According to the Bridge Group, the average sales rep will only spend 18 months with their current company before they’re fired or decide to seek a new job.

This wouldn’t be as much of a problem if turnover wasn’t so expensive…

The good folks at PeopleKeep claim that a bad sales hire can cost your company anywhere from 50-75% of the departing rep’s annual salary. Put simply, it could cost you as much as $37.5K to replace a sales rep earning $50K a year due to hiring, training, and other expenses.

What does this mean for your sales department? It means you need to develop a proven sales recruiting process. That way you can hire better and faster and minimize turnover costs.

SPOTIO recently had the opportunity to work with Brandon Lairsen, a Partner at 360 Consulting. Brandon has 15+ years of experience in sales team leadership so he was the ideal person to help us optimize our sales recruiting process and fill open roles quickly.

Keep reading to learn how we improved our recruitment efforts and how you can do the same.

8 Steps to Improve Your Sales Recruiting Process

Once you develop an effective sales recruiting process, you’ll be able to hire better employees in less time, saving your company a bundle of cash along the way. Just follow these steps:

1. Assess Company Goals

Before you do anything else, Lairsen suggests assessing your department’s big, overarching goals.

What are you hoping to achieve? When you know the answer to that question, you can look for specific salespeople who will help you accomplish these objectives.

For example, if you’re looking to expand territories, you’ll want to look for an experienced field sales rep. If you’re looking to take some of the burden off of your top sellers, you’ll probably want to hire a young, enthusiastic seller to handle prospecting duties.

Identify your goals. Then look to hire new employees who will help you achieve them.

2. Review Your Compensation Plan

Most sales reps are motivated by money. If your company doesn’t offer a competitive compensation plan, you’ll have an extremely difficult time attracting top talent.

So take time to review your pay structure. Will incoming reps find it enticing? Does it encourage them to strive for success? Will it ensure their happiness with your company?

If the answer to any of these questions is “no,” consider adjusting your compensation plan.

We cover compensation plans in depth in this article. Give it a read to learn about the different pay structures available to you and how to choose the right one for your company.

3. Create an Ideal Candidate Profile

Just like sales and marketing has an ideal customer profile for audience targeting, you should also have one for finding the right talent. This is called an ideal candidate profile.

Your ideal candidate profile should include three sections:

• Must-Haves: These are the traits, skills sets, experiences, etc. that every legitimate candidate needs to have. For example, an upbeat attitude, knowledge of Salesforce, and/or 5+ years of experience in field sales—it’s up to you.
• Nice-to-Haves: These are the traits, skills sets, experiences, etc. that you’d like for candidates to have, but aren’t completely necessary. For example, you may want candidates to have 5+ years of experience, but will consider those with only 3.
• Can’t-Haves: These are qualities that, if a candidate displays them, will allow you to automatically cross them off of your list. For example, a candidate that doesn’t display respect for authority would probably miss the cut.

Lairsen suggests writing all of your must-haves, nice-to-haves, and can’t-haves down. That way you and your team can easily access them when evaluating candidates.

4. Design a Candidate Evaluation Process

At this point, you’ve created an ideal candidate profile. Now you need to decide how you’ll evaluate each candidate that applies for your open position(s).

Start with who, as in who in your company will be a part of the evaluation process. Is it just you? Or is there another person or two who will have input on hiring decisions?

Next, move on to what, as in what do you need to learn about each candidate to properly evaluate them. This is where you must-haves, nice-to-haves, and can’t-haves come into play.

Finally, assess how, as in how you’re going to evaluate each candidate. Will you conduct face-to-face interviews? Are you going to give potential employees a specific task to complete? And how much weight will you give to a candidate’s resume?

5. Establish an Employee Value Proposition

Why should candidates want to join your sales department?

Do you offer competitive pay and incentives? Have you created a fun atmosphere that people want to be a part of? Do you give your reps more autonomy than other sales managers?

Employment is a two-way street. As such, you need to convince potential employees that your company is worth working for, just like they need to convince you that they’re worth hiring.

Think about the things that make your sales department an awesome place to work. Then brainstorm ways to convey them to each candidate. Maybe you add perks to your job listings. Maybe you put together a two-minute presentation to play during interviews. It’s your call.

6. Build an Employee Onboarding Process

Effective onboarding is essential.

In fact, great onboarding processes can improve employee retention by 82%. Unfortunately, 88% of organizations fail to onboard new employees in an effective manner. Because of this, many companies have a hard time keeping their top team members.

According to Lairsen, a good onboarding process will make it easy for both the new employee and his or her manager to get up to speed quickly.

When building an onboarding process for your sales department, give new hires easy access to company information. If possible, pair them with a more experienced seller, who can answer questions when they have them. And make yourself available as well.

7. Participate in the Candidate Evaluation Process

Lairsen suggests a hands-on approach to hiring — even if your company’s HR department is technically in charge of recruitment.

As a sales manager, you’re the one who will be working with this new employee on a daily basis. You need to make sure that they have what it takes to succeed.

So, sit in on every interview and debrief. Share your thoughts with HR, or your company’s CEO, or whoever it is that has final say over hiring decisions.

Here’s are a few tips to help you deliver good feedback:

• Be Timely: Try to schedule your debrief immediately after the interview—or as close to it as you can. That way the encounter is fresh in everyone’s mind
• Be Objective: Try not to compare candidates to each other in your debrief. Simply share your thoughts on each potential hire in an unbiased manner.
• Be Focused: Focus your debrief on the boxes each candidate checked and didn’t check, as well as the other advantages they bring to the table.
• Be Candid: Now is the time to make your opinion known. Be open and honest. And remember nobody knows what traits make a good salesperson better than you.

8. Instill Candidates With Confidence

As mentioned earlier, candidates will be interviewing you at the same time you’re interviewing them. They need to make sure that they actually want to work for your company.

To land top talent, you need to instill candidates with confidence. The question is, how? Here are two ways you can present your company in the best possible light:

1. Share a Clear Sales Strategy: Potential employees want to feel like they will succeed with your company. By sharing your sales strategy, complete with processes and goals, you’ll show them that you can lead them to sustained success.
2. Invest in Industry-Leading Tools: The best sellers know the value of quality tools. Show candidates that your company is willing to invest in top-rated technology. For example, field reps love SPOTIO because it helps them become more efficient and hit their quotas more easily. When a potential field rep sees your team has access to the SPOTIO platform, they’ll likely be more interested in accepting your employment offer.

Supercharge Your Sales Recruiting Process

An optimized sales recruiting process will help you land top talent in less time. It will also help you retain said talent, saving you thousands of dollars in the process.

We were fortunate enough to connect with 360 Consulting to improve our recruitment efforts. Now, SPOTIO has the processes in place to attract and land the best salespeople, marketers, and other professionals. We’re confident this ability will help us immensely in the future.

Are you interested in working with 360 Consulting as well? Give them a call. Not only will they give you advice to improve your sales recruiting process, but they’ll also guarantee new hires. If your new hire isn’t a fit after 90 days, they’ll find someone else who is, free of charge.

Contact 360 Consulting today!

“Beauty Is In The Eye Of The Beholder”

Motivational sales quotes will start popping up everywhere if you simply look. You’ll find them on coffee cups, online ads, soap dispensers, classroom doors, and the list goes on. But it’s because of their ever-increasing presence in our lives that some dismiss them as annoying.

Sales quotes can be extremely effective to help drive performance for the right audience. Some will simply here the phrase “motivational quote” and instantly roll their eyes, shake their head and begin praying to 8 pound, 6 ounce baby Jesus that they don’t get bombarded with more of those bullshit sayings in their inbox.

If you fall into this category, it’s okay… we’re not judging. Renowned psychologist and motivation expert Jonathan Fader says that some will feel more inspired by motivational sales quotes than others. Fader stated that those inspired by great sales quotes typically tend to connect with them on a deeper level, meaning they have a greater relation to the message.

The Power Of Words

In a study by Farouk Radwan from 2KnowMyself, he showed the effect of words on our mood. Three groups of people were asked to solve a word-based puzzle.

Group 1:   Puzzle contained words like “calm” and “polite”
Group 2:  Puzzle contained words like “anger” and “rude”
Group 3:  Puzzle contained neutral words

Upon completion, participants were asked to head to another room, but along the way someone would continuously interrupt them and force them to wait longer before arriving. Not surprisingly, each group interacted with the annoying individual using words they were exposed to during the puzzle.

Group 1:   Expressed politeness toward the individual
Group 2:  Responded with aggressiveness in their terminology
Group 3:  Responded with a neutral response and little emotion

The experiment shows how terminology affects our thinking and performance. Next time you add in a sales quote at the end of your meeting to fire up the troops, consider how your words will encourage inspiration and positivity to enhance your team’s mindset. This is one of the 10 keys to running an effective meeting.

‘Natural Selection’ Through Language

Fader explained the psychology behind the language we use and who’s delivering the message. Whether or not we’re drawn to these flashy, catchy sayings often lies within our own belief to achieve what we desire. If you believe it can be achieved, motivational sales quotes can be a very powerful incentive to try harder.

This is essential when setting SMART sales goals for your team. People with a manager, teacher or mentor who believe they can do something are more likely to do it. Salespeople need leaders who support and encourage them. This provides the confidence needed to thrive in a competitive environment. Your support and belief are enough to provide some extra motivation.

Feed The Beast

Ward Farnsworth, the dean at the University Of Texas School Of Law, found people have an “appetite for well-expressed wisdom, motivational or otherwise.” He demonstrated how the words we use need to be carefully calculated because of the considerable difference in meaning.

There’s many ways to say the same thing. One phrase may be more pleasing to some while one is more convincing to others. Everyone will understand the meaning, but the reaction will vary considerably based on the phrasing.

Consider how you arrange different terms and phrases when coming up with quotes to drive performance. You have to know the people on your team in order to accurately affect the right emotions.

Words evoking negative emotions disturb chemical processes in our brains for brief periods of time. The mind is unable to accept external input unless it matches our belief system.

Your relationship with your team needs to be deep enough to understand their beliefs in order to pull the right strings.

T.U.R.F.

T – Talk to your sales team on a consistent basis to learn details about each person, including any problems or issues he or she is facing.

U – Use words that align with the individual based on what you’ve learned.

R – Remind sales reps of past accomplishments by using words that motivate the individual based on what you know about them, and be sure to include power words he or she would use.

F – Find motivational sales quotes that speak directly to each individual salesperson by focusing on power words that motivate him or her.

Motivational Quotes To Inspire Peak Performance

Now, the moment you’ve been waiting for… Sales quotes you can steal from us to sound like a baller and try to pass them off as your own. We created a few different categories to make it a little easier to find what you’re looking for.

Section I: Famous Sales Quotes

Our greatest weakness lies in giving up. The most certain way to succeed is always to try just one more time. [Thomas Edison]

Always do your best. What you plant now, you will harvest later. [Og Mandino]

Become the person who would attract the results you seek. [Jim Cathcart]

Don’t watch the clock; do what it does. Keep going. [Sam Levenson]

Everything you’ve ever wanted is on the other side of fear. [George Addair]

The secret of getting ahead is getting started. [Mark Twain]

Quality performance starts with a positive attitude. [Jeffrey Gitomer]

Do you want to know who you are? Don’t ask. Act! Action will delineate and define you. [Thomas Jefferson]

Motivation will almost always beat mere talent. [Norman Ralph Augustine]

Section II: Inspirational Sales Quotes

You miss 100% of the shots you don’t take. [Wayne Gretzky]

The greatest competitive advantage is knowledge. [Mark Cuban]

We are what we repeatedly do. Excellence,  therefore, is not an act but a habit. [Aristotle]

I still work hard to know my business. I’m continuously looking for ways to improve all my companies, and I’m always selling. Always. [Mark Cuban]

You can never quit. Winners never quit, and quitters never win. [Ted Turner]

If you’re going to be thinking, you may as well think big. [Donald Trump]

Life is 10% what happens to me and 90% how I react to it. [John Maxwell]

Success is the sum of small efforts, repeated day in and day out. [Robert Collier]

The harder the conflict, the more glorious the triumph. [Thomas Paine]

Section III: Sales Goals Quotes

Setting goals is the first step in turning the invisible into the visible. [Tony Robbins]

A goal properly set is hallway reached. [Zig Ziglar]

You just can’t beat the person who never gives up. [Babe Ruth]

I attribute my success to this: I never gave or took any excuse. [Florence Nightingale]

I got lucky because I never gave up the search. Are you quitting too soon? Or are you willing to pursue luck with a vengeance? [Jill Konrath]

Winning isn’t everything, but wanting to win is. [Vince Lombardi]

A goal is a dream with a deadline. [Napoleon Hill]

You can’t build a reputation on what you are going to do. [Henry Ford]

Success is never final. Failure is never fatal. It is courage that counts. [Winston Churchill]

Section IV: Zig Ziglar Sales Quotes

Stop selling. Start helping. [Zig Ziglar]

You will get all you want in life if you help enough other people get what they want. [Zig Ziglar]

Lack of direction, not a lack of time, is the problem. We all have 24-hour days. [Zig Ziglar]

Every choice you make has an end result. [Zig Ziglar]

Your business is never really good or bad ‘out there.’ Your business is either good or bad right between your own two ears. [Zig Ziglar]

People don’t buy for logical reasons. They buy for emotional reasons. [Zig Ziglar]

If you learn from defeat, you haven’t really lost. [Zig Ziglar]

If you aim at nothing, you will hit every time. [Zig Ziglar]

If you don’t see yourself as a winner, then you cannot perform as a winner. [Zig Ziglar]

Every sale has five basic obstacles: no need, no money, no hurry, no desire, no trust. [Zig Ziglar]

If you wait until all the lights are “green” before you leave home, you’ll never get started on your trip to the top. [Zig Ziglar]

Section V: Sales Quotes That Hit Home

The best revenge is massive success. [Frank Sinatra]

Things do not happen. Things are made to happen. [John F. Kennedy]

Obstacles don’t have to stop you. If you run into a wall, don’t turn around and give up. Figure out how to climb it, go through it, or work around it. [Michael Jordan]

If we did the things we are capable of, we would astound ourselves. [Thomas Edison]

Believe you can and you’re halfway there. [Theodore Roosevelt]

Action is the foundational key to all success. [Pablo Picasso]

The secret of success is consistency of purpose. [Benjamin Disraeli]

Change before you have to. [Jack Welch]

We herd sheep, we drive cattle, we lead people. Lead me, follow me, or get out of my way. [George S. Patton]

Your attitude, not your aptitude, will determine your altitude. [Zig Ziglar]

Section VI:  Quotes You Need To Know

Remembering that you are going to die is the best way I know to avoid the trap of thinking you have something to lose. You are already naked. There is no reason not to follow your heart. [Steve Jobs]

We must all suffer from one of two pains: the pain of discipline or the pain of regret. The difference is discipline weighs ounces while regret weighs tons. [Jim Rohn]

Always bear in mind that your own resolution to succeed is more important than any other. [Abraham Lincoln]

The coward dies a thousand deaths, the brave but one. [Ernest Hemingway]

The extra mile is a vast, unpopulated wasteland. [Jeff Haden – Inc.]

Human beings have an innate inner drive to be autonomous, self-determined, and connected to one another. And when that drive is liberated, people achieve more and live richer lives. [Daniel Pink]

There is always room at the top. [Daniel Webster]

It’s not about having the right opportunities. It’s about handling the opportunities right. [Mark Hunter]

Trying is winning in the moment. [Dan Waldschmidt]

If you aren’t going all the way, why go at all? [Joe Namath]

Section VII: Extra Motivation

Things may come to those who wait, but only the things left by those who hustle. [Abraham Lincoln]

Sweat equity is the most valuable equity there is. Know your business and industry better than anyone else in the world. Love what you do or don’t do it. [Mark Cuban]

Most of the important things in the world have been accomplished by people who have kept on trying where there seemed to be no hope at all.[Dale Carnegie]

If not us, who? If not now, when?[John F. Kennedy]

One of the greatest discoveries a man makes, one of his great surprises, is to find he can do what he was afraid he couldn’t do.[Henry Ford]

Pain is temporary. It may last a minute, or an hour, or a day, or a year, but eventually it will subside and something else will take its place. If I quit, however, it lasts forever. [Lance Armstrong]

Develop success from failures. Discouragement and failure are two of the surest stepping stones to success.[Dale Carnegie]

Success is doing ordinary things extraordinarily well.[Jim Rohn]

Nothing great was ever achieved without enthusiasm. [Ralph Waldo Emerson]

The difference between a successful person and others is not a lack of strength, not a lack of knowledge, but rather a lack of will. [Vince Lombardi]

You miss 100% of the shots you don’t take. [Wayne Gretzky]

The greatest competitive advantage is knowledge.[Mark Cuban]

We are what we repeatedly do. Excellence,  therefore, is not an act but a habit.[Aristotle]

I still work hard to know my business. I’m continuously looking for ways to improve all my companies, and I’m always selling. Always.[Mark Cuban]

You can never quit. Winners never quit, and quitters never win. [Ted Turner]

If you’re going to be thinking, you may as well think big. [Donald Trump]

Life is 10% what happens to me and 90% how I react to it. [John Maxwell]

Success is the sum of small efforts, repeated day in and day out. [Robert Collier]

_______

SPOTIO is the #1 field sales engagement and performance management software that will increase revenue, maximize profitability, and boost sales productivity.

Want to see a product demonstration? Click here to see how SPOTIO can take your sales game to the next level.

• Can you tell me a little bit about yourself?
• Why do you want to be a sales manager?
• Can you describe a past incentive that motivated you?
• What qualities make you good at sales? How about management?
• What area challenged you the most in sales and how did you overcome it?

Operational Interview Questions for Sales Managers

• What do you look for in new sales rep hires?
• What is your training plan for a new sales rep joining your team?
• What method is the best performer for training new salespeople?
• How do you approach setting goals?
• How have you addressed a sales rep that is missing quota on a regular basis and what did you do to resolve the situation?

Leadership-Style Interview Questions for Sales Managers

• What is the best motivator for a sales team?
• How would you describe your management style?
• How do you set goals, track progress, and ensure performance for and from your team?
• How do you recognize performance?
• What is your approach to conflict management amongst members of your team?

Role-Based Interview Questions for Sales Managers

• How do you prepare quarterly and annual performance reports and what data do you need for them?
• What do you know regarding sales forecasting? What tools & software do you employ when you do?
  
• Can you explain as you would to someone who if not familiar with us what we do?
  
• How will your strengths and weaknesses help and hurt you in the sales manager position?
  
• How do you divide your time in a week to the various responsibilities of your job?

Behavioral Interview Questions for Sales Managers

• When your team didn’t achieve sales quota, how did you ensure they reach their next quotas?
• Can you describe a time when you had to let a salesperson go?
• What is your process for making decisions?
• How do you prepare for presentations?
• How have you used analytical skills in the past to solve a problem?

The face-to-face job interview is the most vital part of the decision-making phase of the talent acquisition process.

Whether you’re a hiring manager interviewing sales manager candidates or applying for a leadership position yourself, this guide will prepare you with questions so that you can find the best candidates.

The types of questions you need to ask before hiring a Sales Manager:

• Personal Interview Questions for Sales Managers
• Operational Interview Questions for Sales Managers
• Leadership-Style Interview Questions for Sales Managers 
• Role-Based Interview Questions for Sales Managers
• Behavioral Interview Questions for Sales Managers 
• Tips for Interviewing Sales Manager Candidates
• Tips for Getting Hired as a Sales Manager
  

Personal Interview Questions for Sales Managers

Personal interview questions are designed to get to know a candidate and whether he or she will fit in at the organization’s culture. These interview questions ask for details about the interviewee’s personality and how that translates into a work personality. Work process and work ethic are two other areas addressed by personal interview questions.
Some examples of personal interview questions and answers include:

Can you tell me a little bit about yourself?

The answer to this question reveals a lot about an interviewee. First, they want to know the information a person shares, i.e., work experience, goals, and past job history. Second, they look for indications from the content that can be signs of a match for the position—or not.

HubSpot suggests that an excellent answer to this question is broad enough to hit all the high points on your resume but not so general it overshares. It should demonstrate forethought about what would be appropriate information to match the candidate for the position, as well as a positive take on past experiences.

Anything that is rambling and disorganized, off-topic, or complaint-filled could indicate the candidate is not suited for a leadership position.

Why do you want to be a sales manager?

Responses to this question can help an interviewer uncover the motivation behind the move to management. In many cases, the applicant has been in the field for the company, and successful at it. Since the sales management position often is not compensated as highly as a successful salesperson nor does it require the same set of skills, it is essential to understand why the candidate would want to make a move to management.

Per HubSpot, there are several appropriate responses. One could be a passion for the company’s mission and a desire to effect more impact upon its success. Another is wanting to serve as a leader in the organization to help shape the future of the company.
Wanting more money or looking for a change of pace are not satisfactory answers to this question.

Can you describe a past incentive that motivated you?

This question takes many forms, including “What motivates you?” However, by including experience, the interviewee must not only share insight into what drives their work ethic but also add a real-life example from a his or her work history to support it. Motivation is a vital factor in successful sales management.

An excellent response to this question will indicate a program where the candidate’s satisfaction came from helping others overcome a personal challenge. Another could be an example that proved they derive pleasure from improving systems. Other satisfactory responses for motivation reveal that the candidate appreciated gaining a new skill or valued developing leadership skills.

What qualities make you good at sales? How about management?

A two-part question like this one helps determine if the candidate knows the difference between the two jobs. The interviewer wants to ensure that someone who is a fantastic sales rep can also be an excellent sales manager, as the two positions require different skill sets.

Answers that reveal the best candidate for sales management demonstrate the differentiation between vital skills for sales and the essential skills for management. Candidates shine even brighter than their competition if they share how their skills as a rep will transform once in the role of sales manager. The crucial information revealed here is that the candidate understands that what made them successful as a salesperson is not what will help them succeed as a sales manager.

What area challenged you the most in sales and how did you overcome it?

This question requires the interviewee to demonstrate his or her work process for a potential employer. The challenge is significant, but how they overcame it is the most pertinent part of the answer. The hiring manager wants to understand how the potential manager problem-solves and ascertain whether that skill can translate to problem-solving for his or her team.

Answering this question can be unnerving for an interviewee that wants to highlight their successes rather than discuss their difficulties. However, a willingness to share a past problem and its outcome is key to communicating the insight gained.
Moreover, the best managerial candidates can explain how their work process translates to overcoming other challenges, as well as how to systemize it as a team.

Operational Interview Questions for Sales Managers

Operational questions drill down on specific skill sets candidates have. These sales manager interview questions are specific by nature and reveal the qualifications of a candidate.

From ideas on how to hire and train new salespeople to how you would manage those that are struggling, these questions are designed to find out if the candidate can do the job.
Some examples of operational sales manager interview questions and answers include:

What do you look for in new sales rep hires?

Identifying and acquiring new talent is a critical skill for a successful sales manager. Sales manager candidates should be able to describe their ideal salesperson’s attributes for the interviewer.

Candidates will shine even brighter if they can also identify red flags for potential hires and qualities the candidate would avoid in their talent identification process.

Handshake, a mobile sales and B2B e-commerce platform, recommends that interviewees use their answers to highlight their talent acquisition strategy. These responses will convey what the potential sales manager values in a salesperson as well as provide a glimpse of what kind of team the candidate envisions.

Candidates would be wise to highlight how these qualities would further the mission of the company and fit within the established culture.

What is your training plan for a new sales rep joining your team?

The interviewing manager wants to know that candidates have a detailed, organized, and engaging plan to bring on new team members. The amount of detail and thought put into this process

indicates that the candidate understands the importance of helping others achieve their potential as quickly as possible.

Sales Drive, LLC, a sales ability test organization, recommends that the best plans will include many factors. The training plans should include setting goals for new team members to be proficient in an area by a specific date. Programs should also have dedicated training on the technology employed by the company as well as access to any resources available to the new team member.

The method should include times when the sales manager would introduce them to key people throughout the organization and socialization with the other team members. The plan should also include assigning a mentor to help new salespeople in day-to-day activities.

What method is the best performer for training new salespeople?

Talent development is another crucial area for sales manager’s success. When a hiring manager asks this question, he or she wants to know that the candidate has a proven method that they can repeat with new hires, much like the onboarding process. It is not feasible to oversee every activity by the new sales rep, so knowing how the sales manager sets a foundation for his or her team is key.

When answering this question, candidates should be specific about what they do and give examples of how their training method has worked in the past. For those candidates that haven’t yet trained new salespeople, calling upon past training experiences they will emulate would convey the information a hiring manager needs.

How do you approach setting goals?

A significant part of a sales manager’s role is to set achievable and desirable goals for their team. Any hiring manager wants to know that a candidate has a robust system for establishing goals that motivate the team members while maximizing their performance. This skill is crucial to a sales manager’s success as a leader and as a rainmaker for the organization.

The best answers to this question have a thought process outlined with a reasonable amount of detail. Some great features would be an understanding of how SMART (Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Relevant, and Time-bound) goals work, as well as a reliable process for sales territory planning. Furthermore, the incorporation of tips and tricks from the candidate’s days in the field would be appropriate here.

How have you addressed a sales rep that is missing quota on a regular basis and what did you do to resolve the situation?

This question requires a candidate to give more information on their management style, but using a real-world example and outcome. Handshake suggests these questions are a powerful way to get insight into the candidate’s ability. Moreover, the candidate’s answer ensures how they handle failing performance is in-line with the company’s standards and philosophy.

The best answers to this question, per Handshake, are those that identify how the candidate pinpointed the problem with the rep’s process, how the candidate proposed to fix it, and whether or not it worked.

Leadership-Style Interview Questions for Sales Managers

Leadership-style questions seek to uncover the candidate’s management method. These should address particular tasks and situations a sales manager candidate would face in the position, including areas like motivation, meeting goals, recognition of performance, and conflict management.

Similar to operational interview questions, leadership-style interview questions help hiring managers to see if the candidate has the management approach that fits with the job and the organization.

Some examples of leadership-style sales manager interview questions and answers include:

What is the best motivator for a sales team?

A significant part of managing salespeople is keeping them inspired and enthusiastic about their work. A sales manager candidate should always know his or her team members well, and how to get their best work out of them. 

Hiring managers want to know that the sales manager they hire realizes the significance of this area, as well as the nuances it can have as it applies to individuals.

Salesdrive recommends skipping the standard money-motivation answer here and instead communicate the need for an individual approach to motivation. Age, sales territory type, experience-level, and personality styles can affect what motivates people in unique ways. Candidates should instill confidence in the hiring manager that they can manage all these moving parts toward a well-oiled machine of sales performance.

How would you describe your management style?

Hiring managers often want to hear candidates describe their leadership style in their own words. Word choices and the examples given reveal the tendencies of potential sales manager candidates to behave in specific ways, and not all of them are the proper fit for an organization.

Candidates should bear in mind the culture of the organization in their answer. A leader’s management style must fit within the company’s management style, especially when the sales manager position is a stepping stone to other leadership roles in the company.

Hiring managers should be as open-ended as possible with their questions and refrain from leading the candidates’ answers in any way to get the most candid and accurate responses here.

How do you set goals, track progress, and ensure performance for and from your team?

Setting goals is a significant part of a sales manager’s job, and it is vital to have a process for it. However, setting goals is not enough; a sales manager should also have a method for tracking goals, too. Measuring performance toward goals is a vital motivator for most salespeople. Hiring managers want to see how the sales manager candidate’s process translates into the team culture.

Setting and tracking goals is a process question (and could also fall under the operational category, too). Candidates should have a succinct but thorough description prepared. However, ensuring performance queries speak to leadership style. An excellent answer here would reflect the organization’s values and style, as well as the candidate’s.

How do you recognize performance?

Motivation and recognition often go hand-in-hand in a sales manager’s daily efforts. Also, it takes more than money. Few things are more encouraging for salespeople than feeling they are admired and appreciated. Hiring managers want to see the variety and creativity a candidate has for valuing his or her team members’ hard work.

Compensation is an integral part of recognizing the efforts of salespeople. However, savvy sales managers also have other ways to identify best-practice behavior. Candidates should explore their options here if they have not managed people before, and those candidates who have led people should offer creative ideas with examples from their past work history.

What is your approach to conflict management amongst members of your team?

Sales management requires a person who can bring out the best in their employees, and someone who can manage employees when they are at their worst. However, hiring managers need to know that the person they put in the sales manager role can handle conflict within company-approved methods and techniques.

An excellent response to this question would be an example of well-executed conflict management in the past. If the candidate has sales management experience, it could be a story about exactly what the hiring manager wants to know based on past events with teams.

However, the sales manager candidate who has never settled a fight between direct reports could share a story outside of work that fits the bill. The important thing about the answer is that it demonstrates a leadership-style that complements the company’s culture.

Role-Based Interview Questions for Sales Managers

Role-based questions are looking for information about how the job demands will work with the candidate’s personality, as well as the resources they need to do their jobs well.

Like the leadership-style questions, these sales manager interview questions address specific parts of the position and situations a sales manager candidate would face day-to-day. Sometimes role-based questions explore how a candidate feels about the duties of a sales manager and how he or she balances the responsibilities involved.

Some examples of role-based sales manager interview questions and answers include:

How do you prepare quarterly and annual performance reports and what data do you need for them?

Like the other questions in this category, how a candidate prepares performance reports and the data they use shows a hiring manager how the candidate intends to manage the salespeople on their team. The methods they use and the data they require also communicates a level of the candidates’ technical skill and proficiency.

The best answers here are detailed but brief and perhaps best illustrated with a real-life example. Candidates that walk the hiring manager through an analysis done in the past will demonstrate the candidate’s experience and expertise in this area. Hiring managers should look for a repeatable process and a solid understanding of data analysis from the candidate’s answer and example, if presented.

What do you know regarding sales forecasting and what tools and software do you employ when you do?

Accurate sales forecasting is crucial for any organization. The leadership team depends on these numbers for many long-term strategy and expansion plans. Interviewers need to know whether the candidate is equipped to provide this crucial information to the team.

HubSpot recognizes that sales managers make data-based decisions for their teams frequently. When sales managers don’t use data, they use emotion, which can be detrimental to the team. The ability to analyze data and make accurate predictions based on it is a crucial skill for a sales manager. Hiring managers want to hear in an interviewee’s answer a level of comfort analyzing data and applying it to management decisions.

Can you explain as you would to someone who if not familiar with us what we do?

The ability to answer this question shows an interviewer a few different things. First, it shows that the candidate understands the company’s mission (or that they researched the company before the interview). Second, it shows how they communicate ideas to others. Finally, it demonstrates their command of the company’s offer and value proposition.

HubSpot recommends that candidates work on how they convert complicated instructions into easy-to-understand messages. Sales managers often communicate complicated directives from senior management to their team. The sales manager candidates’ ability to translate this information will help hiring managers assess whether the candidate is a proper fit.

How will your strengths and weaknesses help and hurt you in the sales manager position?

The strengths and weaknesses question is another query with two levels. Interviewers want to know what the candidate thinks are areas where he or she excels and what areas need improvement. However, since this question is tricky to answer, the interviewer is likely also analyzing how a candidate reacts under pressure.

Per The Balance Careers, a website source for personal finance and career advice, the best answers to this question involve relating how your strength can have great pros but comes with a list of cons as well. When you can show how a great strength like determination can lead to both your success while causing challenges along the way, it shows the hiring manager that you have a healthy dose of self-awareness.

How do you divide your time in a week to the various responsibilities of your job?

Sales managers have multiple priorities and tasks associated with them, making time management an essential skill. Employers want to know a candidate can use his or her time wisely, prioritize appropriately, and avoid effectively the distractions that occur throughout the week.

Like all interview answers, the Balance Careers website advises, thinking this one through beforehand is a good idea. Candidates that present a detailed explanation with a logical foundation will impress a potential employer. A candidate is even stronger when they can support their explanation with specific examples. If the candidate does not have the sales manager experience, a sample from their sales job can serve instead.   

Behavioral Interview Questions for Sales Managers

Behavioral questions want to know how the potential candidate will react to situations on the job. These sales manager interview questions usually ask the interviewee to describe a situation and his or her actions within it. Per Top Echelon, a recruiting software company, there is no “right answer” and will depend on the candidates’ experiences.

Some examples of behavioral sales manager interview questions and answers include:

When your team didn’t achieve sales quota, how did you ensure they reach their next quotas?

Missing sales quota is a standard area sales managers have to address with their teams. Interviewers are looking for leadership behavior when they ask this question. They want to hear about what happened and the candidate’s reaction to it. The response is, in many ways, the critical part of the answer.

For sales manager candidates that have led teams before, sharing how they reacted to this real-world situation is critical. For those candidates without sales management experience, adapting the question to a time when they missed sales quota (assuming they have missed quota at some point) can provide the same insight. The important thing with this answer, as with all behavior questions, is to provide a real-world example.

Can you describe a time when you had to let a salesperson go?

Handshake suggests that this question wants first and foremost to know how a candidate deals with a team member who is underperforming. As with all behavioral questions, asking this question could also be working to discover whether the potential sales manager is an appropriate fit for the organization.  The interviewer is looking for concrete examples from the past to confirm the candidate’s personality will work for the company.

The best answers here are genuine with as accurate a recounting of the situation as possible. In other words, candidates should be brief, stick to the facts, avoid emotion and refrain from defending his or her decision.

What is your process for making decisions?

This question is seeking an example of the type of behavior the hiring manager wants in their new sales manager. When an organization values decision processes, they will ask about a potential new employee’s method to look for similar values. On the flip side, the organization could also use these questions to eliminate candidates as well.

Candidates should be thorough in their responses to this question. The hiring manager wants to hear a process, so a step-by-step accounting of decision-making is ideal. Like all behavioral questions, past examples are helpful because the candidate can also include the outcome of the decision made using the process as well.

How do you prepare for presentations?

Presenting is a crucial skill for any management position. The word prepare indicates that the interviewer is concerned about the development procedure before the presentation, meaning how the candidate qualifies the audience’s needs and adapts content to meet them. Also, organizations often ask potential employees to make a presentation to see the candidate’s behavior in action.

The best answers to this question would include details about their method of preparation. For example, the candidate could share the closed and open-ended probes he or she uses to uncover the expectations of the audience for their presentation. Hiring managers might also consider doing a role play here to allow the candidate to demonstrate their qualifying process.

How have you used analytical skills in the past to solve a problem?

Per Salesdrive, sales managers should be able to analyze data and make conclusions from that analysis. People who do not solve problems using data will rely on emotions, which are not as dependable. The interviewer seeks to understand if the candidate has this vital skill, and also whether they employ data analysis in his or her problem-solving process.

Behavioral questions are not hypothetical. The idea here is to share a real-world example. Therefore, the best answer will include an experience when the candidate’s data analysis skills helped solve a problem. Succinct answers are best but should include enough detail so the hiring manager can get a sense of how the data analysis applied to the solution.

Tips for Interviewing Sales Manager Candidates

Interviewing sales manager candidates is a key responsibility for senior management and other hiring managers. It requires exchanging relevant information about the organization and the candidate’s work history, ethics, and personality to find a match. However, time is limited, so staying on task is critical, too. While anything you learn about a candidate in an interview is essential, here are some sales manager interview tips that will help in the conversation.

A director should focus on five main areas when hiring a sales manager, which include:

1. Personal attributes of the candidate, from who they are to what motivates them to why they want to position in the first place
2. Skills sets of the candidate, including what they look for in new hires, how they train salespeople, his or her method for goal setting, and interpersonal communication and management skills
3. Management approach of the candidate, which covers how they motivate people, their management style, and their approach to team progress and performance
4. Work style of the candidate, encompassing how they approach reporting, forecasting, recruiting, self-awareness, and time management
5. Actions and reactions of the candidate, bringing in examples of past performance on areas like decision-making, presentation prep, and personnel management

Tips for Getting Hired as a Sales Manager

The interview is a crucial point in the hiring process. A candidate that seeks to land a new position would be wise to prepare a lot and research even more for the interview.  When preparing, however, some areas might need more attention than others.

Here are some interview tips that can help:

Preparing succinct but comprehensive answers to common open-ended questions for interviews

Gathering many real-world work experience examples to share along with explanations for the hiring manager’s consideration

Organizing any samples of work method, including step-by-step plans, spreadsheets or presentations to share with hiring managers to illustrate his or her process

Finding ways to positively spin negative past work experiences and discuss areas of work experience that create inappropriate emotional responses

Researching the company culture and mission to align answers with the organization’s philosophy

Demonstrating command of the differences between sales skills and management skills

Cultivating self-awareness for what strengths the candidate brings to the position, as well as preparing a plan to overcome weaknesses that could impede his or her success

The interview provides an opportunity for both interviewer and interviewee to learn as much as they can about each other to see if it is a fit for both.

Hiring managers want the best candidate to make their job’s easy; candidates want to get the job to make their lives easy. With so much on the line for both sides, preparation is critical.

By preparing for each sales manager interview question category and ensuring the purpose behind the answers, hiring managers and sales manager candidates will be as prepared as possible to find a match that works for both.

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Questions or comments? Contact SPOTIO at info@spotio.com or comment below.

SPOTIO is the #1 field sales enablement platform designed specifically for outside sales managers and reps to squeeze every drop out of their field sales efforts.

Want to see a product demonstration? Click here to see how SPOTIO can take your sales game to the next level.

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Sources:

Brudner, Emma. “15 Job Interview Questions to Ask a Sales Manager Candidate in 2018.” Blog.hubspot.com. Web. 18 April 2018. Web. 9 July 2018. <https://blog.hubspot.com/sales/interview-questions-to-ask-a-sales-manager-candidate>.

Gracey, Brandon. “5 Sales Manager Interview Questions.” Handshake.com. 2 April 2018. Web. 9 July 2018. https://www.handshake.com/blog/sales-manager-interview-questions/.

“10 Questions to Ask When Interviewing a Potential Sales Manager.” Salesdrive.info. 22 March 2016. Web. 9 July 2018. <https://salesdrive.info/interviewing-potential-sales-manager/ >.

Doyle, Alison. “Sales Interview Answers About Strengths and Weaknesses.” www.thebalancecareers.com. 16 April 2018. Web. 10 July 2018. < https://www.thebalancecareers.com/sales-interview-questions-about-strengths-and-weaknesses-2063465>

Doyle, Alison. “How to Handle Interview Questions on Time Management.” www.thebalancecareers.com. 12 May 2018. Web. 10 July 2018. < https://www.thebalancecareers.com/time-management-interview-questions-2061286>.

DeWitt, Kaylee. “100 Behavioral Interview Questions to Help You Find the Best Candidates.” www.topechelon.com. 21 June 2018. Web. 11 July 2018. < https://www.topechelon.com/blog/placement-process/top-behavioral-interview-questions-list-examples/>.

https://www.talentsorter.com/70-interview-questions-can-ask-hiring-sales-managers/

https://www.topechelon.com/blog/recruiter-training/how-to-sales-manager-interview-questions-ask/

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Don’t Be Stymied By a Stigma

According to Peuster, one of the most challenging parts of recruiting door-to-door sales talent for roles in dry-cleaning or similar industries is the stigma associated with the term “door-to-door sales.”
“When we first started advertising for door-to-door sales positions, we had two main issues,” Peuster said. “First, you would get responses from door-to-door junkies who love this kind of work but tend to hop from job to job looking for the next pot of gold.
According to Peuster, these candidates usually love door-to-door sales but are a risk for leaving the company after you invest in their onboarding.
“Second, you would see a lack in response because of a stigma associated with door-to-door, even though most people find after doing the job that it can be a rewarding and lucrative job.”

Peuster sought to avoid falling victim to the stigma by replacing the words “door-to-door” with phrases like “face-to-face” and “canvassing” in job postings.  

“It’s not that we are trying to trick them or that we’re psychologically trying to fool them into taking a position,” Peuster said. “We want to make it known that there is a door-to-door aspect but there is more to the job.”
According to Peuster, in the dry-cleaning industry and other similar industries, door-to-door sales in not a job, it’s just one responsibility that’s part of a job. With the help of smart prospecting tools like those offered by SPOTIO, traditional door-to-door sales is less common.
“Sometimes it’s just ‘door’ sales because it’s not walking up to one door after the next, but instead canvassing only those with qualified leads.

By eliminating the term “door-to-door” from job postings, Peuster finds that he’s able to reach more candidates who wouldn’t have realized this role is a good fit for their skills and career.

Smart Talent Sourcing

According to Peuster, technology offered by platforms like Indeed.com have changed the game for talent sourcing.
“Indeed has a head-hunting program that allows you to turn around traditional recruiting,” Peuster said. “Instead of traditional recruiting where you post a job and wait for applicants, it allows you to set parameters and alerts you when candidates who meet your parameters update their resume or create a profile.”

According to Peuster, this functionality provides him with a daily pipeline of qualified candidates. Since you’re looking at candidates who just updated their resume, you can also assume they’re eager to find a job.
Another strategy Peuster uses is to recruit from similar industries that are not necessarily an obvious fit.
“We don’t just look at people who have experience in door-to-door; we look at those with similar experiences, like those working in high-end retail,” Peuster said. “These are people who have that special gift of selling, they like to talk, and they don’t have issues with rejection.”
While it may seem obvious to target those with experience in the same kind of role, it can be more fruitful in the long-term to find the right candidate and train them on the specifics of the job. Peuster also advises his clients to not always go for the obvious candidates.
“One of the best salespeople I’ve seen in the industry is introverted and shy,” he said. “So instead of trying to force him into a box, we trained him to do an introvert-type of sale.
“If you find someone who has the willingness to do the job, you can teach them how to sell in her or his own way. That way they have a sales strategy that works for them and they are connecting with customers versus selling.”

Retaining Talent

If a new employee fails, Peuster says that it’s rarely the fault of the employee. “I blame the situation or the onboarding,” he said.
According to Peuster, keeping good people is easy if you’re willing to invest properly in their onboarding and development.
“A lot of times people – when they hire staff – they look at it as a cost (labor cost) instead of as an investment,” Peuster said. “I encourage my clients to look instead at the ROI of great talent.
“Are they making you money, saving you money, or costing you money?” Peuster asked rhetorically.
According to Peuster, if they’re making you money or saving you money, they are worth investing in as their growth will only improve their results for your sales organization
“Very rarely do I hear people say, ‘How much can I grow my company with a great salesperson?’” Peuster said. “But this is the way you have to look at it.
“Often times people let good salespeople go because they think they are expensive and that they’re costing them money – then they see their sales drop and wonder why.”
Peuster encourages his clients to measure and track performance in a way that helps in understanding the value a salesperson is providing the company.

An Outside Perspective

Peuster offers one more recruiting tip: Get an outside perspective.
According to Peuster, too often when people are trying to recruit, they have a picture-perfect description in their head of the person they think they need. Because of this, they miss great candidates, or worst, they favor candidates with good energy but obvious gaps.
“They think they know what they’re looking for which causes them to overlook less obvious candidates with true potential,” Peuster said. “If you bring in an outside perspective from someone who is not emotionally invested in the process, you’re more likely to get an objective point of view.”
Peuster mentions that this is a great way to see less obvious traits like a willingness to learn and improve, the desire to move up in the company, or simply the willingness to do the job well. He also focuses on positive interview questions that allow the candidates to demonstrate their potential and avoids questions that are intended to uncover negative traits in the candidate.
“I focus less on trying to source the perfect candidate and more on how to develop people into what you need them to be,” Peuster said. “Sometimes when you invest correctly in someone who seems like an average candidate, you end up with amazing talent.”

James Peuster
The Route Pro

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The SPOTIO team recently had the opportunity to sit down with “The Brand Ambassador Guy,” Michael Rosenberg, and learn from his successful 35-year career leading companies driven by door-to-door sales. Rosenberg started his door-to-door sales career at age 12 when building his paper route. After years of tremendous growth across 22 states and building to millions in revenue, he sold his company in 2008.

Today, Rosenberg acts as an executive coach and consultant, helping companies around the globe optimize their door-to-door sales operations with a tremendous focus on talent strategy, recruitment and retaining talent. In this article, we’ll share what we learned from Rosenberg, including his go-to strategies for recruiting and retaining rock-star talent.

An Unconventional Interview Process

“I can teach pretty much anything, but there are two things I simply can’t teach – I have to hire for them,” Rosenberg said. “I can’t teach people to be likable, and I can’t teach people to be persistent.”

Kindness is King

According to Rosenberg, the first quality he looks for in a job candidate is a relatable and likeable personality.

“Whether I’m using a video conference or meeting someone for lunch, I look first for nice,” Rosenberg said. “I’m looking to see if the person looks me in the eye, says please and thank you, and comes across as a genuine nice person.”

If Rosenberg doesn’t get the warm and fuzzies, he doesn’t move forward. But according to Rosenberg, likeability is the easier of the two unteachable qualities.

Testing for Persistence

According to Rosenberg, traditional interview questions fail to truly test for persistence. That’s why Rosenberg consistently leverages a strategy he learned from The Ultimate Sales Machine author, Chet Holmes.

The strategy is based on the theory that most customers are going to say “no,” or “come back later.” When you ask traditional interview questions about how candidates handle rejection, they’ll likely provide a scripted example. There’s no way to know if that story represents their consistent and repeatable behavior.

“I need a sales rep that’s not going to back down,” Rosenberg said. “When they hear no, I need to know they’ll keep going. And I need a way to simulate that in the interview.”

To do this, Rosenberg takes an unconventional approach. He rejects them in the interview and observes their reaction.

“Eight out of ten candidates are going to accept the rejection,” Rosenberg said. “These are not the right candidates for me.”

According to Rosenberg, about one out of ten will get angry and defensive. He usually hires these candidates for their grit, but these are not the candidates who show the most promise.

“The best candidates will say something like, ‘Thank you for the feedback, but what is your definition of a rock star sales rep?’ with ease and grace.”

Rosenberg is looking for candidates who are not going to take no for an answer, but they’re going to be polite about it. They may switch gears by telling you a story.

“They’ll tell you about the time they didn’t make the basketball team but kept showing up for practice, or a time that they pushed really hard to earn something,” Rosenberg said. “And they’re going to keep telling stories with ease and grace – those people have superstar potential.”

Finding and Developing Leaders

According to Rosenberg, building out a quality sales force is only half the battle. If you want to grow a company exponentially you must focus on attracting and developing leaders – people who can run businesses.

Rosenberg cites The E-Myth by Michael Garber as the book that changed his mindset about building his business.

“If you want to be wildly successful, you have to work on your business, not in your business,” Rosenberg said, citing the popular book.

Rosenberg acknowledges that while door-to-door sales is a tough game, great door knockers are not always great business leaders. To reach exponential growth, you have to find people who can run companies.

“I’ve become successful by finding people ten times more capable than myself,” Rosenberg said. “I find people with the potential to run companies, and I fast track them.”

Rosenberg believes that company leaders should have first-hand experience in their business, so he starts them at the bottom even if they have great leadership experience.

“I make a commitment from the beginning,” Rosenberg said. “If leadership recruits hit their numbers in four to six weeks, I tell them they will be offered the chance to manage one of my offices.

“And at six months, as long as they are honest, hard-working, and people respect them, I’m going to make them my partner.”

According to Rosenberg, the key was to get out of the day-to-day business and shifting his focus on finding top talent who would run their companies as their own.

“Sometimes this means I took profits of my company and put them in business,” Rosenberg said. Sometimes it was through franchise, partnership, or a company store, depending on the situation.”

Retaining Talent

According to Rosenberg, retaining talent has never been an issue for him in his experience and this method to success is very simple.

“Retaining talent comes down to creating a great company culture, creating good air, and focusing on things people care about like recognition, incentives, good comp plans, and benefits,” Rosenberg said. “Also, retention often comes from the spouse and family.

“I do my best to make sure the family is happy and proud of the company their family represents.”

According to Rosenberg, 99 percent of companies are shaped like an upright pyramid. Everyone’s job is to make the owner on the top money. Rosenberg believes this is philosophically backwards and instead encourages the organizations he consults to operate as an upside-down pyramid that puts the boss at the bottom and the customer on top.

“As a leader, your job is to serve the team, so that they in turn are motivated to serve the customer” Rosenberg said. “When the boss serves the team, creates great mentorship and advancement opportunities, and treats the team like family, the team is committed to doing what’s right for the customer.”

If you treat your employees well, they treat your customers well – Everything comes full circle, he said.

Want more from Michael Rosenberg?

After a wildly successful career in door-to-door sales, Rosenberg now helps others reach their full potential. To learn more or to contact Rosenberg directly for a free coaching session, reach out to him on LinkedIn.

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Questions or comments? Contact SPOTIO at info@spotio.com or comment below.

SPOTIO is the #1 field sales acceleration platform to increase your revenue, maximize your profitability, and increase your team’s productivity.

Want to see a product demonstration? Click here to see how SPOTIO can take your sales game to the next level.

Our interview with sales guru Jeff Johnson discusses how you go about finding and hiring the best people for your field sales team. In this video, we discuss:

1. What’s your strategy to hiring “A” players?
2. What does your hiring process look like?
3. When evaluating talent, what makes you say: “This is someone I want to talk to”?
4. What are your top three interview questions?

[beginning of recording]

Jennette:  Okay. Give us a brief introduction, if you wouldn’t mind.

Jeff: Well, thank you, Jennette. So, I’m Jeff Johnson, I’m a sales coach, and I work with companies that want to build dynamic, strong, overachieving, motivated sales teams, and so I’ve been doing that for about two decades.

Jennette: So, to kick us off, we’re just going to start today, it’s going to be how to select “A” players for your sales team. How do you go about selecting/making sure you’re picking the right and the best people? Is there a strategy that you use?

Jeff: Okay. So, what’s my strategy to hire “A” players?

Jennette: Yes.

Jeff: So, I think the first question is: what is an “A” player? And, everybody needs to have that definition. So, when I think about an “A” player, the easy answer is: the top 20%. The question is, how do you determine that? And, so, I would preface that by saying there’s really four types of sales people, and it really…you have to categorize people in two different ways – and, when I say “people,” I’m talking about sales people in their role. So, sales people in their role first need to have the right sales DNA: can they execute in a selling environment? Will they do the work that needs to be done? The second thing is, do they have the motivation? Do they have the commitment to those kinds of things? So, I would say you look at the can do and the will do. So, four kinds of sales people: there are those that can’t and won’t, there are those that can but won’t, there are those that can and won’t, and the top 20% would be those that can and will. Those who have the motivation, the determination, the outlook, and the commitment to achieve something, so they’re motivated, and they have the sales DNA, the ability to execute, which means, really a lot about their EQ, their ability to think on their feet, the ability to paint things in a persuasive manner, that’s how I generally would describe sales DNA.

Jennette: Excellent, great. And then, the hardest part is finding people to join your sales team. More often than not, do you find more success referrals, going out on job boards, hiring recruiters? How do you go about filling your vacancies?

Jeff: Oh, that is easy. That is the hardest part, and you know, it’s so important, because I’ll preface it by answering your question. This is absolutely the most critical part about building a sales organization. If you don’t stack the deck with good folks, I don’t care if you’re a great manager, you’re probably not going to be ultimately successful if you’re a great manager and leader, but you hire poorly, it’s probably not going to work out. And, if you’re a bad manager and you hire poorly, you just have a lot going wrong. So, we’ve got to get this thing right. So, the question really is, how do you go about it? Well, it’s not where first, it’s what, and the what isn’t about the role, the what really is about who specifically are we looking for? What are the attributes of a person that’s going to be successful in this role? So, it’s very important to start with that, because we’re not looking for just anybody, we’re looking for somebody very specific, and the closer we can get to defining exactly who that person looks like, we can first, write an ad that describes this person, because if someone reads an ad about us, they make like it, but are they the right fit? So, if they read an ad that says, “Oh, wow, that’s me! I’m motivated to do that, I would be willing to do this, and that sounds like it’s a fit for me,” these are the people that I want to interview first. So, once I have that down, then it’s really about spreading the gospel, and it’s the normal channels, it’s all the boards, it’s LinkedIn, it’s all of the things that are standard, but I’d say that’s the fly in the ointment that’s a little bit different, is making sure we clearly understand exactly who it is that we’re looking for that have the attributes that we’re looking for for success.

Jennette: Great. So, we have what you need, how to find them, and then, this might be a multi-layered question, but what’s the first thing you look for when you see a candidate where you’re going to be like, “This is someone I want to talk to,” or is it a multitude of things?

Jeff: Good question. What’s the first thing I look for in a candidate? Well, so, I always like these little phrases, so here’s the first phrase: select, don’t settle. You never want to lower your standards. You want to select, and you want to have a very high expectation of the people that you are going to hire. So, that’s number one. The second thing that I look for is, do they have stability, and do they have success? So, depending on where you’re hiring from, if this is a rookie or someone, what we need to see is some stability of something, whether it’s in school, whether it’s been in an organization. The other piece is, have they progressed, or do they quit? What is in that history? So, stability is very important – stability of working towards a goal, any goal, right? And then, something that they’ve been successful. So, stability and success are the first two criteria that kind of get them in the gate. The second piece is – and, this is another kind of principle that I would say: it’s not what they say, it’s what they do. That’s the most important thing – it’s not what they say, it’s what they do. Now, this is going to sound crummy, but in some interviews, I have actually given people the wrong address and see if they show up. You would be amazed what happens. Some people don’t show. Some people call and say, “I’m lost,” and some people show up five minutes early, perfectly dressed, they never say anything about it, and they’re ready to go. That is my candidate. So, it’s not what they say, it’s what they do. So, a lot of what we want to do is to set up these circumstances that’s kind of similar to a selling situation, whether they get rejected or whether there’s some form of difficulty that they have to overcome and see how they do. So, I want to watch that. The other thing that I do, is I ask them to give me a presentation. I don’t care what’s in the presentation, but what I’m looking for is, did they do it? Did they do a good job? Are they engaged and motivated? All of those kinds of things. So, I’m putting up these things to see what they do. Does that help?

Jennette: Yes, excellent. Very cool. And then, what are your top three interview questions?

Jeff: Oh, I couldn’t wait until you asked me this. I don’t know if you’re going to like this. So, what are my top three interview questions? So, I would say that there are so many good interview questions out there on the market that I could give you a ton, but, here’s the most important, okay? The first one we talked about, it’s not what they say, it’s what they do, but in an interview, what I want to do, my job, is to get them talking. So, my favorite interview questions are, number one: tell me more. “Oh, help me understand how you did that. Can you give me an example? Here, it says that you did such and such. Tell me the story of how you arrived at doing that.” Now, here’s something that is very true: whatever is inside someone, is going to come out if you give them enough time to talk. So, it’s not really about the interview questions that you ask. There’s no secret weapon three questions that you can ask, but there is a secret weapon of getting someone comfortable enough to open themselves up entirely so you can really see what’s on the inside and based upon that, whether or not they are a good fit for your organization, and your organization is a good fit for them.

Jennette: Great, cool. And then, just to close out, nuggets of advice or anything, just building out your sales team, how you identify?

Jeff: What’s my leave behind, takeaways, golden nuggets? Well, the first lesson I learned early in my sales management career is that if I didn’t get the recruiting piece right, my sales development career is over, and because I have been stung by bad hires. They take more time, they’re more frustrated – they’re frustrated, I’m frustrated, we’re not getting the results, it’s taking more time, they eventually leave, and I’ve got to start over again. So, don’t fool yourself. Don’t put bodies in a role that don’t belong there, because in the long-run, you’re going to pay for it, and it’s going to be very frustrating. It’s going to take time away, and you’re not going to get your return on investment. So, don’t settle, select, and know exactly what you’re looking for, would be my advice. And then, go get them.

Jennette: Excellent. Awesome. Well, thanks Jeff, that was great.

[END OF RECORDED AUDIO]

Where do I find the best sales reps?
How should I pay sales reps to get more talent?
Are there recruiting firms I can use to find salespeople for me?

Where To Find Talent: Same Tired Question – Effective New Strategy

Before you get to making promises to anyone, you need to know where to look for top talent. Check out the 8 best places to recruit high performing sales reps.

Knowing where you can find qualified salespeople is step one in the actual recruiting process, but there’s a fairly large amount of work to be completed prior to getting there.

Sorry to be so blunt, but the truth is that most companies have a recruiting process that sucks. Above all else, it’s inefficient and comes with a high price tag due to the amount of time and energy that gets wasted. Improve your sales recruiting and quit burning dollars with these 5 strategies to start hiring salespeople more effectively.

What’s Attractive To You?

The recruiters and companies that seem to struggle the most typically haven’t completed the necessary requirements before they begin interviewing. This makes it difficult for everyone to be on the same page. You have to decide which qualities and traits your organization considers important for a potential candidate to have before bringing a single person in.

As an example, look for sales professionals who do the 10 things that require zero talent because if all else fails, you know they’ll always give their best effort with a good attitude. This is something you’d want to include in your ideal candidate profile when you build it, if you haven’t already.

When you create profiles of the type of people you’re looking for, it gives everyone in your company who will be interviewing candidates a guideline to determine whether or not it’s a good fit:

1. Does this candidate possess industry experience?
2. How many years have they been in sales?
3. What is their availability to start?
4. What is their salary range?

It’s not until you’ve accepted a few resumes and are ready to start talking to applicants where the real challenge starts.

Smoke & Mirrors

Most companies don’t have a problem getting people to apply; their struggle lies in finding the right applicants. “Poor hires account for almost 80% of turnover rates in business.” [Harvard Business Review] You have complete control of how you present the opportunity and your company when you’re in an interview.

Sales recruiting is just that: sales and recruiting combined. You’re selling the opportunity of working for your company, and you’re recruiting by looking for the best talent available on the market.

What you say during your conversation with a potential candidate will determine how they view the position. What most companies can’t do is make promises to their candidates. They may be able to talk about what a great culture they have or how good their managers are, but they don’t have concrete data they can use to back it up and guarantee results.

4 Promises You Can Make to Attract Quality Sales Talent

Promise #1

If you do “x” activities per day, you’ll make “x” in commission.

Some companies may have an idea about what this number may be for their organization, but it’s not backed up by data. How powerful is it to tell a candidate going through the interview process that if they can knock a certain number of doors, they’ll make a certain amount of money? You’ll get this number by using a sales tracking software.

In order to feel comfortable making this promise, you have to track everything your sales reps currently do, and what they’ll do going forward. The reason you can make this promise and not question it is because it’s backed up by data and analytics specifically from your sales team.

It’s not “industry knowledge” or something from a blog you read online; it’s directly from the results of your sales organization.

Just like you should be asking your current customers for referrals, you should be asking the same from your sales team. In sales, your current customers are your highest converting and cheapest leads. The same is true to your sales recruiting process.

Promise #2

You’ll make “x” dollars per door knocked.

This promise is especially effective to present to a candidate your company is looking to hire when the payment structure is commission only. When your company pays commission only, there is more risk involved for the potential hire.

You need to be able to offer something else other than just commission. If you understand the signs of a candidate who has a sales career vs a sales job, an advanced training program is certainly attractive.

Dollars per door (DPD) is a great financial incentive for the companies who don’t feel comfortable talking about training. It’s also good for the salesperson who’s primarily interested in the amount of money they’ll earn.

When you can tell this individual what they’ll make for each door they knock, it incentivizes them to put forth more effort. It will also set the proper expectation for the number of homes they need to visit in order to hit quota.

Dollars per door can be found by adding up the total number of doors a rep knocks and dividing it by the total commission they make in sales.

You’ll have to calculate this statistic for each person on your team to find the average. If your team is exceptionally good, it could be extremely beneficial to show the applicant a range.

“Our team makes $10.00 per door knocked, which is well above the industry average, and our lowest producing sales rep makes $8.00 per door, which is still higher than the normal average.”

Promise #3

If you do “a”, “b” and “c”, you’ll earn “x” amount of money.

What you’re promising the candidate is that if they do what’s required of them based on the data and metrics you’ve tracked with your sales team, they’ll make a certain amount of money. This is one of the reasons you need to stop being lazy and track every attempt.

The metrics from you available in your door to door sales app aren’t just for the sales team’s benefit, they also play a significant role in the recruiting department.

You’ll add up each sales rep’s income and divide it by the number of salespeople in your organization. This is your team’s average income.

Hopefully your sales reps make more than this, but showing candidates your company’s average income is effective for a few reasons. First, it will probably shock them how much your organization has paid out in commission, and that the company is invested in ensuring their success.

It will also help determine if this is the right opportunity for them. You don’t want to hire salespeople who will start off being unhappy because they can’t make the amount of money they want. Finally, you want motivated sales reps who know exactly what they’ll need to do the second they start with your company.

Check out what may be one of the easiest tricks to gain an unfair advantage when it comes to sales recruiting.

Promise #4

You’ll spend “x” amount of time in the field knocking doors

The final promise you can make to candidates is the amount of time they’ll spend out in the field, visiting homes and knocking doors. The goal of presenting this figure is to hopefully tell them that they’ll spend less time knocking doors than if they were to work for most other companies.

The average salesperson only spends 22% of their time actively selling, and works 50 hours per week. Knowing this allows you to show candidates how your organization provides them with the tools and resources they need to be more efficient. You can explain to them how your company has automated the sales process to allow them to double their selling time and make more money.

The only way you can determine this number is if you know your conversion rates. You have to know the number of attempts your team makes per lead, and per sale.

The analytics needed to make these promises is one of the 5 reasons you should always be tracking your team. They have to log all of their attempts, and the outcomes of those attempts, in order to measure your conversion rates and ultimately find the amount of time sales reps will spend in the field.

Wrapping Up

Sales recruiting is difficult. It takes a considerable amount of time and energy on your part to find the right hires. You can help yourself by using the information and analytics you have available at your fingertips.

Not having the metrics to determine what promises you can make to potential candidates is a tell-tale sign your company needs a sales tracking app. These types of promises will help you land sales reps with more talent over the competition because it shows you’re dedicated and invested in their success.

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SPOTIO is the #1 field sales engagement and performance management software that will increase revenue, maximize profitability, and boost sales productivity.

Want to see a product demonstration? Click here to see how SPOTIO can take your sales game to the next level.

Fact #2: “Poor hires account for almost 80% of turnover rates in business.” — Harvard Business Review

Fact #3: “Companies increase profitability by 30% when they pick top employees.” — Gallup

Recruiting the wrong salesperson into your team is a huge gamble, and I don’t know about you, but I hate losing and that’s why we’re sharing the best places to recruit salespeople! For every bad recruiting decision you bring on board, the chance that your core sales team will feel overloaded with work tasks ups the probability that team morale will plummet and you could end up losing your existing team of productive salespeople.

SAP, a market leader in enterprise application software, confirms “good workers end up getting saddled with additional workload.”

Here’s the deal, folks. Obviously, recruiting a wrong fit will affect your profitability. This is to be expected, and is common sense. But also, poor hires are usually lousy performers who tend to carry a black cloud of excuses, negativity and sometimes, plain laziness around with them that infiltrates the whole sales team. Eventually, this wears others down, impacting the overall mood for the worst.

SAP also confirms that “eventually team spirit wears down as the group is overburdened carrying a non-contributing member.”

Once all this happens, you’ve got a huge problem on your hands. In addition to creating a high potential for loss, an underperforming salesperson on your team:

• Burns through good leads without converting them into paying customers;
• Alienates current and potential customers;
• Burdens other team members to pick up the slack to compensate for this poor recruit;
• Misses sales targets;
• Despises learning how to sale;
• Creates excuse after excuse to camouflage their underperformance.

“Ain’t NObody got time for all ‘dat!’”

(You laugh because it’s true!)

What you do need to make time for is time. Allot yourself plenty of time to find (and then recruit) the ideal salesperson for your team. So, just where are the best places to recruit salespeople?

1) Social Media

The more popular social media platforms, the more number of active users, which is why it made our list of best places to recruit salespeople

• 1,871 million – Facebook
• 600 million – Instagram
• 317 million – Twitter
• 300 million – Snapchat
• 150 million – Pinterest
• 106 million – LinkedIn

Even the less popular platforms like BBM, Kakaotalk and Viber host approximately 398 million people together. So, do you think there could possibly be at least 1 maybe 2 good recruits out there on one of these platforms?! Of course, the answer is “yes, a lot more than 1 or 2.”

The fact of the matter is that people use social media; your job as a sales manager or recruiter is to use the platforms to find the ideal sales people for your team. Once you identify who the best type of person would be to enhance your team, research all the social media platforms to determine who is more likely to be active on that platform.

For example, LinkedIn is known as a professional social network where people showcase their talents and skills hoping to find a career. This is in contrast to Facebook, which usually has a more relaxed tone and is geared more toward connecting with friends. Both platforms, however, give you 1,977 million people to connect with on your mission to finding the optimal salesperson.

And, that’s just two social media platforms; you haven’t even tapped into the other 200+ social platforms, according to Wikipedia.

2) Glassdoor Profiles

Strategically use job and recruiting sites, especially Glassdoor, to research the profiles of companies in the areas you need to recruit sales reps. When a company on Glassdoor receives a slew of negative reviews, reach out to the people who are leaving the reviews.

Unhappy employees are searching for a “hero” to come rescue them from the grind of their present job. Connect with them and determine if they would be a good fit for your sales team by asking the right questions.

3) Contact Alumni

Remember Jimmy? The guy from your frat who could down a gallon of trashcan punch and it hardly phased him? Although he was a party animal during college, he had some skills and characteristics that would make him the perfect addition to your sales team. Reach out.

Maybe your best friend in high school was a master at getting all the girls. Obviously he has some sales skills. Reach out.

Spend some time reflecting on alumni from your alma maters. You spent a lot of time with these people and will probably realize that some of these past acquaintances had natural-born sales skills. And, with the help of social media, they should be fairly easy to find and connect with.

4) Hang Out Where the Best People Are

Determine the type of person who would be your ideal sales person and think about where people with these personalities and characteristics would most likely hangout in their daily lives as well as online. Here’s some guiding questions to get you started with this thought process:

• What does this type of person do for fun?
• What motivates this type of person?
• What industry is this type of person currently employed?
• What does this person watch on TV?
• What does a typical day look like for this person?

Record the answers to these questions in a list format. Take these words and phrases, and do a Google search for online Facebook and LinkedIn groups. Join these groups and provide value inside the group on a daily basis by answering questions and posing hot topic questions within the group.

This helps establish you as an expert, and the people in each group that fit your ideal salesperson will be there. Foster a relationship with them, first, and then start the recruiting process when you identify a top candidate.

Consider attending trade shows and mingling with people on the showroom floor is a great way to identify ideal salespeople for your team. At trade shows you have a group of people who are interested in and dedicated to the theme of the show. For example, if you are trying to recruit for the insurance restoration industry, attending the Win the Storm conference may provide a beneficial avenue to interact with roofing and general contractors because this event focuses on insurance restoration.

Also, servers at restaurants often have sales talent that they may not even recognize, but you will probably recognize it immediately. Think about it…servers deal with every type of person who enjoys eating out, which is the majority of the U.S. population, so they need to master the following salesperson-type skills:

Quick thinking with the ability to adapt;
Analyze and resolve problems quickly and efficiently;
Provide superior customer service;
Hard workers; and

Money motivated, typically. (Servers are provided with a very low salary, (I believe it’s $2.15/hour here in Dallas) if you can call it that, but they are able to be compensated by diners with tips. Because of this, most servers go out of their way to make diners’ experience exceptional.)

5) Referrals & Recommendations

Be sure to make connections with other recruiters and sales managers in your industry as well as other industries. As you build these relationships, these people will become trusted sources to reach out to and ask if they know anyone who matches your ideal salesperson.

When you ask for a referral or recommendation, give as much detail as possible about the ideal salesperson you are seeking. It helps to have a list of specific qualities and characteristics as a reference.

And, ask this qualifying question: “If you were in my position, would you hire the person you are referring to me?” And, follow up with “why or why not?” The answer to this question is very powerful and telling, which will help prevent you from recruiting the wrong type of salesperson for your team.

6) Organize Meetups

So, Meetup.com may just become your new best friend for local recruiting! For those of you who are unfamiliar, it’s an online platform in which people organize times and places to “meet up” with like-minded individuals.

According to Meetup.com’s website, “It is organized around one simple idea: when we get together and do the things that matter to us, we’re at our best.”

From this quote, we can determine the basis of a successful Meetup group:

1. Get together with others.
2. Do activities that matter.
3. Be our best.

So, to properly utilize Meetup.com for recruiting purposes, it’s important to create a “meetup” that provides value to the people who join and attend, and that targets the type of people you want to recruit.

Start by properly naming the meetup. Even if your ultimate goal is to recruit, instead of identifying the group as “Recruiting All Interested Salespeople,” consider making it all about door to door sales, maybe “Door to Door Sales Professionals in Atlanta.” Generalizing the name of the meetup in terms of the type of person you want to recruit will seem more inviting to people, enticing them to join and attend each meetup.

Use the meetup as a time to provide a learning experience for attendees. Invite guest speakers, teach how to do a powerful close at the door or offer a time of role playing for script practice with constructive feedback on how to improve. Whatever activity you plan, make sure it provides a learning experience so that attendees receive value.

Schedule a weekly or twice-monthly meetup at the same place and time so that attendees can work the meetup into their busy lives. When people know that an event occurs at the same time and the same place, they are more likely to make it a part of their monthly activity list, if you provide value.

Also, seek places that offer a free conference room, or maybe a restaurant that has a special room or area for big groups of people. Here in the Dallas area, for example, we have a chain restaurant called La Madeleine Country French Cafe that has a big room with a door that allows people to reserve it for free. Plus, meeting at a place that serves coffee, wine and other drinks encourages people to open up as well as stay to talk to the meetup facilitator even after the meetup is over, at which time you will be able to identify some potential sales recruits.

This creates a strong-knit group who will help each other, give referrals of people to recruit and support each other because everyone is:

1. Gathering for the same purpose.
2. Focused on the same goals.
3. Friends or at least acquaintances based on the theme of the group, so everyone has some things in common.

Perhaps the best pieces of advice: With a Meetup Group, don’t be pushy or salesy and make it all about recruiting. Just give value and the right people will be attracted to your group.

7) Build Best Relationships with People Already in Sales

Have you recently been through a sales funnel yourself where you’ve made a purchase? Maybe you bought a car, furniture, appliances or even a house.

Did you really enjoy the process, the way you were treated and the overall process? Become friends with the salesperson. Nurture a relationship with them and then ask for referrals. You never know who that person knows. You also never know when that person will be looking for a new opportunity and may just become your next top producer.

8) Networking Groups

Actively participate in some networking groups as well as get to know the leaders of the groups. The more leaders you know and connect with, the more referrals you will likely receive. It’s through these types of groups that you will gain professional connections, establish trust, increase your knowledge and participate in “word-of-mouth recruiting,” the ability to talk freely about your opportunity with others as a way to increase referrals and reciprocate with the same based on other members’ needs.

Here are 3 to consider joining:

Business Networking International (BNI) – Over 211,000 members across 7,800 worldwide chapters that meet weekly to help build a strong network.

MasterMind Groups – Offer group brainstorming, education, accountability and support. It’s a place to meet new people and develop relationships. To find these in your area, Google MasterMind groups, subject, and location, for example: “Mastermind groups door to door Dallas, Texas.”

eWomen – Specifically for women, this group has approximately 118 chapters spread across North America that meet locally. This would be a great avenue for female recruiters and sales managers who recruit their sales team members.

With any group you decide to join:

• Dedicate enough time to be an active, beneficial member;
• Provide value;
• Help others; and
• Keep your ears open for possible recruits within the group as well as ask for referrals.

And there you have it, the best places to recruit salespeople!

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SPOTIO is the #1 field sales engagement and performance management software that will increase revenue, maximize profitability, and boost sales productivity.

Want to see a product demonstration? Click here to see how SPOTIO can take your sales game to the next level.

As somebody who has personally recruited and hired several hundred door to door sales reps, I have a matter of fact opinion on the subject.

Does this job ad look familiar?

Chances are you have seen or placed a job ad similar to that one at some point in your sales career.

What kind of response did you get?

Did you attract the type of candidate that you were hoping you would get?

During my time recruiting for these positions I tried everything under the sun to find the right candidate.

You know, the one who is going to show up on time, have a good work ethic, willing to learn, has a positive attitude and outgoing personality.

Not so easy to find much less hire because as it turns out everybody else in the hiring world is LOOKING FOR THE EXACT SAME PERSON.

From job ads on Craigslist, CareerBuilder, Monster, Newspaper to $10,000 CareerBuilder ran job fares where we interviewed up to 75 people a day to cold calling resumes, LinkedIn, referrals you name it and I have tried it.

Some with more success than others and all can be a good way to recruit talent but you have to have the right combination of opportunity and offer.

All of my experience boils down to this…

If the job you are offering is a commission only job with no base, advancement or draw and don’t have a locked in place training program or sales process to help make new reps earn money quick then you are going to be very hard-pressed to scale your team to any level over what you can personally hire, train and oversee.

Most business owners that I have met are pretty charismatic people and have a knack for selling their vision and where they are going to take their business.

This is enough to get some people in the door and start working but after that, you need to step your game up in order to continue to find, attract and hire top talent.  More on that below.

Why is it that outside sales companies do not want to give any other compensation than commission when a job is sold?  Many times the commission is earned weeks or months after the sale has happened.

Is it because they feel that a commission only sales rep will be the one type of candidate hungry enough to go out and pound the pavement hard enough to make enough sales?  Maybe.

Why Your Door to Door Sales Recruiting Isn’t Working

But I would argue that the #1 reason door to door, field, outside whatever you want to call it sales companies want to pay only 100% commission is because they simply don’t have the systems in place to hire, train and make a new rep successful.

They can’t guarantee that if a sales rep does x, y and z they will be successful therefore they can’t afford to invest any upfront capital into that rep because they don’t know how long the rep is going to stick around.

The company is thinking that the rep will either sink or swim and if they swim then GREAT we all win!!! if they sink then who cares because I have spent as little time and money as possible  thus creating a turnover machine that rolls downhill gathering up speed until it crashes and dissipates.

It is much easier for a call center, let’s say, or inside sales team to create these processes and replicate them because everybody is in one room, calls can be recorded and listened to, scripts can be displayed on computer monitors, etc.

The activities that lead up to the sale are transparent and readily available therefore providing an opportunity for immediate coaching.

Whereas an outside sales force has to have somebody follow along with the rep in the field  or do roll playing before they hit the field and getting accurate, actual results are hard because everybody is typically out doing their own thing.

Turnover is the Enemy

I’m sure I don’t have to tell you how bad turnover hurts you right?  Just because it didn’t “cost” you dollars in terms of payroll doesn’t mean it didn’t cost you in many other ways.

According to this article by SalesManage.com there are both direct and indirect costs associated with sales turnover not limited to the time wasted recruiting and training to the burned leads and territories.  It adds up quick

How the Big Boys Recruit for Door to Door Sales

Go look at any of the larger door to door or outside sales companies and I would be willing to bet they offer more incentives than just a commission check if something is sold.

While writing this post I looked at some Craigslist job ads and came across a large window company that was hiring canvassers at $11 to $15 an hour plus commission.

Now how can they afford to pay canvassers that much money but you can only offer commission?  It must be because they have deep pockets and can throw money around.  Hardly.

I guarantee you they know their cost per lead and per acquisition and it is low enough to provide them a great return on investment (ROI) even though they invest a substantial amount of money up front to hiring quality people.

They can do it because they know for a fact how much it is going to cost them to get that rep trained up and generating leads and from there they know how many of those leads are going to turn into $$$.  They know this because they track the important data and have historical facts on what their KPI’s are in relation to their costs.

You don’t have to be a Fortune 1000 company to be able to attract the top quality talent you just have to stand out from the 1 million other commission sales job posts out there.

Other companies offer advances on future commissions when a contract is signed.  The rep will get $X at that time and the rest is paid when the product or service is delivered.

This puts money in the reps pockets fast and keeps them fed #1 and motivated #2.

In future posts, I will dive into greater detail on how to create a sales process as an outside sales organization and get into the nuts and bolts of it.

How you can start hiring door to door sales reps more effectively:

1) Be able to offer something more than just commission.

If you are hiring appointment setters or canvassers then this is a must. A small hourly pay can go a long way because in their mind they know that at least they are going to earn that and everything else is sugar on top.  If it is not the entire time they are working for you then at least while they are in training and getting ramped up.

For sales reps a draw against their commission in the very least and if you want to get real crazy then a salary or base pay.  Fuel reimbursements, company truck or an expense account can go a long way as well.

Set it for the first week, month or until the first commission check over $X is earned but whatever you do make it something.

A few quick ideas on incentivizing other than 100% commission:

• Hourly pay tied to activity metrics
• Advance on a sale
• Pay per lead
• Pay per door knock – one of our customers paid something like $1 for every door knocked because they knew that for every 65 door knocks or so they would get a sale.

By offering something other than commission you are showing the candidate that you are willing to invest in their success.  If you are willing to invest, even just a little, then it can do a lot for job interest in the beginning and loyalty and attitude in the long run.

2) Show the Candidate What Success Looks Like

There is no better-recruiting tool than a potential new hire talking to other sales reps.

They will enforce that your company is a good place to work where they feel appreciated, receive support and have the opportunity to make good money.

If you are the business owner doing the recruiting then at a certain point in the recruitment process the candidate may become suspicious thinking you tell everybody the same thing and make all the same  promises.

So put them in touch with three of your current team members that are killing it and your candidate close rate will immediately go up.

3) Have a Good Training Program

Some of the best potential doo to door sales reps you will hire will have zero experience in your industry.  If you have a training program or structured system where a person new to your industry can get up and running and earning money quick then you will be in a much better place than if you don’t.

4) Be Able to “Prove it”

By this point, you understand the importance of sales activity tracking.  Do you have your companies DPD (dollars per door) ratio?  Do you know on average how many doors have to knock in order to get one sale?

Use this information in your recruiting efforts.  This is proof that you have a replicable system where you can plug in a new rep and have them making money quickly.  It’s almost guaranteed.  See the sample job ad below.

5) Ask for Referrals

You already ask for referrals from your customers, but also do so from your current sales team.

Some of the best door to door sales reps I ever hired were referrals from other successful sales reps.  Like minded people typically hang out together.  Success begets success.  Losers hang out with other losers and winners hang out with other winners.

Competing against friends in a sales environment is fun and creates a more enjoyable experience while working.

So your #1 goal is to hire new sales reps and make them very successful at their job by focused attention on training and watching their KPI’s and training up to them and then ask them who else they know may like to work at this job.

Heck, you may even want to offer them an assistant manager position where they can hire and train their own team and get a small override.

Combine these steps to post a much more attractive job ad that will grab the attention of your ideal candidate.

Imagine if you could post something like this:

Don’t just be another pie in the sky job ad amongst a sea of hardly believable rubble.  Have proof that your sales system works then know how much you can invest in a new rep to get them started.

Incorporate all of this into your recruiting efforts to build immediate credibility and become that company where high-quality candidates come because they know the potential.

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SPOTIO is the #1 field sales engagement and performance management software that will increase revenue, maximize profitability, and boost sales productivity.

Want to see a product demonstration? Click here to see how SPOTIO can take your sales game to the next level.

The search is on! You are very clear on the exact type of person you are looking for to add to your sales team. You’ve got their qualities listed out, personality traits identified and the exact skill set you are seeking. You’ve even researched other companies that have a similar sales team like the one you want to build for yourself.

All you need now is a pool of qualified individuals to get your recruiting party started!

The problem is that the best-of-the-best salespeople are already producing for another company and have a top notch pay plan, so they aren’t actively looking for a sales position. And, if they aren’t looking, then they won’t be applying on your company’s career page.

So, where do you find them?

LinkedIn, of course.

This popular professionally-based social media platform conducted a study, “The State of Sales in 2016,” and found that approximately:

70% of sales pros use LinkedIn to meet customers and build strong relationships;

90% of top-performing salespeople use social media, identifying LinkedIn as one of their top three platforms; and

71% of salespeople overall use social media.

Look at these numbers and let them soak in for just a minute.

If 90% of top-performing salespeople are using LinkedIn, why are you not using it to recruit top-performing talent?

This tutorial will guide you through the process on how to find sales reps on LinkedIn and discover your next top salesperson.

Some LinkedIn Essentials to Learn Before Finding Your Next Sales Rep on LinkedIn

To begin seeking top sales talent on LinkedIn, make sure yours and your company’s LinkedIn profiles are properly formatted to show the level of professionalism you are seeking in your potential sales reps. If these two profiles are incomplete and look amateur, this is the type of talent that you will attract. However, if these profiles present you and your company as high level professionals, top-performing salespeople will be attracted to what you have to offer.

Be sure your profile is at least on the “advanced” level, but preferably on the “all-star” level, according to LinkedIn’s standards. Here’s how to determine what level your LinkedIn account is currently rated:

1. Log into your LinkedIn account.
2. In the top left of the page where your picture, name and title is listed, click the blue box with “Improve Your Profile.”

3. On the right of the page, you will see a “Profile Strength” section. Make sure the circle reflects green and the “advanced” level.

To get to the “all-star” profile status, here are the 7 actions you need to take:

1. Add a profile photo, preferably a professional headshot.
2. Enter your industry and location.
3. Make sure your current position is up-to-date with a detailed description.
4. List at least two past positions you held.
5. Complete your educational details.
6. List at least 3 skills.
7. Connect to at least 50 individuals within your LinkedIn network.

Having a strong LinkedIn profile ensures potential top-performing salespersons, in which you interact and attempt to recruit, that you are a well-connected professional within your industry and take the necessary steps to make a great impression.

The same holds true for the company in which you are recruiting for, so be sure their LinkedIn profile is optimized as well. You can be sure that if you reach out to top performing salespeople, they will not only research you but the company in which you represent.

The main characteristics of an optimized LinkedIn company profile include:

Images evoke emotions and feelings, so your company’s LinkedIn banner should incorporate elements such as logo, colors, catch-phrases, etc. that encompass its culture. Add images of employees working, volunteering and having fun while working to grab the interest of LinkedIn visitors.

Make all messages on your company’s profile clear and easy to understand at a glance. Top performing salespeople don’t have time to research your company in depth; therefore, make sure the words chosen reflect why your company is unique.

Identify a few key salespersons that are currently on your sales team to share their experiences with your company on the company’s LinkedIn profile. Ask them to provide you with a couple of brief sentences of why they love working with you and for your company.

Finding Top Performing Sales Reps on LinkedIn

Once you have these two LinkedIn profiles at a high-caliber level, hone in on the extraordinary sales talent you are seeking by following these steps:

Join LinkedIn groups. Groups give you direct access to a crowd of people, all focused on the same overall topic. This is a prime place to start networking with potential recruits on LinkedIn. Besides, this is where a lot of the 90% of top performers spend their time on LinkedIn, searching for their next client.

The goal is to answer questions within the groups to position yourself as an expert as well as pose different related topics for discussion. For example, find an industry-specific stat, post it in a relevant group and ask for the people within the group to voice their opinion of the data being presented.

The more people start seeing you participate in groups, the quicker you will establish yourself as a competent sales manager that top salespeople will be interested in forming a relationship with.

To find and join groups:

1. Log into your LinkedIn account.
2. Type “sales representative” in the white search bar at the top of the page.
3. In the grey box to the left of the white search bar with 3 lines, click on the little down arrow.
4. Choose “Groups.”
5. Click the blue box with the magnifying glass.
6. A list of groups that match this search term will populate your screen.
7. Click on a group’s name.
8. Read “About this Group” to determine if you believe joining this group will lead to establishing meaningful relationships with top sales talent.
9. Click the “Ask to Join” button.

Bonus Tip: To jump start your LinkedIn group search, here’s a group you should join: Door to Door Sales Professionals.

Seek potential recruits by using LinkedIn’s Advanced People Search. This tool allows you to enter specific details about the top salespeople you want to recruit such as title, industry and location.

After logging into your LinkedIn account, at the top of the page to the right of the blue box with a magnifying glass you will see “Advanced.” Click to reveal:

To search for candidates:

1. In the left column, type “sales representative” in the “Title” section.
2. In the middle column, click “Location” and “Add.” Enter a city and state in the blank. (If you want to search more than one area, click “Add” again, and enter the next city and state.)
3. Next, click “Industry” and tick mark the industry you need.
4. Click the blue “Search” button at the bottom of the left column and a list of potential recruits based on your search criteria will be listed.

Bonus Tip: When using LinkedIn’s Advanced People Search tool, be sure to add as much search information as possible to produce a more customized list of potential recruits.

At this point, scroll through the list and when you find a potential recruit that catches your attention, click on his or her name. This will take you directly to that individual’s profile. Explore the individual a bit more by:

Reading his or her summary to determine their credibility;

Looking for recommendations from clients or customers which is way more powerful than recommendations from coworkers; and

Check out the profile picture. Is it a professional headshot or a picture of the individual doing a round of shots at a bar? The way someone chooses to present themselves via a picture says a lot about that individual.

Make your connection message stand out. As you research LinkedIn profiles, you will find potential recruits that meet your criteria. Send an invitation to connect.

Click the blue “Connect” button on the person’s LinkedIn profile to reveal:

Choose how you know the person and then delete LinkedIn’s default message: “Hi, I’d like to add you to my professional network on LinkedIn” in the personal note box. Not only is this boring, it is very impersonal and does not demonstrate that you are attempting to form a relationship with that person.

Try engaging with a message such as: “Hi ______.  We’ve never met, but your profile came up when I was looking for top performing salespeople. I’m really impressed with your skills and background knowledge, and would love to learn what drew you to work with _______ . Can we connect?”

Research your competitor’s top sales people. Find these individuals on LinkedIn by searching the name of the company and determine who is associated with that particular company.

In the above example, I searched the company Netflix and then I have a choice from the drop down menu to see people who currently work at Netflix and those who previously worked there. Use this data to:

Connect with top performers who previously worked at a company and ask him or her why they quit. You may be able to win them over to your team by countering their complaints with all the positives your company offers.

Connect with top performers who currently work at a company and ask him or her why she prefers that company. This can give you insight on particular “perks” top performers are looking for and how your company can offer the same or better.

As you find the top salespeople, review their profile and see who they’re connected to on LinkedIn. Usually people connect with others in the same industry, so this could lead you to another sales superstar of the same caliber to reach out and connect.

Start your LinkedIn recruiting journey today! The more you use LinkedIn, the better you will understand the power that you have to discover top talent for your sales team, and it doesn’t cost you a dime!

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SPOTIO is the #1 sales engagement and territory management app to increase your revenue, maximize your profitability, and increase your team’s productivity in just 2 weeks.

Want to see a product demonstration? Click here to see how SPOTIO can take your sales game to the next level.