During the Covid-19 pandemic, companies tend to act very carefully when hiring salespeople. Why? Business and sales leaders are very well aware that hiring a salesperson can be very tricky and hiring the wrong candidate will cost them dearly. And that “dearly” consists of salary, expenses, not closed or lost sales and reputation, among others. These costs often amount to € 100.000,00 or much more a year.

You can find yourself torn between two needs: first, you need a robust performing salesperson or sales leader; second, you are not so confident in finding and selecting the right one. And with cash being scarce, you need to invest wisely.

So, is it a gamble? If wrongly approached, chances are it will be a gamble. If done the right way, you reduce your risks dramatically and achieve business growth.

There are best practice approaches to attract and hire the right sales candidates for any organization. Let us look at some examples of what to avoid and what to have to succeed when recruiting salespeople.

What to avoid:

Hiring candidates “who know your business” just because they know the business. If you decide on this, you should practice caution. The reason is that the candidate might have a mindset, which might not be successful in your organization or market approach. They might also not be willing to change their perspective.

Choosing a candidate who will fit in your team. This one can be risky. If you have a high-performing team, this could be the right decision. If your team can do much better, you need to be looking for someone who can help upgrade the team. Look for someone who can inject a positive impulse into the team.

We need to seduce them to come and work with us. The question is, why? If your offering is good and people can profit from your business environment, they would be happy to work for you. Just make sure that your message inspires candidates to apply. Use a positive Value Proposition for the job offer!

Falling in love with the candidate. I mean with this, having the perception that you have the ideal candidate in front of you and forgetting to do all the checks and balances. Many factors make us like someone. But liking someone does not mean they will perform for you. On the contrary, their “niceness” might distract you from the beginning. By the time you discover that they are not performing, it might be too late.

Searching for sales candidates who are “cheap and good.” Real-life shows that this is a utopia. Successful salespeople earn fair wages and deliver high performance.

What to have in place:

First, have a sales-recruitment process in place that will guide you step-by-step through the whole recruitment journey. It will save you time and money and also help you avoid costly hiring mistakes.

If you publish your job offer, make sure you set up an ad that will attract the right salespeople you are looking to hire. Do realize that boring ads attract mostly dull candidates. Inspiring and challenging ads usually attract candidates with a strong desire for success, ambition and performance.

If you choose to involve a recruitment agency, demand they use a sales-specific sales test. Why? Some factors influence the use of sales skills positively or negatively. These factors are difficult to identify. A sales-specific test will uncover these and much more.

Furthermore, sales recruiters usually tend to fill the position and leave the responsibility of choice with the client. By the time you realize that your new salesperson is not performing, everybody has forgotten who delivered them. A sales-specific test will help you avoid hiring the wrong candidate.

If you prefer to recruit the sales candidate yourself, it’s essential to tap into one of the best channels with a large sales audience. LinkedIn is leading when it comes to sales. With over 690 million users, the LinkedIn platform offers many options when it comes to recruiting. When looking for candidates, you can advert, search and approach sales candidates. The user audience of LinkedIn covers all levels of business and institutions.

I have covered some of the main do’s and don’ts in sales recruiting. I’m aware that there is much more to it. We can assist you in executing a successful recruiting project. If you want to know much more, I invite you to do the following:

Contact me on +31 (0) 642713033 or by email at robert@peterson-company.com

This takes place on Thursday, January 28, 2021, 11:00 am-11:30 am USA Eastern Standard Time (GMT-5).

If you live in Europe: 17:00 - 17:30 Central Europe Time CET.2021

There is a saying that if everybody starts to talk about a crisis, this crisis will eventually happen. Recently more and more business people talk about an imminent crisis. But is this true? Will this happen? I think it’s too early to say although recent publications predict something is going to happen.

So, what do you do if you want to be on the safe side? If you are a business leader, it's important to continue reading. If you are not, continue reading as this will provide insight in maintaining a healthy revenue stream throughout a financial crisis.

Often managers tend to see a crisis as a threat and they start to panic. This is the wrong approach. If you panic, you should ask yourselves what effect this will have on your co-workers. The people who we need to help you keep the business going. Not good.

There is another way: approach the crisis as an opportunity to get your team up and running!
The following steps will help you in this:

Create a sense of urgency. When co-workers are aware of the sense of urgency, they are more capable to accept and adapt to change.
Keep your team informed. The better you inform people, the less there will be gossip. Gossip can kill during challenging times.
Emphasize strategy, responsibilities, objectives and priorities. By doing so, you get people involved to help meet challenging times. It’s also builds teamwork.
Have monthly meetings where you present where the organization is and where it needs to be. This gives your team insight and focusses them on the objective.
Have a daily or weekly roll call. Share results of the previous period/activities, where we stand, what are future steps to take/activities to deploy. Who does what by when and how.
Celebrate successes. Sports people work hard and train hard to achieve results. Being in a winning state increases the chance for more success.
Inspire, stimulate, show interest and congratulate. This approach has a positive impact on motivation and will nurture and drive results.
Don’t fire people involved with your customers/market, they are your liaison with the people (customers) who can help you survive the storm. If you have to let people go, focus on underperformers who are not willing to contribute to the team.
Beef up your salesforce. When confronted with challenging market situations like recessions, economical setback and other disruptive market situations, your salesforce is your best tool to survive. They are responsible for bringing in revenue and profit. This means, hiring the best, developing the team, motivate, coach, train and hold them accountable for result.

This will help you withstand the most severe storms.
Following these nine steps will help you weather the most severe storms.
By the way, if you need additional assistance in beefing up your salesforce contact us here.

Hiring the best salespeople during a pandemic a gamble? Not really!

How to weather a financial storm?

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