Hiring the right salesperson is certainly a chore. We have been partners with Objective Management Group for 19 years and really respect their tools and expertise. Here’s an excerpt from an article written by Dave Kurlan, their founder, about the keys to hiring great sales people. There are some great tips. We hope they help.
By Mary Anne Wampler,
PRINCIPAL, TRANSFORM, INC.
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As of this writing, there are some indisputable conditions that everyone must contend with:
- There is a shortage of good candidates, but they do exist.
- The more difficult the role and the more capable and expert the salesperson must be, the harder it will be to find “the one.”
- It is taking between 60-90 days to complete the hiring process.
- The best job sites depend on a combination of geography and the desired capabilities of the salespeople you are hoping to hire.
- The best candidate, who I personally interviewed in the past 30 days, was sourced from Craigslist.
- The best overall candidates for a specific geography, that I interviewed in the past 90 days, were sourced from Indeed.
- The best overall candidates for a non-specific geography, that I interviewed in the past 90 days, were from LinkedIn.
- The best overall value for sourcing candidates was from ZipRecruiter.
- You may conduct 5-minute phone interviews with ONLY the candidates that were recommended for the role by the OMG Assessment.
- The percentage of candidates that are recommended varies according to the requirements for the role.
- You may interview only the best of those candidates from the phone interviews.
Managing your own expectations is key to making this process work. You must exercise:
- Patience. You may have to repeat the process several times to find who you are looking for.
- No Compromises. If you compromise, you’ll be starting all over again in 6 months.
- Discipline. Never consider a candidate that is not recommended by the OMG Sales Candidate Assessment regardless of fit.
- No Exceptions. Exceptions compromise the integrity of the sales recruiting process.
- Speed. Once you have identified a desirable candidate, act swiftly or you will lose that candidate! I interviewed a great candidate at 2PM on Thursday and recommended him to my client at 3 PM. At 5:45 PM I received a call and learned that my client had already contacted, met with, interviewed the candidate, and presented a job offer that the candidate accepted.
Finding, selecting, hiring and onboarding great salespeople is more difficult than at any time in the past 20 years. The only thing that will make it easier is something for which you absolutely won’t want to be wishing – a huge economic downturn. As long as the economy is growing and things are going relatively well, we can deal with it being more difficult to hire. After all, what good is a glut of candidates if you can’t afford to hire them?
By Dave Kurlan,
FOUNDER, OBJECTIVE MANAGEMENT GROUP
