look for learners and growers — and of course those who enjoy the process of influencing others.

The next time you find yourself saying, “He or she handled themselves well in the interview” you might well be on the road to making another bad sales hire

Sales recruiting is the biggest challenge most entrepreneurs face.

I’d like to suggest the reason for this failure — and why leading sales managers get sales recruiting right.

Let’s say you’re out to sell the dream account. When it’s time to close do you focus on what’s most important to them? Of course you do!

You wouldn’t consider talking to them about what’s important to you. You wouldn’t tell them to buy now so you can buy a new car or pay for your kid’s tuition.

Yet most sales recruiting ads — which is the beginning of the sales recruiting funnel, fail here big time.

Let’s step back. Ask yourself what makes a good salesperson?

Now of course they need to be persuasive and enjoy the process of influencing others.

But there’s one thing missing from this… their values. What gets the best salespeople out of bed in the morning?

A little trick I learned years ago from Bill Bonstetter is “Values Rule the World.” This is a key finding for sales recruiting.

So what are the key values of a top sales performers? According to Abraham Maslow, the father of American Psychology, salespeople are “high practicals.”

Salespeople want to figure out “where can I get control? In todays world that means “Where’s the Money and Where’s the Power?”

In your ad you’ve got to show them that your job is the key for them to reach their goals. And that is why the leading sales managers start with a Compensation Strategy.

Starting with your Compensation Strategy makes it easy to write the ad.

The converse is also true. Looking at most sales recruiting ads you can see why applicants are not applying.

We’ve put together a quiz that will help you figure out the best way to get your sales recruitment working. Click the button below and in a minute you’ll have our suggestion to solve the challenge of sales hiring.