Getting your team right is absolutely crucial, and in the area of recruiting sales people, there are many pitfalls. You probably have several in the back of your mind, but some are more damaging than others. Here are the five killer mistakes an employer must avoid – and how to do that.
1. Limited Candidate Pool
Filling this vacancy is not the only thing on your plate at the moment, but it seems straightforward, right? You’ve got contacts, you know where to advertise and you’ve got a nose for recruitment. But it’s not all you do.
To get the job done, you grab the bull by the horns and give it your full attention – for a couple of hours or maybe the entire morning. Inevitably this results in using a limited candidate pool.
How to avoid it: give the task to someone who has the time to devote to it, because it’s what they do; a company that spends all day, every day tracking and talking to commission-only sellers.
2. Insufficient Role Definition
Again, you haven’t got all day for this, but it’s not rocket science, right? You know what you need and if you make the definition quite broad, you’re going to attract plenty of candidates and one of them will stand out. But what a waste of your time this will be.
How to avoid it: use a firm that is gong to press you for precise information. Yes, it’s going to take a while, but left to your own devices you’re not going to get it honed. Once this company has drawn the information out of you, then you can get on with something else.
3. Being Impressed by Inappropriate Experience
If you’re recruiting a red-hot sales rep, they will be doing a job on you too, because that’s what they’re good at. If the right one is on your team, let them work their magic on customers on your behalf, but don’t let them pull their routine on you with things on their resumé that may not work in your field.
How to avoid it: hire a company that deals with these people all the time and will stick rigidly to your guidelines. The right candidate will be wonderful out there selling your company but let a specialist grill them first.
4. They Don’t Suit your Company Culture
It can be hard to define a company culture – and it may, in fact, be different from how you would like to think it is. After a while the recruitment process can wear you down and leave you feeling over-generous so you can get the thing done.
How to avoid it: spell it out to your specialist recruiter and make sure they understand. If they’re the right company for you they will see things and ask questions you may not expect. And if it feels like they’re making you state the obvious, maybe it isn’t that obvious after all.
5. Failing To Sell Yourself
You’re looking for top talent, probably with great experience, so you’re going to be dealing with people who know what they’re worth and are interviewing you almost as much as you’re interviewing them. Are you the best in your field? They may need to be convinced, or they may go cold on the idea.
How to avoid it: with this one you’re on your own. Your specialist recruiter has set you up with some excellent candidates, and you don’t want the right one walking out on you. That means you have to give them unarguable reasons why they should join you. You may want to start this process as soon as they walk in the room, and if you reach the point where you’re sure this is who you want, you will definitely have to clinch the deal by convincing them they have the perfect opportunity with you to further their career.
