Businesses often seek out “Sales People for Hire” as a way to quickly increase their sales revenue and gain a competitive advantage in their industry, without the expense and commitment of hiring a full-time sales team.

A sales manager will often face the task of hiring salespeople, which can be a labor-intensive prospect and is sometimes viewed as one of the least enjoyable parts of the sales industry.

But hiring sales reps can bring many benefits to a sales team. When hiring a sales rep may inject new life into the group.

It can shore up areas where a sales department needs to gain certain knowledge or sales experience. Or it can provide needed support during busy parts of a sales cycle.

The sales hiring process is ongoing when the new sales rep sits at their new desk. Sales managers must also be concerned with keeping top talent in their employ.

In this blog, we will consider several key points to effective sales rep hiring practices:

• How to find sales reps
• How to find the right sales reps
• How to find only the right sales reps
• How to keep the right sales reps

Let’s begin with where sales managers should look for quality sales rep candidates.

Finding Sales People for Hire to Supplement a Sales Team

When trying to fill sales positions, looking in the right places is important. Sales representatives frequent professional sites like LinkedIn and social media platforms like Facebook.

You can often come into contact with sales professionals who aren’t actively looking for a new job opportunity but are still an ideal fit for the sales position.

Getting these sales reps on your radar can prove beneficial when they do switch to the role of job seekers.

Job Boards

Online job boards provide a great platform for placing a job posting. They reach a wide audience of sales talent and target sales representatives who are motivated to find new business development opportunities.

Post jobs on these sites using keywords that job seekers will use in their searches. Include all relevant information on sales experience, skills, and education that are necessary and preferred in the job description.

Sales Events

Sales events like trade shows, webinars, and professional services events like ongoing training seminars may be an opportunity to scope out sales reps working for businesses in the same industry.

Alternatively, be willing to look at sales professionals operating in different industries as many sales skills transfer easily.

Existing Customers

Consider the possibility of finding sales reps among your existing customer base.

Companies that conduct B2B sales may find the next great sales team member sitting across the table from them in negotiations.

Filling Sales Representative Job Openings with the Ideal Candidate

It makes sense to look at the specific needs when considering the placement of a job posting.

Giving extra thought to the niche requirements of a position may make you lean in one direction or another, depending on the sales candidates that respond.

Look at some of the potential roles that can boost the effectiveness of a sales team.

Sales Analyst

Does your team need more help reviewing sales reports and data metrics your CRM software generates?

Candidates that excel at market research, data entry, and data visualization may be handy in your office environment.

Tech-savvy individuals can help the entire team make sales by analyzing your efforts and pointing out areas for improvement.

Customer Service Representative

If you are onboarding many new customers, it may be time to add more customer service sales reps to your sales staff to care for new clients.

Since this kind of sales professional acts as the front face of your company to clients, find a sales candidate with great communication skills to assist current and prospective customers.

Freelance Sales Representatives

In some situations, it might make sense to hire freelance sales representatives instead of full-time sales representatives.

Freelancers are often paid by the sale and do not maintain a long-term relationship with the company.

This arrangement may benefit a business that faces a seasonal sales cycle or needs temporary help with a product launch.

Outbound Sales Rep

Outbound sales aim to reach potential clients without expressing interest in the company’s products and services.

Sales forces that need more assistance with cold calls and lead generation can benefit from the extra hands in this role.

Review the candidate’s negotiation skills and ability to close deals when scheduling interviews to fill this position, as they will be in the frontline trenches of your sales efforts.

Commission-Only Salespeople

Another role that can bolster a sales team is commission-only salespeople. These sales pros are great for companies just starting up and growing quickly.

They are paid solely on commission from closed sales without a base salary. So, there is little to no cost for a company until they see the results of the sales rep’s hard work.

Hiring salespeople on commission-only compensation helps keep the individual motivated to sell.

Specialized Sales Roles

Other related roles might be needed to support a sales team. The marketing team may be a separate entity in the company, but their jobs often overlap with sales since they sell the business to the public.

Digital marketing sales professionals may work with social media and hiring managers to polish the company’s image. This can produce higher-quality leads when it comes time to hire a sales rep.

Sales enablement staff with work with current staff to train them to sell or onboard new employees.

These team members help ensure the sales force is most efficient at generating leads and closing deals.

Filtering Promising Candidates Quickly

While hiring managers may worry that they won’t get any quality applicants for their sales representative job, it is also possible that they will get many responses.

How do they filter out the noise and end up with a manageable number of candidates to interview?

They should pay careful attention to key elements in job applications and during the phone interview process to whittle down the applicant pool. Though, they should be careful not to be too aggressive in this step as they might miss a diamond in the rough.

Consider a few factors that help identify the best candidates ready to move to the next hiring step.

Hire for the Sales Role

The hiring process is much like a matchmaking service. You are attempting to find the best person for your open role.

Sales skills, experience, education, and personality must influence your decisions. You will also want to consider sales industry-specific or company-specific knowledge that will make the transition easier.

• Does the candidate need technical support knowledge of a product to provide customers with ongoing assistance?
• Is the sales representative expected to use a particular CRM software or perform a large amount of data entry?
• Will the role focus on prospective or existing customers for future business development?

Soft Skills

Often a sales will possess all the necessary sales skills. Prospecting, lead generation, and the ability to close deals are expected requirements for any sales role.

But does the candidate also possess traits or a personality that will push them past the standard requirements and give them a greater advantage?

These qualities are called soft skills, and sales representatives that cultivate them will be a more natural fit for any sales role they take on.

• Active listening – Many people tend to make assumptions, interrupt, or rush conversations rather than listen to the other person. Sales representatives must communicate effectively with potential clients – and half of communication is listening.
• Emotional intelligence means a sales representative can read other people’s emotions and optimally display their emotional responses. It involves knowing when to be empathetic, humble, confident, and reassuring.
• Resilience – No matter how good a sales representative is, every pitch will not end in a sale. They must be able to handle rejection well, learn from it, and be able to move on.
• Time management – There are a lot of tasks to get done. Hire sales reps who know when to focus on different projects and can distinguish priorities.
• Curiosity – Things always change. Products and the market are constantly changing, and sales reps must be ready to learn new product updates and sales methods in a never-stagnant industry.

Hire for the Sales Team

Make sure the candidate is a good fit for the overall sales team. New additions should add to, not detract from, the team’s abilities.

Recognize that there will be a ramp-up period as new sales reps get up to speed with your specific sales methods.

This may naturally draw away some team resources, but it should be temporary and can be mitigated with sufficient onboarding.

Retain Great Salespeople

Keeping good sales reps after you’ve found them and added them to your team is part of the struggle. Follow these tips to retain great sales talent.

Empower Sales Reps

Give sales representatives the tools they need to do their job. This may involve reworking your budget for proper training and skills development.

Use technology to your advantage. Investing in workflow management software may make sense so sales reps can focus more on selling and less on proposals, quotes, or contracts.

Build a Positive Company Culture

Develop a strong, positive culture that helps reduce stress and improve morale. Set clearly defined goals and keep communication lines open.

Have ongoing staff meetings to keep everyone focused on the same thing. But also allow one-on-one meetings with staff – especially new hires – to check in and provide relevant feedback.

Publicly recognize your team based on activity, not only results.

Provide Growth Opportunities

Sales may feel like a dead-end path with little room for advancement. Find ways to keep sales representatives engaged.

Sales professionals are in a strategic position to be aware of business processes. Business management may be a natural path for those with the appropriate leadership skills.

Nurture that ability by delegating projects over time to keep reps interested and growing.

Give Attention to Pay and Bonuses

Pay is everything. A great paystub can motivate and keep sales representatives actively selling.

Consider the way you incentivize employees. Perks like bonuses for reaching sales thresholds or healthy competitions with desirable prizes can stimulate your people to even greater effort.

Conduct Exit Interview Process

People will, unfortunately, leave the company for one reason or another. Take time to conduct an exit interview. This may help identify reasons for their departure and point to a path for improvement in certain cases.

No one wants to tell their former supervisor their reasons for leaving. Exit interviews should be conducted by an impartial HR representative for the most honest answers.

Conclusion

Although the hiring process can be stressful, there are good reasons to put in extra effort to make it a success.

You can find great sales representatives by looking in the right place and being smart in filtering down your applicant pool.

Take the time needed to make onboarding a useful endeavor. Retain employees by giving them the tools they need to do their job and make working for your business a pleasant experience.