No matter how bad the overall situation on the labor market, salespeople are still one of the most wanted professions. Companies are actually fighting for good salespeople and often do not find any. Why is it so hard to hire good salespeople? This topic was covered in a recent article on ERE.net. The articlerevealed two basic causes - 1) different expectations of companies and salespeople regarding their financial compensation and 2) too complicated recruiting processes.
As for the compensation, salespeople are usually rewarded by commissions. Experienced salespeople welcome commissions, but also expect other forms of compensation. They are interested in other benefits companies can offer - from company cars, computers and phones to education and extra time off. It is really worth asking salespeople for their preferences regarding benefits.
As for the recruitment process, it should be as short and simple as possible. The best candidates do not have either time or interest to pass complex and long rounds of interviews. Try to ask yourself the following questions:
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How long are your sales positions open? How much money does it cost you from the long-term perspective?
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Which part of the recruitment process is the longest and why? Can you speed it up?
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Are your managers trained to conduct interviews?
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Do you force applicants to visit you repeatedly even if it is not necessary?
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Do you use assessment centers? How effectively can you manage them?
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How effective is your process of checking references?
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Which processes can be automated to save your time and improve communication with your applicants?
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Do your senior managers participate in the recruitment process? When and what values does their participation bring?
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How high the turnover of salespeople in your company? How do you work with it?
Try to focus on these two areas of recruiting salespeople and you will see that you will find ways to improve.
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