ARE YOU HIRING THE 'RIGHT' SALEPERSON?

Hiring new employees is always challenging; but recruiting and hiring salespeople is even more challenging. The process is full of rewards and great risks.

In our Mentoring Sessions, we talk about building a systematized, integrated business that includes a hiring process/system. Part of that process/ system includes a clear marketing strategy that positions and differentiations, a quality review and control system, a lead generation system, a sales process, and a flexible CRM (Customer Relationship Management) System. All of these leverage your salespeople to reach their greatest potential. Yes, we know that it is a lot more difficult than just hiring a ‘rainmaker’; but you need all the necessary pieces to support your salespeople.

Next, clearly define the position with all responsibilities and capabilities and then decide on the exact KPI’s (Key Performance Indicators) and ROI (Return on Investment) you expect the salesperson to reach. I mentor my clients to, “Stop Managing the Person and Start Managing the Numbers (KPI’s)”.  If you don’t have these fundamentals in place it’s much more difficult for new salespeople to succeed.

We all have some experience in sales and most likely became a salesperson during the course of building the business. This is extremely helpful information when you finally achieve a production level necessary to hire a salesperson.  This is because you know the “how” of creating sales and building excellent client relationships. You can now translate that knowledge into a systematic path so that others can get the same result you have.

First, be aware there are no shortcuts in this process. It takes time to find the right people and the necessary time to learn your culture and to train them into your systems. Sure, you can try to find “Super Stars” that start selling the moment they walk through the door, but this often results in pain later on. The best candidates aren’t necessarily the ones that can deliver the most sales in the shortest amount of time. In fact, top achieving salespeople often think about only one thing: closing sales. “Super Stars” tend to do and say anything to get a customer and in the long run they get you into trouble, by not being adaptable, trainable, controllable or willing to follow a system. We all know the ‘pain’ associated with this kind of salesperson. Therefore, we strive to hire the true sales professionals that can generate long-term relationships with customers, and who can convert and nourish those relationships.

Steps to hiring the ‘right’ salesperson:

1-  The interview for salespeople is crucial. Be careful here for most great sales people are also great interviewers. As this point you determine if they can’t sell themselves, nor do they fit with your company and culture. If they don’t pass the first interview, bring in the next candidate.

2-  When you hire salespeople, you’re not just hiring an employee. You’re also choosing customers, since your salespeople play a major role in determining the types of customers you have and the relationship you have with them. You want to get it right and hire the salespeople that will bring you the kind of customers you desire.

3-  Great salespeople are always in demand. Mediocre salespeople are fantastic sales people only when it comes to selling themselves (or interviewing).  Always dig deep in your questioning process. Find out whether they hit quotas and meet plans (how, what, when, how, where and why). Past results, awards and behaviors are the best indicators of future success. Believe it or not, the sales profession is one of the easier professions to objectively quantifiable results, with commission reports, production records and W-2’s.

4-  The next decision in the hiring process is how you will structure the commission structure. Each type of payment structure attracts a different type of sales person.  For example: pure commission, draw plus commission, base salary plus commission, salary and incentives, or salary alone. But the first question you need to answer is, “Which structure fits YOU (NOT the candidate) best?

5-  Get references from present/ past clients. Talk to the clients they lost. Who do you know that they know?  Get an unbiased testimonial from someone you know.

6-  Put them through a Psychometric Evaluation. (for example DiSC). Develop a real training program, over the next 90 days with materials/tests/manual.

7-  Lastly, have your ‘key’ staff members interview them– others can see issues you cannot.