Where Are They Hiding?

Having the issue finding good sales reps and have no clue where to start? Welcome to the club! It’s very difficult to find the perfect sales rep/team right away. Here are some tips I’ve used in the past that have worked wonderfully.

1. Do not expect great sales people to apply online/through job boards. The best sales reps are too busy crushing the game at their current job to be applying elsewhere. You may get lucky once in a while, but seek these strong candidates yourself. Ask around for referrals, search LinkedIn personally if you are bootstrapping and cannot afford a staffing firm to find people.
2. Build a quiver of candidates. Always be looking for top sales talent and start a dialogue with them. When the opportunity arises, you will be ready to approach them instead of starting the search from scratch.
3. Search Universities/Colleges with Sales Clubs or Sales Programs. I personally graduated from a program with a sales specific degree and owe a lot of success to it. These collegiate candidates are hungry, young, and ready to take the industry by storm. Once connected, the referral basis is endless with these groups. I have placed/hired multiple alumni from these programs into top sales jobs and they out perform the veterans on a consistent basis.
4. Take a risk on curiosity. Sales is a different game these days. Find candidates who may not have the “sales experiences” needed, but are curious in nature and like asking questions. The best candidates are great at asking open-ended questions and selling solutions to their customers pain and not forcing features down their throat.
5. Think outside the box. I’ve previously hosted open houses/happy hour events to have friends and local talent come visit the office and hang out for an hour or two. To clarify, this is not a recruiting event, but a time for people to see the company culture/atmosphere and might spark an interest in them or a referral. Create buzz around your company, invest in your employees and people will want to work for you.
6. Ask successful sales people for referrals. Birds of a feather flock together right? Top talent recognizes other top talent. Skilled sales representatives look out for each other and don’t mind providing referrals to help their friends continue growing in their careers.

All in all, finding the correct sales rep is a hard task, but training them and keeping them is another story. Remember, hire slow, fire fast. If the employee is toxic or not a fit, remove the distraction quickly before it contaminates the rest of the company.