Recruiting Top Sales Talent: Secrets You Need To Know

RECRUITING TOP SALES TALENT: SECRETS YOU NEED TO KNOW

Why is hiring the top sales talent important—asked no one ever. With a market that’s more competitive than ever, it is harder for companies to land the right sales talent. Add the increasing job-hopping trend, and you’ve got yourself in a hiring fix. To help you through these challenges, here are some secrets to recruiting top sales talent.

If you’d prefer to speak directly to the experts, set up a consultation with the experienced sales recruiters at HireDNA today. Contact Us

Create Brand Awareness

According to a Glassdoor survey, candidates are 40% more likely to apply to well-known brands. Is your company known? Does your brand name resonate with your target audience? If your answer to those questions is yes, then you already have a shot at finding the right employees. If not, then you have your work cut out for you.

We don’t expect you to spend all your budget on branding, especially if your business is just starting out. However, we do recommend that you provide the right information on your website by answering the following questions:

  • What makes your organization different from your competitors?
  • Why should a candidate apply to your company?
  • What is your vision and mission?
  • What is your company ideology?

Such questions can help create a holistic image of your company and help candidates better understand your brand, products, and overall business.

Write An Attractive Job Description

A lackluster or poorly worded job description is one of the main reasons why companies are unable to attract the right candidates. Here are some tips for writing a good job description for a sales candidate.

1. Write For The Candidate, Not For You

Understand what a candidate will be looking for in a job posting. A clean cut, yet attractive title is bound to draw more applicants than a vague or boring title.

Your content matters as well. Don’t forget to provide important information, and avoid fluffy or long drawn descriptions. Don’t use superlative adjectives like ‘we need the world class or best of the best sales ninjas,’ as they might make candidates feel like you expect too much. When writing your job description, remember to keep the tone easy going, as well as professional.

2. List Specific Job Duties And Desired Skills

We cannot emphasize the importance of this enough: make sure that candidates know what they are applying for.

List everything that will be expected of them when working for your organization to eliminate any chances of a gap in communication. You don’t want to hire sales representatives who don’t understand their job responsibilities or come in with unrealistic expectations.

3. Don’t Make It Hard To Apply

Keep the application process as hassle-free as possible. Instead of expecting your employees to make multiple visits to your office, or asking them to fill online and paper-based forms, make the application process as simple as you can.

Candidates are more likely to apply to your organization if they have to put in minimal effort. This also reflects highly on your company work culture. A long, complex application process, for instance, can make your company culture seem too stiff and traditional. 

4. Easily Eliminate Candidates Who Lack Attention To Detail

Judge an applicant’s understanding from the get go without having them fill in extensive forms. For example, you can ask candidates to start their cover letters a certain way, or give instructions on what to include in the cover letter—and simply eliminate applications that don’t fit the bill.

Encourage Employee Referrals

Referrals are an important factor when recruiting top sales talent, yet many businesses do not take full advantage of them.

Since top tier candidates may apply to multiple organizations, their process of selection often comes down to asking their colleagues, family, and friends for advice. Companies can use this to their advantage by initiating and promoting internal referral programs. In other words, existing employees should be incentivized to refer talented candidates for vacancies.

Almost 76% of professionals consider referrals to be imperative to successful hiring. Companies with a lesser known brand name can also create authenticity with word of mouth marketing through existing employees.

Know Where To Look

Writing a job posting is of course the best way to go about looking for candidates for your sales team, but it is often not enough. To recruit top sales employees, you might have to employ specific hunting strategies:

1. College Career Fairs/Alumni

Don’t underestimate fresh talent. They present a unique opportunity for companies to strategically hire candidates with leadership potential. While these potential candidates may not have professional experience, they can be judged on the basis on their commitment and potential for learning and developing.

2. LinkedIn & Social Media

Do you have your job posting on LinkedIn? Good. But if you think that’s the only way to find talented employees, think again.

Different social media platforms and job posting websites can serve as a search engine for you to find the perfect sales talent for your organization. Even with LinkedIn, you can apply certain filters to scope out the right talent, reach out to them, and build yourself a winning sales team.

3. Sales Recruiting Firms

Hiring a dedicated sales recruiting firm, like HireDNA, can be one of the best ways to source, screen, and secure prime talent. At HireDNA, we can source and assess a pool of highly talented applicants based on customized candidate profiles. We can then screen candidates based on your preferred competencies and required skills. Plus, we can onboard and train new talent to make them a better fit for your company in no time.

Build Your Winning Sales Team

Regardless of your business size or status, hiring sales talent is not an easy task. The expert sales recruiters at HireDNA can help.

Why Choose Us?

  • 20 years of candidate sales data
  • 8 million salespeople assessed
  • 80% of our searches result in a successful hire (3x industry average)
  • 3-month average new hire ramp up (compare to 6-month industry average)
  • 92% of our recommended and hired candidates reach top half of sales force in 12 months

Ready to build your winning team? Get in touch today.

Contact Us