Hiring the right sales people for your business

Putting together the prefect sales team can be tough. You’ve got to have a group that can work together, get the job done and, of course, sell your product. Where do you find these people? And how do you go about doing it?

You’ve got to do it right because without a good sales team, your product and business will go nowhere.

The beginning - Recrutiment

Before you can even begin to interview, or think about hiring, you need to find qualified people.

Some businesses are fortunate enough to have a good networking base, and when they need a new hire, they already have someone in mind that just needs some wooing. Others, especially if you are just starting out, need to put work into finding people that may or may not be a good fit. So how do you find them?

You can speak with a sales recruiter and let her know the exact specifics of what you want. He or she can help narrow down the field and bring you applicants that fit your profile; in other words, they can weed out those who won’t fit.

You can also try recruiting fairs, but those are often more entry level positions. The benefit is that you can speak with applicants then and there and can save a lot of time.

Next - Evaluation

Each candidate needs thorough evaluation. You can’t just hire someone because he is your neighbor’s son-in-law who needs a job.

You’ve got to match up what you need with the person who fits >>>

• Think about experience – how much or how little you want.
• Are you willing to invest in training or do you want them to come in ready to roll?
• Think about personality – are they assertive enough, professional enough, willing to learn your product inside and out if they don’t know it already?  Are they easy to work with and pleasant?
• Can they work with the current team?
• What kind of communication skills do they have? Are they articulate and good speakers as well as clear, concise writers? Sales people need to be able to convey material in a professional, clear way – communication is big.
• How are their research and technical skills?
• Will they persevere even in the face of NO? You want someone who is excited about the business and who won’t be afraid to keep going even if things look gloomy.

Finally – Hiring

This actually isn’t the final stage, it’s really the beginning, but once you’ve found the right candidate (or you’ve at least narrowed it down to a few), have others in your company have a chat and see what they think. If working together is a priority, you want to make sure personalities work well together.

Hold a thorough interview and have the prospective candidate spend some time at your office. Check through his or her professional history and look for successes and well as red flags (do you see job hopping, inconsistencies, anything that can set off an alarm?).

Once you feel good about the candidate and others in your company agree – you can make that offer.

Finding the right people is tough. And sometimes, you’ve done everything right and for whatever reason, it’s just a bad fit.

It happens, and well, you just may need to start over.

About the author

Heather Legg is a writer who covers business related topics, including hiring and business reputation management.