Top sales performers are always looking to achieve greater success, with more wealth, perks and power. They will be paying close attention to the benefits you offer, so you need to emphasize those benefits in your job postings and applicant interviews.

If you think the benefits of being on your sales team aren’t competitive enough, consider adding some incentives top salespeople will be attracted to.

Here are some questions to consider when pulling together a list of the benefits you have to offer.

• Is your company’s commission structure very generous? Top salesmen and saleswomen value money a great deal and you want them to. If your sales commission benefits aren’t up to par with that of your competitors, it will be tough to build one of the best sales teams in the business. If you do have a great commission structure, make that a priority mention in your job listing to attract great salespeople to your door.

• Is it common for top sales performers in your company to succeed quickly? Excellent salespeople want accolades and advancement opportunities. They work harder when recognition and rewards come fast. If that’s a benefit of working on your sales team, you’ve got a definite edge over your competitors who might offer slower career advancement.

• Do you usually promote from within? Play up the benefit of employee loyalty if your company typically promotes from within. You’ll attract salespeople who will want to stick with you for the long-term.

• Is your business locally-owned and based? Sometimes a locally-owned business has advantages over corporations. Brainstorm what you think your locally-owned benefits are over your larger competitors and proudly boast about them. Something as simple as family-oriented employee events hosted by your business can attract salespeople who have spouses and children.

• Does your company sell something that’s hot in the marketplace right now? Excite potential sales hires about the popular products or services they would be selling for you. If what your company sells isn’t a hot product, could it be considered a better alternative to a fad? Think of creative ways to sell your products to your salespeople and they’ll want to sell them for you.

• Is your company considered a recognized industry leader in their field? Use quotes from reputable publications and other sources when making this claim, for validity. A great reputation for being an industry leader certainly attracts better applicants, so make this detail prominent in your job listings.

• Does your company offer additional health benefits, like vision insurance? Every extra health insurance perk is beneficial in attracting and keeping great employees. Let people you offer the job to know if services like preventative care and medications are covered on their health plans with your company.

• Do you provide regular free or discounted training opportunities for the sales team? Consistent trainings and courses for sales staff to enhance skills and education are vital to your company’s growth and success. If you provide the means for your employees to attend webinars, conferences, and other trainings make that clear to applicants, as well.

Attracting a lot of applications for job listings you post during tough economic times might be pretty easy. However, your goal isn’t to attract a lot of applications. You want to attract the right applicants; a team of top salespeople who want to work for the company who offers great benefits and rewards for excellent sales performance.

Today’s Wall Street Journal’s front-page article “Why Companies Aren’t Getting the Employees They Need” says if you want to hire salespeople you are facing a hard task in this economy. In fact, in 2011 one of the hardest jobs to fill is sales reps.

With unemployment at 9% according to government stats, you’d think it’d be a piece of cake to find good salespeople.

The Journal article dwells on companies need to see past job experience – and many applicant’s lack of experience as the problem.

That kind of thinking, that sales experience predicts future sales success, is the heart of the problem…

Fifteen Years of Research Shows Why Most Sales Hires Fail

Since 1996 research by Advanced Hiring System on successful sales hiring has concluded that experience in sales should only count for 10% of the decision.

Much more weight needs to be put on the sales applicant’s personality style and values. These characteristics can be measure with Sales Assessment tools like ValuesMatrix(TM) and StylesMatrix(TM)

Why Don’t Sales Managers Hire Better Reps?

Top sales reps possess a unique blend of drive and charm – coupled with a willingness to break rules. Also, top reps have highly practical values and are motivated by money and power.

Since these characteristics can be measured effectively with ValuesMatrix(TM) and StylesMatrix(TM), managers can go beyond resumes.

Data suggests that going beyond resume reading gives companies a much wider pool of applicants to chose from. Considering more applicants, rather than a small handful, give managers the ability to successfully fill the critical role of salesperson.

Hiring the right people starts with knowing what makes a good salesperson want to do the job well. There are hiring solutions very helpful with figuring out the right interview models to gain this valuable information. In the meantime, here are some clues for knowing how to hire employees with the right motivation and mindset.

• High Energy – A sluggish, lazy, distracted sales team will get you nowhere. Even if one person on that team strays from the goal, it could set you back a great deal of lost sales in the long run. Hiring the right people definitely means hiring energetic ones. What makes a good salesperson is one with focus and stamina that lasts or keeps renewing until the goal has been reached.
  

• Strong Integrity – It’s true that a strong salesperson is often one who is willing to bend a rule or two, but not at the expense of your company’s integrity. Beware of applicants who exhibit signs of being overly willing to do whatever it takes to make the sale. Hiring solutions are all for naught if you’ve got a team of dishonest salespeople. Your company reputation is at stake, so screen applicants for integrity as a top priority.
  

• Quick Learner – Luckily, it’s not always important that a sales applicant have much product knowledge yet. Training is the key to learning your products and practices the right way, so it’s almost better to start from scratch in certain sales positions. However, assess applicants for the quick learners in the bunch and you’ll benefit in more ways than one. Quick learners tend to be great in high-pressure situations. On the spot sales pitches don’t faze them like their slow-learning counterparts.
  

• Wants the Golden Ticket – Here’s what makes a good salesperson – someone who wants the top prize. Competitiveness is a great quality that sales people to have. If the interview and assessment tests show that this applicant wants the top sales spot on your team, it’s likely they’ll work very hard to achieve it.
  

• Seeks Praise & Rewards – How to hire employees with great sales skills, and keep them for the long-term, is to offer a lot of praise and rewards for sales goals met. The desire to make as much money as possible is what makes a good salesperson get up every morning. Offer them that chance and you’ll see the great salespeople flock to your doors.
  

• Can’t Get Enough of a Good Thing – Sometimes sales people will bring in a high percentage of sales and then sink back into their comfy careers without trying hard for more. This is not what makes a good salesperson for the long haul. It’s essential that the applicants you interview display an eagerness to reach each summit and then beg for higher mountains to climb. When a sales person loses steam, they risk bringing down the entire sales team. Hire self-motivators with high energy and you won’t have this problem.
  

What makes a good salesperson tick is the desire for big money, big rewards and repeat success. It takes highly energetic self-starters to be a great sales person and it takes the right interview information to know them when you see them.