Save money on spiraling recruitment costs and discover 10 easy ways the experts use to ensure you hire a Sales Winner that takes your business forward.

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boost sales, boost your bank balance
Are You Hiring Sales Winners or Sales
Losers?
January 6, 2014 by Iain Swanston – www.iainswanstononline.com
Whether your business is expanding or you
are replacing a sales person who has moved
on, recruiting and building a winning sales
team continues to challenge both Startups
and established organizations alike. You
spend a lot of time and money and hire a
Sales Winner – the Tom Cruise of sales –
unfortunately within 9 months Tom has
somehow transformed into a Sales loser,
who looks more like Latka from Taxi.
Studies by Gallup suggest even the top
companies worldwide experience a staff
turnover of 10% plus, what chance then has any Startup with limited resources of recruiting
the right sales person? The US Department of Labor estimates one bad hire on a salary of
$50,000 costs the employer a minimum of $15,000. Chuck Mache has created a really good
breakdown on the cost of a bad hire here. Whether you are recruiting your first sales person
or you have been through the process many times, those costs make the risk of hiring a Sales
Winners who is a liability, instead of a Sales Loser that your customers love, very
high. Turnover in sales teams creates a vicious circle, as vital resources are diverted to the
Hiring and Recruitment process to replace the Sales Dud. Whilst the selection process can
never be an exact science, there are many common reasons organizations end up with a
square peg in a round hole.
1)
Prepare – The best time to find the right sales person is when you don’t need
one. Filling an empty seat puts pressure on you to make a decision. Build a portfolio of good
sales people before you need them, using Linkedin’s new Contacts & Tags facility.
2)
Understand – Work out the exact costs so you know what is at stake before you even
start the process. Share this information amongst everyone involved in the selection process
so they know how important it is to get the right person.
3)
Prioritize – Recruit on Values first and Skills second. No member of staff can stay in
an organization if their values are not aligned with the organizations. Skills can be taught but
changing someone’s Values is a long term project.
4)
Evaluate – Score every existing sales person on a 1 – 10 scale and then work out the
average score. Never recruit a sales person below your average score as this will only drag

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boost sales, boost your bank balance
the average down. Remember if you are recruiting on Values first, a graduate can have a
better attitude than a 10 year veteran.
5)
Research – Check out their Linkedin profile and see how long they have stayed in
previous roles. Many sales people leave roles between 8 and 18 months – why? Were the
roles similar or was the person advancing their career. Also, ensure Linkedin matches their
Personal Resume, although neither are guaranteed.
6)
Assessments – use Psychometric and Sales assessments to help you understand their
mental DNA. Will they be a good fit with your organization and will they be a good fit for
your customers?
7)
Test – Use competency based assessments to make sure they have the necessary sales
skill set that you require. Understand what Sales Methodology they use as trying to change a
Sales person’s Sales Methodology is like trying to change their religion.
8)
Measure – Before you start to look you need to know what you are looking for. Build
and use a score card system to objectively measure each candidate. Some areas you might
consider are Sales Craft, Sales Habits, Sales Activity, Sales Results and Sales
Expectations. This can be used as the basis of any Personal Development Plan once the
candidate is on board.
9)
Reference – ask your existing customers if they could recommend any sales
professionals they know and deal with. Ask your PA and switchboard operators which sales
people they like, as chances are if your staff like them so will your customers.
10) Recruit from within – if you have an existing employee in another role you already
know exactly what you are getting in terms of Values. The investment in time and money on
Professional Sales Training and Coaching is minimal compared to the cost of a bad hire.
Entrepreneurs and Organizations also need to ensure that they do not recruit in their own
image. Whilst it may seem obvious the traits of an entrepreneur are not the same as a
Professional Sales person, it is usually less obvious that the traits of a VP of Sales or Sales
Manager may not be the exact characteristics required for a specific sales role. You may
wish to involve a Professional Recruiter to aid with the Hiring and Recruitment process,
however I would strongly recommend you invest the time to complete the Ten steps above
yourself. This will give you a much better understanding of exactly who you are hiring and
like every industry there are good recruiters and not so good Recruiters, who may only carry
out the minimum of checks. There are Sales Winners out there, they might just be difficult
for you to find.
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