Recruiting in a Seller’s Market

Angela Parsons, Partner & Chief Sales Officer at Xelerate LLC

Recruiting and hiring top-tier candidates are huge challenges. Ten years ago, we might have said, “Tell me why I should hire you.” Now, we have to say, “This is exactly why you should come work for us.” For sales leaders, finding (and retaining) the ideal rep requires new approaches and strategies. Here’s what you don’t want to miss in today’s hiring market.

Be proactive with the pipeline.

Recruiting is just like selling — if you wait until you’ve lost even one rep to start prospecting for new candidates, you could be pretty far behind the eight ball.

The company itself and the hiring manager should be always putting out content, whether through LinkedIn or other social media, to stay in front of “passive candidates.” Sales leaders, managers, and their recruiters should also check in with top talent to see how things are going and if they would be interested in a conversation. You might hit someone at just the right moment when they’re ready for a change.

All of this takes time — especially when the crucial “time to fill” (a common term among recruiters) is elongating no matter the methodology. That’s why it’s critical to be filling that pipeline continuously.

Be honest about your sales environment.

I can’t impress this point to sales managers enough: Understand and be very honest about the sales environment that you’re asking your reps to come into and work under. For example, a rep at a major organization may have a lot more sales tools at their disposal than going to work on your sales team at a 50-person company. Being very honest and candid with the candidates (and yourself) about the sales environment helps with attrition and retention as well.

Set realistic expectations.

Sales managers should also take a look at themselves to make sure they’re finding the right fit. If you don’t have the time to micromanage and do a lot of training, then you need to hire a person with more sales experience under their belt and a proven track record of working autonomously. If you’re not a company with a strong sales enablement program, then don’t hire entry-level grads. It’s not the fact that they couldn’t ultimately be successful, but there are a lot of new grads who move into sales positions because they want to explore sales.

To read the complete article, Recruiting in a Seller’s Market, visit Quotable.com.