How To Hire A Great Sales Person

Most every company needs sales people, but hiring the right person can be tricky. Often, attracting the ideal candidate does not happen. It can take months to figure out this expensive lesson.

At times, the person in charge of the hiring looks at the situation as a distraction. He/she may see it as a short term task instead of an investment in the business. Often, it’s just about filling a position. Sound familiar?

One should never hire just to fill a position. That is what I call a band-aid solution. It will get the job done for the shot term, nothing else.

Each organization is different, so the goal is to find someone who is both appropriate to the needs of the business, while ensuring that the new hire is happy as well. In order to do this, there needs to be a strategy in place, a game plan.

The next time you are looking to hire a sales person while finding the "right fit", consider the following.

Before you spend the time on a job description, ask yourselves the following questions:

• What personality type(s) would best be suited to the position?

• What characteristics does this person need to have to succeed in this role?

• How long can I afford to train this person?

• Is our intention to fill a position or build a career?

• Will this person be hired to build new business, maintain business or both?

• How much experience does this person need, why?

• If I were looking for a job, why is this company a good place to work?

• Should you take care of the hiring process, or hire a recruitment firm?

Once you go through these questions, you can create another list of questions that will help you qualify your candidates.

Think about all the criteria necessary for you to attract the ideal person for your sales role. Write down a profile of exactly what you are looking for.

The reason I think it is important to go through this process is because it forces you to be clear about what you want so you don’t settle for a costly mistake later down the road.

The example below is a possible description of the ideal traits a sales manager can be looking for.

Personality traits:
The new sales person is persistent, but not pushy. He/she is internally motivated due to self discipline. He/she requires little training to get the job done. He/she has a strong understanding of the entire sales cycle, knowing how to move a sale through each phase until the sale is closed. The sales person has excellent time management skills and knows how to prioritize tasks accordingly. This person can solve problems easily due to common sense. He/she is loyal and gets along with others well.

Notice that I am not looking at qualifications or requirements first. Always consider if the qualifications are hindering you from potentially finding a diamond in the rough. Requirements could also weed people out. They can be extremely useful if you are only looking for the ideal candidate for a technical product, or a position that absolutely cannot be done without certain experience.

Hiring for sales is different than hiring for other roles because sales people can be very effective, especially if they are adaptable and pick things up quickly. Other roles cannot afford such liberties.

I believe anyone can learn skills, but personality traits cannot be taught. Look to for intangible attributes that cannot be justified on paper. A few examples include honesty, work ethic, integrity, discipline. You also need to know what motivates the sales person. If money is the key motivator, you have to question if they will be able to provide the "after sales service" required for nurturing the account. Conversely, if their primary drive is to please the client, then they might be better suited to a farmer or customer service related role.

Their behavioral traits will usually determine how much get done, how they interact with others, where their desires lie and ultimately how successful they will be in your unique company culture.

Once you have figured out the personality criteria, work backwards to construct your interview questions, appropriate skills, requirements, duties of the job, and the training investment required.

The interview questions:
There is always the standard interview questions asked, including…Can you tell me about yourself? What are your strengths? What are your weaknesses? Why are you the best person for the position?

In my opinion, these questions do not really tell you much. Instead, I would lean towards asking ask a combination of questions to assess the person’s way of thinking. When you understand how someone thinks, you have a better understanding of how they make decisions, solve problems, and seek assistance; you will have a broader perspective on how successful the person will be. You could ask…

• What is the hardest part of the sales cycle for you? (This will tell you where his/her strengths and weaknesses are in the overall sales picture)

• How do you manage your day? (This will address time management and organizational skills)

• How do you go about building referrals? (This will address the prospecting skills)

• What do like most and least about sales? (This could tell you a lot… If he/she is aggressive, a closer, follow up skills, qualifying abilities, etc.)

• What makes you a successful sales person? (The answer will give you insight about how they determine success in relation to the job. Is it about pleasing the client? About driving up numbers or both?)

• How do you like to be managed? (This will tell you if the person is a self starter, or needs more guidance)

• If you had a large sale on the line, and the client was interested, but was not aware of information that could jeopardize the sale…what would you do? (This reveals where their moral compass is sitting)

What the employee wants:
Each employee has an agenda as well. In order to find the right person and have him/her stay, it is important to understand what they are looking for as well. Employees will not typically get into questions about pay, bonuses, why the position is vacant, benefits, vacation, etc. These topics are important, so try to include them in the job posting or during the interview.

Some questions that an employee might be thinking include:

• Is there a career path for this position? What does it include?

• How much training is there? What type of training?

• Do you support career development, such as courses?

• What are the advancement opportunities that exist?

The appropriate skills, requirements, duties of the job, and the training investment required are all specific to your particular company, so that is the easy part.

In the end, hopefully these tips will help you attract better qualified, long lasting employees that will significantly contribute to your bottom line. If you have a moment, I am open to your feedback… Thanks and good luck!