Priit Suitslepp – Recruitment in sales
Priit Suitslepp
"We'd like a salesperson who climbs back in through the window when they're thrown out the door.
- This is a very typical answer to the question, what kind of salesperson does the company need?
Although it is a very nice criteria, there are all kinds of sales. Salespeople who sell pensions in shopping malls and salespeople who sell new CRM systems to large corporations cannot be lumped together. If you go into the details, there are a lot of nuances to follow when recruiting in sales.
Since I have been operating in sales field for about 19 years now,
both in making sales myself and in recruiting, I would like to share 5 key criteria with you, that we ourselves follow in Southwestern Recruitment when recruiting in sales.
By the way, if you want to know more about me, feel free to check me out on LinkedIn. Now lets move on to criterias.
Length of sales cycle
There are salespeople for whom a shorter sales cycle is suitable and for whom a longer sales cycle is suitable. If we use the previous examples, the sales cycle of corporations can last from a few months to a few years. But you can handle active sales in a shopping centre in 10 minutes.
Who is the decision-maker?
In B2C sales, your decision-makers are mostly "ordinary people from the street", but in B2B sales, the decision makers are company managers. In turn, there is a difference in B2B sales whether you are used to selling to, for example, CEOs or marketing managers. It also depends on the size of the company, because the bigger the company, the more decision-makers there are.
Are you looking for inbounder or cold-caller?
There are many salespeople who have only been involved in sales where the customer comes to them (warm leads). Yes, you need communication and sales skills there too, having the initiative to go talk to a client or generating cold contacts yourself, is much more difficult. You need to know the difference of these two when recruiting in sales.
Has the salesperson sold a well-known brand/product?
Why does this matters when recruiting in sales? It's easier to sell an Apple computer than a Chuwi computer that no one knows (I even needed to Google that, when writing this blog). Similarly, it is more difficult to sell a product that the customer didn't even know they needed or that they don't currently use, but which would save time/money if used. In this case, both the company and the product must be ‘’sold’’.
Has the salesperson sold price or quality?
Understand the perspective and beliefs. Car models are a good comparison here. Selling a BMW is different than selling Dacia cars. Of course, everybody understands that there's remarkable difference in clientele. But it's important here to note that in one you sell quality and comfort, and in the other you just sell the good price.
There are, of course, small nuances to consider when recruiting in sales. For example, while the best salespeople should be motivated by money, it should not be their primary motivation for changing jobs. If it is, you can be quite sure that they will continue to sell until they find a more financially fulfilling sales position.
What makes recruiting in sales complicated is that salespeople are very good at selling themselves. However, it's important to understand whether they have enough consistency and the ability to sell the company’s product or service.
As with any recruitment, one must not forget the cultural component and the fit with the manager when recruiting in sales. People usually come to work for the company but leave because of the manager.
If you feel that you need assistance in finding a professional salespeople, book a consultation or contact our recruiter.
