Recruiting for the right sales candidates (and sales managers) is more often than not, a time consuming and risky endeavor. Measuring sales effectiveness and candidate potential means having to go through the arduous task of collecting and reviewing several resumes, interviewing a variety of candidates, and then accurately gauging if the sales candidate will have the right tools, attitude, and aptitude to succeed as an effective sales candidate for a company.
If only there were a way to accurately assess a sales candidate and not be fooled by an inaccurate track record, exaggerated resume, or a misleading charismatic personality. The hiring process for winning sales candidates does not need to be as time-consuming and backbreaking of a chore. When it comes to working smarter not harder, an effective methodology may be in order. Here are 3 simple tips to keep in mind to help streamline the hiring process for strong salespeople.
Don’t Stop Recruiting
Look to hire new recruits all the time, not when you need one. Waiting to hire when you need stellar new recruits will likely result in a last-ditch effort into a rushed interview process and unqualified new sales candidates.
Concentrate your sales recruiting efforts into polishing your organization into a company that people will want to work for. You can appeal to talent by promoting your company culture, rewards, and the perks of working.
Utilize the Job Description
The job description can either work for you or against you. Make it work for you by providing a comprehensive description of all the challenges and obstacles that the candidate will be dealing with so as to better prepare them for the position if they find that they’re up to it. You can help identify these challenges by thinking about important factors in your market. Things to think about are:
- Sizes of companies
- Identifying key decision makers
- The number of competitors in your market
- The pricing of your product or service compared to competitors
- The length of the sale cycle
Automate Your Email
You probably have several resumes to reply to in your inbox. If having to respond to each one takes up a huge part of your day, then it’s time to consider utilizing an automated message reply system to help streamline responses to the large amount of resumes you’ll be receiving.
You can create an automated reply system in Gmail and Microsoft Outlook that will identify incoming resumes, sort and move them to appropriate folders, and reply with a message that will help explain your hiring process and any instructions you would for them to follow prior to taking your Sales Candidate Assessments. This will make your day easier.