Your roadmap to hiring and retaining top Sales professionals

In this issue of Hire Learning, we explore the key elements of hiring and retaining a top performing sales professional.

Step 1: Develop a performance profile. A performance profile defines the work the person needs to do based on the sales role, client base, industry, and other related factors. It does not necessarily describe the skills required, rather it’s what a person does with what they have that determines success. The performance profile will create a more concrete idea of what you are looking for in a new hire, and will likely accelerate the first steps of the hiring process. This is a critical step in identifying the type of salesperson who will fit your business.

Step 2: Create your job advertisement. Using the profile, develop your job advertisement. The ad should highlight the Employee Value Proposition by describing why a top sales person would want the job and clearly defining the growth opportunities. Sell the opportunity, not your company. Place your company ‘commercial’ at the end of the ad because talented sales people want to know why your job (not your company) is better than competing jobs. They are looking for what they will learn and how they will grow in their career. Convert your ad into a career opportunity, not just a list of job requirements.

Step 3: Develop a consistent interview process. Your interview process will guide you from the initial resume review, to interview questions, background checks, and ultimately the offer. Creating your interview questions in advance will help you remain disciplined and systematic in identifying salespeople who fit your profile. Check your emotions at the door at least for the first 30 minutes. First impressions can be misleading especially with sales people who are trained to professionally ‘sell’ themselves. Start each interview with a work history review to allow each party to become comfortable and settle into the interview. Be sure to keep these questions organized in such a manner that you are most effectively assessing your candidates at each step of the process (making sure to get more in depth as the process continues).

Step 4: Invest in a competitive compensation plan. The right compensation plan will incent your new salesperson for optimal performance and will also help you retain your best salespeople. There are few things as disheartening or expensive as losing one of your best salespeople after making an investment in recruitment, hiring and training. Proper compensation is key to keeping your talent at the level you would like it to be. Research companies in your industry to find out if your compensation is in line with your competition. Good sales people should be financially motivated and a plan that not only attracts but retains them should be a top priority.

Step 5: Develop activity standards and quotas. Along with your compensation plan you will need to determine what your activity standards and sales quotas will be. This will ensure that everyone clearly understands what is expected. It’s been my experience as a recruiter that unclear expectations are one of the main reasons why sales people quit. This will also provide you with a guide for managing your salespeople. Staying organized in this way will help not only efficiency, but will also help you keep your talent. Keep in mind that this is an ongoing process that will change over time as your business and market evolves.

Step 6: Create a reporting process. You can’t manage what you don’t measure. So you will need to create a reporting process for your sales efforts that makes it easy for your salespeople to report on their sales activity. This system will allow you to measure that information against the Key Performance Indicators you developed which will in turn help you to assess your growth levels in performance.

Step 7: Develop an on boarding process. When you hire a salesperson, you need a process to get them set up as an employee (or in some cases an independent contractor). Don’t expect the sales person to ‘wing it’ once on board.  Introduce them to your company, culture and history; introduce them to your performance standards and reporting, and provide them with basic product knowledge and rate schedules. Keeping your talent well-informed will help with both productivity and company loyalty of your talent.

Step 8: Provide training and sales support materials. If you want a successful sales effort, sales training and support are critical. As a small operation, training may be more informal than in large companies, however, what is most important is that it be regular and ongoing. Don’t forget to provide support for your salespeople in the form of a CRM program, marketing collateral, and customer service.

Step 9: Prepare to coach and manage. Managing salespeople is different from managing other types of employees. It requires you to be a coach, mentor, motivator, and leader. A top sales person who is promoted to a Sales Manager position is not necessarily equipped to be a good manager unless provided with management training. So be sure you are prepared to be engaged and involved with your sales team. This will create an atmosphere that fosters growth, and will create a better work environment for your team.