Author: hiredna

Attract the Best and Brightest Salespeople By Offering These 10 Benefits

Posted on by hiredna

There are numerous factors that go into attracting top salespeople. Compensation, advancement opportunities, and company culture are often some of the first things that come to mind. 

But benefits have become a major factor as well. “In today’s hiring market, companies have to fork out more and more to create benefits packages that both attract and retain talent,” writes Kerry Jones, marketing director at Fractl, a growth marketing firm. 

The question is, which specific benefits should you offer? 

What the Data Says

Fractl performed a comprehensive survey that asked 2,000 people which benefits out of a list of 17 were most important to them. Here are the most valued benefits according to the data.

What we want to focus on here is the top 10 benefits so you’ll know which ones to prioritize. They are as follows. 

  1. Health, Dental, and Vision Insurance

Unsurprisingly, this is the number one benefit — something that’s primarily due to the rising cost of healthcare. Just look at how the total national health expenditures have increased between 1988 and 2018. 

It’s becoming a bigger and bigger challenge for Americans to keep up with rising healthcare costs, so offering fully paid healthcare to salespeople can be a game changer for attracting top tier talent. This is no doubt one of the most expensive benefits, averaging $11,394 for a base salary of $60,000… 

…but it can be well worth it when you consider the competitive edge it can give you. For a rundown on offering health insurance to employees, check out this guide from Gusto. 

  1. More Flexible Hours

This came in just behind health, dental, and vision insurance at number two on the list. 

“Steering away from a traditional 9-to-5 workplace structure that dictates the whereabouts of an employee, moving toward a modern workplace model that improves satisfaction and productivity, is ideal in today’s job climate,” says Joshua Stowers of Business News Daily. 

Giving salespeople more say over their schedule and allowing them to balance their professional and personal lives can be instrumental in attracting the best and the brightest talent. 

  1. More Vacation Time

Not far behind health insurance and more flexible hours is more vacation time. Here’s how much paid vacation the average salesperson receives according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics. 

If you can go beyond that, your company instantly becomes more attractive to elite salespeople.

  1. Work-From-Home Options

Being able to work remotely at least part of the time has been an attractive benefit for a while. But with COVID turning the world on its head, it’s pretty much a must for businesses nowadays. 

There’s never been a more important time to invest in technology that allows your salespeople to work-from-home than the present. To learn how to help your team make the shift to remote processes for talent acquisition, check out this previous post we wrote. 

  1. Unlimited Vacation

At first glance, this benefit may sound a little crazy, but it’s really catching on as of late. “Although the perk is far from widespread,” says Kerry Jones, “unlimited paid time off has been adopted by a growing number of organizations” with some of the most notable being Netflix and LinkedIn. 

When done right, it can offer multiple advantages, including a healthier work-life balance, more time for salespeople to recharge, and a deeper sense of trust between you and your team.

  1. Student Loan Assistance 

In 2020, the average student loan debt was $30,062, which is more than a $6,250 increase from what it was in 2010. 

So it’s no wonder that student loan assistance clocks in at number six of the top 10 benefits. This is a perk that more and more companies are offering, including Chegg, Estee Lauder, and First Republic.

  1. Tuition Assistance

And for younger salespeople who are still finishing their education, tuition assistance can be an extremely enticing benefit — especially for those attending private institutions, which have an average tuition cost of over $35,000 per year. 

  1. Paid Parental Leave

“The United States is one of only two countries in the world that doesn’t provide paid maternity leave to its workers,” notes Kerry Jones. “However, this benefit is important to employees.”

In fact, 26% of salespeople reported that they’ve switched jobs specifically for family benefits. Offering paid parental leave can put your company at the top of the list for ultra talented salespeople that are family focused.

  1. Free Gym Membership

Lower on this list but still important is a free gym membership. We’re living in a day and age where people are becoming more conscious of their personal health. So, being able to stay in shape by going to the gym — something that costs nearly $700 a year — can definitely be enticing. 

While interest has obviously waned post-COVID, it’s likely to pick up again in the near future. 

  1. Free Day Care Services 

Finally, there’s free day care. In 2019, about 40% of US households had children under the age of 18, which makes this attractive to a good chunk of salespeople. And with all of the complications that have arisen with child care due to COVID, this can be a major selling point for those with young children. 

Make Your Company a Top Contender

The success and longevity of your company relies heavily upon the quality of your salespeople. And one of the most effective ways to attract the best and the brightest is by offering the right benefits. 

The list above zeroes in on the 10 most popular according to reliable data so you’ll know exactly which benefits to prioritize moving forward. 

Learn how HireDNA can help you take your recruiting and hiring to the next level. See how it allows you to source top talent and use intelligent matching and science-based assessments to find elite salespeople in your industry. 

Book your live demo today. 

Use This Simple Hack to Drive Massive Leads to Your Demo Video

Posted on by hiredna

A demo video, which succinctly breaks down how a product works, its features, and benefits, has become a powerful tool for winning over leads. Research has found that roughly 80% of leads find demo videos helpful, and those “who view demo videos are 1.81 times more likely to make a purchase than non-viewers.”

But in order to have maximum impact, you need to consistently drive a high volume of leads to your demo video. Here’s an ultra simple hack that will help you do just that, along with a real-life example, advice on how to choose the right keywords, and tips on how to promote your demo video. 

Place Your Demo Video on Your Website and on YouTube

Whenever you create a demo video, you’ll obviously put it on your website so visitors can find it quickly and easily. That’s a no-brainer.

But as digital marketing consultant, Mike Sonders explains, you shouldn’t stop there. You’ll want to place it on your YouTube page as well. And if you don’t currently have a YouTube page, you’ll want to create one so prospects can find you through this massive channel that had two billion users worldwide as of 2020. 

“Having demo content on your website and on YouTube gives you a chance to own more real estate in search results, thereby giving you a better chance to own the narrative,” writes Sonders. 

And check it out. Besides your demo video appearing on YouTube (something that’s incredibly helpful in and of itself), it also increases the chances of it appearing in a high ranking position in Google search results. In fact, one study found that 8 out of 10 of the Google video results come from YouTube, meaning it clearly has far more “SEO juice” than any other video platform. 

So, by placing your demo video on your website as well as YouTube, you can get targeted leads from your website, YouTube, and Google.

In turn, this allows you to cast a wider net without putting forth a lot of extra effort. And if you haven’t gotten around to creating a YouTube channel up until this point, it’s the perfect way to segue into this massively powerful medium. 

A Real-Life Example

Xero is an online accounting software that specifically caters to small and mid-sized businesses. They have a strong online presence and are active on Facebook, LinkedIn, Instagram, Twitter, and of course, YouTube. 

They’re also the perfect example of a brand that’s used this strategy to pull in a ton of qualified leads. To do this, they’ve created multiple demo videos that go after targeted keywords like:

  • “Xero demo”
  • “Xero app demo”
  • “Xero accounting app demo”
  • “Xero software”
  • “Xero accounting software”

For example, here’s what pops up when you search for “Xero demo.”

Notice how YouTube features these two videos — one for Xero’s product demo and one for their accounting app demo — front and center. 

So, besides being able to find a product demo on Xero’s website…

…prospects can also find them in YouTube search results as well as Google search results. 

Bear in mind that Xero has multiple demos, but this technique works equally as well with just one. 

This makes it a surefire way to expand your reach without having to invest a lot of time and energy. It’s really just a matter of posting the same demo video that you already have on your website to YouTube and following best practices, which brings us to our next point. 

How to Choose the Right Keywords

Don’t overthink it when picking the keywords to go after when uploading on YouTube. Mike Sonders recommends giving it a straightforward title with the go-to simply being “[brand] demo.” 

Besides using those keywords in the title, SEO expert Brian Dean suggests also placing them in the description…

…and in the video tags. 

Doing so should signal to YouTube and Google what the content of your video is about without sound spammy. Dean also recommends including the keyword in the first 25 words of your description and making the description at least 250 words long. 

Promoting Your Demo Video on YouTube

There’s one last thing to point out. How far your video climbs the rankings on YouTube and Google correlates with how many views it gets. So, you need to have an effective means of promoting your demo video on YouTube — something that creates a positive cycle and brings in even more views. 

Some simple ways to do that, according to Dean, include:

  • Placing a link to the YouTube video in your email signature
  • Linking to it in relevant posts on your blog
  • Mentioning it on Q&A sites like Quora

For a full overview of best practices, I suggest reading Dean’s comprehensive guide on how to rank YouTube videos. It’s super helpful. 

A Simple Hack Can Equal Massive Leads

A demo video is without a doubt one of the best ways to concisely explain the ins and outs of your product and what your unique value proposition is. And it’s especially important if your product is complex and can’t be fully understood with basic sales copy. 

Rather than generating leads from just your website, the simple hack of uploading your demo video to YouTube can help you generate dramatically more leads from YouTube as well as Google search results. 

It just boils down to choosing the right keywords and effectively promoting the video.

Looking to build a high-level sales team? See how HireDNA can help you find and hire the best and brightest reps using intelligent matching and science-based assessments. 

Get your demo today. 

The Latest Innovations in Technology That Can Empower HR Teams

Posted on by hiredna

Driven largely by the need for better recruiting and to help salespeople and sales leaders realize their full potential, HR technology has grown by leaps in bounds in recent years. In 2019, it was a $148 billion market. And with 74% of companies increasing their spending on HR tech in 2020, that market is quickly accelerating.

The HR Technology Conference & Exposition, which took place on October 20, 2020 featured the latest innovations in technology, including “AI and machine learning, chatbots and blockchain, digital transformation, diversity and inclusion, employee engagement and more.” 

Here are some of the most game changing new products that can empower HR teams moving forward. 

Bryq Bias-Free Pre-Hire Assessment

Bryq utilizes cutting-edge AI technology to “blindly screen for skills and personality, not resumes.” It’s designed to mitigate bias and provide companies with an objective means of assessing salespeople. In turn, this greatly reduces the chance of recruiters falling victim to common hiring biases such as the halo effect, expectation anchor, and affinity bias. 

One of the more noteworthy features is Bryq’s Profile Prediction, which analyzes a job description and comes up with the ideal combination of concrete skills and personality traits.

It then ranks candidates according to how well they stack up based on the assessment and how good of a fit they are for the position, while taking hard skills and personality factors into account. 

This platform is built on powerful input/output psychology data that not only helps HR teams pinpoint exactly who they’re looking for but adds a level of unparalleled objectivity that has eluded recruiters so far. Bryq takes factors that could skew hiring decisions such as gender, race, and ethnicity out of the mix, which is huge for increasing workplace diversity and finding top tier salespeople. 

And the results are undeniable. Companies that have used Bryq collectively reduced their time-to-hire by 54% and lowered turnover by 62%. 

If unconscious bias keeps getting in the way of your hiring, Bryq could be just the solution you’ve been looking for. 

Explorance Employee Journey Analytics

Roughly a third of salespeople fail to meet expectations and don’t reach their quota at least part of the time. It’s an ongoing struggle not only for salespeople themselves but also for the HR teams and sales leaders that are responsible for managing them. 

But Explorance, a company that offers sophisticated “employee journey analytics,” could have an answer to this problem. They offer a new type of machine learning called Blue, which allows companies to gather feedback across a multitude of different surveys, including the following:

It then takes that information and synthesizes it to provide a 360 degree view of what’s going on. That way HR teams “can start understanding employee sentiments, improving performances, and identifying patterns across different stages of the employee journey.”

Explorance automates the feedback gathering process and uses a comprehensive reporting engine to provide HR with actionable guidance on what they can do to help salespeople maximize their potential — from the moment they’re hired to when they retire. 

This makes it a promising end-to-end salesperson development tool that could have a huge impact on long-term company culture. 

ePerkz Offboarding Tool

HR teams spend a ton of time and money on onboarding and give it a massive amount of attention. However, they don’t always do the same for inevitable offboarding whenever salespeople leave the company. 

ePerkz is a newly developed platform that’s specifically designed to streamline severance and offboarding while ensuring compliance every step of the way. It offers a robust Employee Transition Hub with the following features:

By using it, companies can automate end-to-end calculations, agreements, and workflows to reduce the offboarding processing time by an average of 50%. ePerkz also features powerful compliance tools to prevent litigation due to unlawful termination. 

So, when it’s all said and done, HR teams can offboard salespeople with minimal friction, while at the same time providing a better employee experience. 

Optify Leadership Coaching Management System 

Finally, there’s Optify which provides “scalable leadership coaching that supports organizational growth and impact, one person at a time.” At the HR Technology Conference & Exposition, they announced the launch of their Leadership Coaching Management System (LCMS) that’s built to provide companies with scalable coaching programs with one on one coaching to help sales leaders elevate their skillset and maximize their potential. 

The process is highly individualized and matches sales leaders with handpicked coaches to reach concrete goals.

Users complete assessments to determine what their current capabilities are and what specific goals they’re looking to accomplish. They then work with coaches to successfully reach those goals, using proven training to accelerate results. 

It’s all about tangible, measurable growth, which Optify ensures by incorporating robust analytics to keep track of progress and identify additional areas for improvement. 

So, if sales leadership development is one of your top priorities, Optify is definitely a platform to consider. 

Taking HR to a New Level Through Tech

Although HR has historically been slow moving in terms of tech adoption, there now appears to be a more open mindset with many companies taking strong initiatives to leverage new technology. And as we’ve just learned with the products mentioned above, there are some exciting advancements that can help HR teams flourish. 

For a full rundown on the products featured at the the HR Technology Conference & Exposition, check out this press release from Global Newswire. 

And speaking of innovative platforms. If you’re looking for a science-based software that offers an all-in-one solution to recruiting, screening, hiring, and retaining top level salespeople, check out HireDNA. 

It eliminates 96% of hiring mistakes and reduces turnover by more than 33%. And 92% of candidates that are recommended through it are top performers within their first year. 

How to Onboard New Salespeople 100% Virtually

Posted on by hiredna

Largely fueled by COVID-19, a growing number of companies are making the shift to a fully remote workforce. According to a recent Willis Towers Watson report, “Employers expect 19% of their workforce to be full-time employees working from home post-COVID-19” — nearly three times what it was in 2019 at just 7%.

Just like with any other type of position, new salespeople who will be working remotely need effective onboarding. Here’s how to tackle this process 100% virtually and set your salespeople up for success. 

Start By Amassing the Right Combination of Tools

The success and efficiency of your digital onboarding largely hinges upon the tools you use. Therefore, you need to find the right combination and make adjustments along the way. 

One of the best platforms for creating a streamlined onboarding process is Kissflow. It allows you to easily manage every aspect of onboarding and make it systematized for a homogeneous experience for all of your reps. 

Or as they put it, “Keep the onboarding process paperless and free from human intervention with online onboarding and workflows.”

Among its many features, there’s an employee self-service area where new salespeople can submit documents, find information, speak with other team members, and more. 

For basic communication, there’s Slack which allows you to conveniently send messages, share files, and keep new salespeople in the loop. Create different channels and ensure new reps are on the same page with your sales leaders every step of the way. 

And for all of your video conferencing needs, there’s Zoom, which is the most popular option with nearly 43% of the market share as of mid-2020. This is the perfect platform for holding video calls during the onboarding process and building strong rapport (something we’ll discuss in more detail later on). 

For an exhaustive list of other tools you can use to facilitate smoother virtual onboarding, check out this resource from Time Doctor. 

Send Out a “What to Expect” Email

Since there will never be any in-person interaction, it’s easy for miscommunications to happen. So, soon after a new salesperson has officially been hired, send them an email welcoming them to the team along with a detailed outline of what to expect from that point until they’re actually selling. 

For instance, you’ll want to include the exact date and time onboarding will begin. And you’ll want to provide an outline of what will happen throughout each day of onboarding. Here’s a quick example of how LinkedIn approaches their virtual program.

You may also want to mention the technology you’ll be using, both for onboarding and for day-to-day activities, along with login information so new salespeople can get familiar with it ahead of time. The more transparent you are, the smoother the onboarding should go and the less potential for glitches there will be. 

Create a Robust Online Learning Hub

Another essential part of providing streamlined onboarding is developing a robust online educational resource that’s available 24/7 to answer a new rep’s questions and direct them to helpful content. This is a growing trend where “many of today’s leading cloud-based companies, such as Uber, Shopify, Airbnb, Salesforce, and HubSpot, are strengthening their businesses with effective online learning resource centers,” explains Dan Westmoreland of eLearning Industry. 

Some common types of content that are featured in these hubs include:

  • Sales courses
  • Educational videos 
  • Webinars
  • Media files
  • Blog posts
  • eBooks
  • Answers to FAQs

Some companies even have discussion boards and forums where salespeople can share their experiences with one another and sales leaders can offer insights.

So, how do you get an online resource hub like this set up? Use a learning management system like TalentLMS or LearnUpon to create a fully customized library. 

Break Down Training Sessions Over the Course of a Week

Most experts agree that trying to jam a ton of in-depth training into a single day is ineffective, especially when it’s online. If possible, it’s much better to break down your virtual training into multiple sessions throughout the week. 

“Spreading the process over a longer period of time enables hiring managers to address issues and make improvements if something is not working,” says Vicki Chabot of The Enterprisers Project. “It also reduces the stress that a new hire might feel working from home, especially if they are juggling responsibilities with children, partners, and pets while also attempting to absorb new information.”

You might, for example, spend the first day going over the basics like a salesperson’s role, job description, and your company culture. From there, you could move on to more advanced topics like the products you sell, the specific sales techniques your company uses, and so on. 

Have Sales Leaders Speak Regularly with New Salespeople Through Video

Earlier, we touched briefly on using Zoom as a platform for video conferencing. While email and messaging apps like Slack are generally fine for basic communication, experts recommend making it a point to have sales leaders maintain contact with new reps via video throughout the duration of the onboarding process.

That’s because “using video can improve engagement during calls and helps managers/trainers pick up on non-verbal cues (i.e. facial expressions and body language) which is important throughout training and gauging comprehension,” writes Angela Hughes of Acceleration Partners. 

Onboarding in a Remote Sales World

With nearly a fifth of all salespeople being fully remote in 2021 — and no doubt more in the future — many sales leaders need to make some radical changes to the way they onboard. And often that means making the onboarding process 100% virtual. 

Doing so effectively requires sales leaders to use the right combination of technology, set clear expectations right from the start, provide new salespeople with comprehensive online resources, spread out training sessions, and use video to stay in close contact with reps.

See how HireDNA can help you build a stronger sales team by using cutting-edge technology to find ultra talented reps. Book a demo today. 

84% of Talent Acquisition Teams Now Use Remote Processes: How to Adapt in a Post-COVID World

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To say that 2020 has been a bit chaotic would be a gross understatement. COVID-19 shook the entire world to its core, and we’ve all encountered massive challenges we’re still recovering from. One particular branch of the business world that’s been forced to rapidly adapt is HR. 

With traditional face-to-face interactions greatly limited or altogether eliminated, HR teams have had to scramble to come up with viable talent acquisition solutions. And the biggest tool in their arsenal is making the shift to handling the recruiting and hiring process remotely. 

Here’s the details and how to adapt in a post-COVID world. 

Technology Has Created a Paradigm Shift in Recruiting and Hiring

Although many HR teams have used technology in some capacity in recent years, COVID has been the catalyst for widespread technology usage in 2020. More specifically, HR teams are rapidly implementing it to find, interview, and onboard new employees 100% remotely. 

COVID has really lit a fire under HR, and out of sheer necessity, most are now using remote processes to handle recruiting and hiring from end to end. 

Stuart Gentle of online recruitment magazine (Onrec) offers perspective on this trend saying, “84% of talent acquisition teams are adapting their processes to work remotely. This demonstrates the agility of talent acquisition teams, their leadership and commitment to deliver candidates to their companies to help build the business, even in times of adversity.”

The pandemic has shown just how essential it is to adapt by leveraging technology, and the companies that flourish are usually the ones that make it an integral part of their framework. 

And This Trend is Unlikely to Stop Post-COVID

COVID dealt the economy a major blow and one that will take a long time to completely recover from. That said, it is starting to recover, which is evidenced by growth in the Dow Jones Industrial Average during the past six months plus. 

Here’s where it was on March 23, 2020, when COVID was in full swing in the US. 

And here’s where it’s currently at on October 27, 2020. 

Restrictions on face-to-face interactions are starting to ease, and life is gradually returning back to normal. However, a large percentage of HR teams plan on sticking with the technology they’re currently using for remote hiring moving forward. 

“Most employers are now comfortable using technology for talent acquisition, with 82% of hiring managers saying they will continue to interview using video once the pandemic is over,” Stuart Gentle adds. 

That’s largely because of the major benefits that remote hiring technology provides, including:

  • Greater efficiency
  • Time savings
  • Reduced costs
  • Streamlined onboarding 

You just can’t put the genie back in the bottle on something like this, and it’s clear that a growing number of talent acquisition teams will continue to embrace remote processes in the future.  

How to Adapt Post-COVID

Now the question is, how exactly can you get your HR team up to speed with remote hiring technology?

Maybe you had already made some small initiatives prior to the pandemic. Or, maybe you hadn’t made any initiatives at all. 

What are some specific steps you take to adapt moving forward?

Here’s the general four-step formula you’ll want to follow. 

  1. Examine Your Current Recruiting Process

First, you’ll want to map out the process you’re currently using step-by-step so that you have a bird’s eye view of your methodologies, technologies, tactics, and so on. 

  1. Identify Which Recruiting Steps Could Be Done Remotely

Next, look over your current recruiting process to identify specific areas where technology could potentially be implemented to be done remotely. Maybe, for instance, it would be possible to interview candidates through a video conferencing platform without skipping a beat. 

Or, rather than having HR members meet with one another physically to assess candidates, they could use a recruiting and hiring platform to find top talent based on core selling competencies. 

  1. Determine Which Technologies Could Be Used

Once you know the areas where technology could realistically be applied, you’ll want to figure out which specific technologies you could use. For interviewing, you may want to use a leading video conferencing software like Zoom. And for candidate assessment, you could use HireDNA, which assesses candidates on 21 core selling competencies such as motivation, desire, and coachability. 

  1. Implement Those Technologies In Phases

From there, it’s just a matter of putting those technologies to use. The key to being successful is getting everyone in your company to buy in from the top down. It starts with senior leadership and trickles down to HR leaders and eventually everyone else within your HR team. 

Move in phases so as to not overwhelm anyone, and offer a comprehensive knowledge base featuring answers to FAQs, videos, and tutorials to make it simple for your team to learn the new technology. 

This quick guide from Atif Siddiqui of employee engagement platform Achievers should help make the transition as seamless as possible. 

Helping HR Adapt to a New Recruiting Reality

COVID has drastically changed many aspects of how modern businesses operate, and HR is no exception. Basically overnight HR teams have been forced to figure out new techniques for recruiting and hiring, with the vast majority adapting their strategy to accommodate remote processes. 

And this is something your company can do as well by following the four key steps listed above. That way you can find and onboard top talent regardless of what happens next. 

See how HireDNA can help improve your hiring, while embracing a more remote-centric approach. 92% of recommended candidates reach the top of the sales force within a year of being hired. 

Book a live demo now. 

The Top Sales Assessment Tests for Finding Elite Salespeople

Posted on by hiredna

Finding quality salespeople isn’t easy. In fact, a quick glimpse at recent data shows that it’s incredibly difficult, with as many as 80% of sales candidate hires producing an “unsatisfactory result.”

That’s why more and more CEOs and sales leaders are turning to sales assessment tests to help identify the candidates who possess the core competencies needed to succeed, as well as the right “sales DNA.” Sales assessment tests take a science-based approach and powerful technology to sift through a large candidate pool and narrow it down to the best of the best, virtually eliminating the potential for error. 

Here are the top sales assessment tests available, along with their unique benefits. 

Objective Management Group’s Sales Candidate Assessment

Objective Management Group (OMG) is a true pioneer of the sales assessment industry. Their test is widely regarded as one of the best and most reliable, with a staggering 92% of recommended and hired candidates reaching the top half of their sales teams within the first year. 

It has even received the honor of being rated the #1 sales assessment by Top Sales World for nine years straight. 

One of the main reasons why this tool is so effective is because of the personalized approach it takes. “Your customized Role Specification allows you to specify the unique requirements of your position. Candidates are then assessed against your criteria to create a recommendation custom-tailored to your needs.”

It also leverages a massive volume of data from over 2 million salespeople across more than 31,000 companies. 

Some specific sales skills and competencies OMG’s Sales Assessment analyzes are:

  • 21 core selling skills
  • The will to sell
  • Motivation
  • Coachability
  • The “figure-it-out-factor”

So, if you’re looking for an exhaustive tool with an amazing track record, this is definitely one to consider. 

SalesFuel HIRE Sales Assessment Test

Referred to as “moneyball for sales hiring,” this assessment from SalesFuel also takes a highly data-driven approach and analyzes nine specific categories of sales competency, including everything from planning and preparation to self-management. 

This allows sales CEOs and sales leaders to objectively know for sure if a “candidate truly possesses the knowledge of their craft that comes from experience and success.” It’s a quick and effective way to determine whether a sales candidate is legitimate and capable of delivering on their promises or merely a “sales imposter.”

The SalesFuel HIRE Sales Assessment Test was developed by four of today’s leading sales experts…

  • Jeffrey Gitomer – Author, speaker, and business trainer
  • C. Lee Smith – CEO of SalesFuel and bestselling author of StreetCred
  • Tony Alessandra – Entrepreneur, business author, and famous keynote speaker
  • Jim Cathcart – Entrepreneur, speaker, and bestselling author of Relationship Selling

…who all bring their own brand of expertise to the table to create a comprehensive sales hiring formula to greatly increase your chance of success. 

The Brooks Talent Index Sales Assessment

This sales assessment “allows hiring managers to back up their gut feeling with validated science — and choose the candidate with the greatest fit and potential to succeed in the role.” The Brooks Talent Index does this by generating four key types of scientifically validated reports.

First, there’s behavior style, which Identifies how a candidate handles problems and challenges and how they adapt to their environment. 

Second, there’s motivators, which figures out the reasons why a candidate does the things they do and whether or not they have the drive to excel in a position. More specifically, the Brooks Talent Index looks at theoretical, utilitarian, aesthetic, social, individualistic, and traditional motivators.

Third, there’s the personal skills inventory, which assesses a candidate’s critical thinking skills to reveal the approach they take to making decisions, their primary strengths, as well as any biases that could hinder their decision making. 

Fourth and finally, this tool looks at sales skills to determine whether or not a candidate possesses the exact abilities needed to thrive within your company. It analyzes strengths, along with gaps in skills that could potentially be a problem. 

And as you can see from these graphs, this sales assessment test is very visual, making the findings easy to digest and understand. 

SalesGenomix

This final tool is built upon a massive volume of data, including 20 years of research and half a million sales professionals. Although not quite as accurate as predicting success as OMG’s sales assessment at 92%, SalesGenomix still boasts a high accuracy rate of 80%. 

It’s also been praised by reputable sales and marketing companies such as Aberdeen Group and CSO Insights. 

Like most effective tools, SalesGenomix is designed to evaluate candidates based on the specific sales position you’re trying to fill and doesn’t take a one-size-fits-all approach. 

It’s incredibly in-depth and measures 140 sales attributes across 14 different sales roles. So, whether you’re simply looking to hire a salesperson or a higher level position like a sales manager, this tool can help you do it, while efficiently filtering candidates out until you find top tier talent. 

It’s also extremely fast, where SalesGenomix gives a candidate the assessment, scores the results, and provides you with recommendations within just a few hours. 

Don’t Leave Critical Hiring Decisions to Chance

The unpleasant truth is that many salespeople simply fall short, with as many as 57% missing their quotas each year. Even seasoned CEOs and sales leaders with a strong eye for talent can easily choose the wrong salespeople — something that largely happens from relying on a hunch rather than data.  

Using a proven sales assessment test like one of the tools mentioned here allows you to take a science-based approach where you can seamlessly sift through candidates and identify truly elite salespeople with surgical precision. 

So, at the end of the day you can make your hires with supreme confidence and build a rock solid team of high performers. 

See how HireDNA can help you attract and recruit better talent, while slashing your hire time in half. Request a demo today. 

Over Three Quarters of Salespeople Now Use Virtual Meetings: How to Adapt to This New Trend

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The transition from physical to digital is nothing new and has been happening in the sales world for quite some time. Making pitches to leads through video conferencing software and doing virtual demos, for example, are things most salespeople are at least somewhat familiar with. 

But COVID-19 has accelerated this transition dramatically, pouring gasoline on the fire of digital transformation. Travel restrictions, social distancing, and a more contactless way of life have forced salespeople to switch up their approach and embrace virtual meetings. 

Here are the details and how to adapt to this new trend. 

77% of Salespeople Are Having Virtual Meetings Post-COVID

In 2019, 43% of remote and in-house teams used a video conferencing platform — a significant number, but nothing overwhelming. In the wake of COVID, however, that number jumped all the way to 77%, for a 34% year-over-year increase. To illustrate this spike, just look at the price of Zoom stocks and how they’ve skyrocketed since mid-March 2020 when COVID hit the US hard. 

And this has created some major changes in how salespeople interact with leads. 

“There’s been a fundamental shift in how B2B sellers connect and communicate on an interpersonal level,” says Sean Callahan, Senior Manager of content marketing at LinkedIn. “There are no firm handshakes. No fresh-printed sales dossiers. Everything from the pitch to the proposal is going digital, which means B2B sellers need to adapt.”

Virtual Meetings Become the New Norm

It should also be noted that this isn’t a trend that will go away as life goes back to normal.

“Even after the pandemic ends, it is likely that virtual meetings will be more commonplace,” Callahan adds. “With more than three-quarters of sellers saying they are holding more virtual meetings, the tools and skills are gaining traction; meanwhile, buyers are also becoming more familiar and comfortable with this method of interacting.”

As more and more companies, as well as consumers get cozy with virtual meetings, you can expect this to become the new norm and the preferred means of communication for many people. 

Afterall, video conferencing tools offer a ton of benefits, including:

Besides that, research has found these tools can improve communication and relationship-building. Here’s some notable data from a Lifesize survey. 

You can’t put the genie back in the bottle on something like this, and virtual meetings are here to stay regardless of what happens with COVID moving forward. That means sales teams need to get on board with this technology, and fast. 

How to Adapt to This New Trend 

So, what are some specific steps your company can take to ensure you’re up-to-speed and on pace with the competition? How do you fully capitalize on this technology? 

Here are some ideas. 

Use Universally Recognized Video Conferencing Software

For starters, you need to pick the right platform to hold virtual meetings on. There are numerous options out there, so you’ll want to choose one that’s user-friendly (both for salespeople and for leads) and that’s used universally.

At the moment, the most popular virtual platform is definitely Zoom. We mentioned earlier that their stock value has soared recently, and this graph shows how it’s head and shoulders above the competition. 

So, if you’re looking for a “safe bet” tool that’s easy to learn and that leads will recognize and feel comfortable with, Zoom is the clear choice. Some other top contenders include GoToMeeting, Join.Me, and Cisco Webex. 

Turn the Camera On

Next, have your sales team encourage the leads they’re speaking with to turn on their cameras. Why? 

Research has found that closing rates increase by at least 10% when cameras are turned on. That’s largely because it helps with rapport-building and makes it so salespeople can read a lead’s body language more easily for deeper interactions. The easiest way to encourage leads is to use a script like this one created by Marcus Sheridan of ImpactBND. 

That right there can be huge for creating closer connections between your salespeople and leads and can boost revenue considerably. 

Master Screen Sharing

In most cases, a salesperson will need to share content with a prospect such as a product demo, a whiteboard, or an application. Any friction during this process can make a rep look unprofessional and derail even the best of presentations. 

That’s why they need to know the ins and outs of screen sharing and be able to seamlessly share content without any hiccups. Have them check out a screen sharing tutorial of the software your company is using — here’s one from Zoom as an example — and practice until it’s automatic. 

Follow Virtual Meeting Interaction Best Practices 

Having a sales call virtually comes with its own set of best practices. Here are some of the most important to follow:

  • Look directly into the camera – Know exactly where it’s located and use consistent eye contact
  • Keep the right distance from the screen – Be close enough so a lead can see a rep’s face but not so close that they’re hovering
  • Use the right volume – Leads should be able to comfortably hear, but it shouldn’t be so loud that it’s distracting
  • Turn off online messages or notifications – Getting pinged during the middle of a meeting can throw off the vibe. 

Adapting to the New Norm 

Virtual meetings were already catching on before COVID struck. But with the pandemic greatly reducing face-to-face interactions, the use of virtual meetings has absolutely skyrocketed. Therefore, it’s essential that your sales team not only gets familiar with this technology but learns how to master it. 

Looking to find top tier salespeople that are skilled with this and other technology? See how HireDNA can help you find better sales talent, faster using science-based sales assessments. 

Request a demo now. 

88% of Leads Buy When a Salesperson Assumes the Role of Trusted Advisor: How to Capitalize on This Stat

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There are certain professions that people are inherently wary of. Car salesmen, real estate agents, and lawyers are just a few that come to mind. 

But it turns out that there’s also a growing distrust of salespeople these days. One study found that just 32% of buyers view sales as a “trustworthy profession,” while another study says only a paltry 3% consider salespeople to be trustworthy. 

Whatever data you go by, there’s clearly a negative perception of salespeople and something they need to overcome. So, how exactly can they go about that?

It’s simple. Assume the role of a “trusted advisor.” 

An Age of Unprecedented Customer Empowerment

We live in a new era where people are more empowered than ever when it comes to making purchases — something that’s largely due to the internet. Having access to an unending supply of information where buyers can search for literally anything in seconds means they’re highly informed.

Or as Gigi Peccolo, Content Manager of conversational AI platform OneReach, puts it, “The information gap between companies and customers is slowly being closed as the empowered learn what they’re capable of. It’s no longer a monopoly, it’s a duopoly, and it’s shifting in customers’ favor.”

This means most people have very little patience for fast talking, back slapping salespeople trying to separate them from their money. And if they sense the least bit of dishonesty or sleaziness, they’re quick to walk away and look elsewhere. That’s especially true for B2B buyers who often have a strong familiarity with inside sales tactics that your average consumer does not. 

Closing the Trust Gap

And this collective distrust of salespeople is a big problem. Without a basic sense of trust, you can’t even expect B2B buyers to listen to a sales pitch, let alone make a major purchase that could potentially make or break their company. No matter how rock solid your sales funnel is, it’s going to be an uphill battle if you can’t close the trust gap. 

The key to doing this is to modify your approach where instead of your team taking the role of traditional salespeople, they instead strive to be trusted advisors. Considering that 88% of people are only willing to buy when they view a salesperson as a trusted advisor, this can be your ticket to not just getting immediate sales, but paving the way for repeat business as well as referrals.

In fact, “79% of business buyers say it’s absolutely critical or very important to interact with a salesperson who is a trusted advisor — not just a sales rep — who adds value to their business.”

How to Make the Shift to Trusted Advisor

For starters, it requires that your sales team collectively adopts a different mindset than what they’re probably used to in terms of interacting with buyers. And the key to doing that is having your salespeople treat it like they’re merely helping leads find the right solution and supplying them with information to make an informed choice rather than straight up “selling.”

Sean Callahan, Senior Manager of Content Marketing at LinkedIn, says it well with this quote. “People need to feel like they’re making an informed decision about a purchase without background sales pressure. Don’t think of it as selling: think of it as providing the information, benefits, and value so the customer can sell themselves.”

In other words, it’s about shifting from sales to solutions. That should be the initial catalyst for making the transition. 

Develop the Core Qualities of a Trusted Advisor

Next, your salespeople need to focus on developing the core qualities that B2B are seeking.

These include:

  • Fully researching each buyer to understand their industry, needs, pain points, goals, etc.
  • Demonstrating competency by knowing the ins and outs of different product solutions and how they relate to the buyer’s specific needs 
  • Improving question asking skills to show genuine interest in a buyer’s business and provide the optimal level of service
  • Being transparent and honest every step of the way during interactions
  • Acting with integrity and not offering products a buyer doesn’t truly need
  • Keeping a collaborative tone with buyers, letting them know the salesperson is working to come up with the best possible solutions 
  • Developing real chemistry with the buyer and striving to achieve a certain sense of “likability”

Follow a Customer Focused Problem Solving Process

Finally, there’s a particular problem solving process that Nick Frank, Managing Partner at Si2 Partners outlines that is helpful for achieving the role of trusted advisor. 

It involves six steps, which break down as follows:

It’s all about identifying what each individual buyer’s unique pain point is, figuring out what’s causing the problem, and determining what specific product your company offers that can solve it. From there, it’s a matter of implementing the solution and maintaining close contact afterward to ensure everything goes smoothly and addressing any issues that may arise.

It’s not about shoving some random product down a buyer’s throat and leaving them on their own after that. Rather, a salesperson should act as a buyer’s own personal advisor who sticks with them every step of the way. 

Appealing to 88% of Leads

We’re living in a new age where old school, and quite frankly raunchy sales tactics that are ultra aggressive no longer cut it. The vast majority of B2B buyers are not only unreceptive to this type of approach, they’re completely turned off of it. And most can sniff out any sleaziness from a mile away. 

But what they are receptive to is dealing with salespeople who they view as trusted advisors. Helping your sales team transition to this role is critical moving forward and can be instrumental in converting more leads and generating bigger profits. 

Looking to hire top sales talent who “get it?” HireDNA can help you do that while using powerful recruiting technology and science-based sales assessments to eliminate 96% of hiring mistakes. Get your demo today. 

The 3 Biggest Reasons Why Top Performing Salespeople Leave (And How to Lower Turnover)

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Turnover. It’s one of the biggest causes of stress and frustration for employers. And if left unchecked, it can waste time, erode profits and bring company growth to a grinding halt. 

What’s concerning is the sheer number of people leaving their jobs these days. “The percentage of US employees quitting their jobs is at an all-time high,” says Gallup. Further, “67% of US employees are disengaged at work, and 51% say they’re actively looking for a new job or are open to one.”

In this post, we’ll get to the heart of why top performing salespeople leave and go over some specific steps you can take to address this problem. 

The 3 Biggest Reasons for Turnover

SiriusDecisions, a global B2B research and advisory firm performed extensive research to identify the main reasons why top performing salespeople left the companies they worked for. 

Here’s what they found:

  1. Insufficient compensation – This was the reason why 89% of salespeople left
  2. A lack of connection with leadership / Incompetence of leadership – 60 – 80% 
  3. Concerns about their company’s ability to meet market needs – 75%

Note that a certain amount of turnover is normal and shouldn’t cause any major disruptions to your business. Currently, the average turnover rate for sales organizations is hovering just under 35%. But if the number gets much higher than that, like it does for one in 10 companies with a turnover rate above 55%, it’s definitely a cause for concern and something that should be addressed right away. 

Now let’s take a closer look at these three main reasons for turnover and discuss some potential solutions. 

#1 – Insufficient Compensation

Above all else, not being paid what a rep thinks they’re worth is the number one reason why they head for greener pastures. And this is nothing new. 

Just like with nearly every other industry, those in sales are quick to jump ship if they can earn more somewhere else. This is especially true for SaaS salespeople where there’s been an explosion in the number of companies that were launched in recent years. 

So, what exactly is considered adequate pay? According to recent data from PayScale, the average salary for a salesperson in 2020 was $45,676. 

If you’re paying well below that, especially in a larger market, high turnover is an inevitable issue that’s going to plague your company. The solution though is quite obvious — pay your reps more so that it’s competitive with other sales organizations in your area. 

And if possible, consider offering your top performers rewards like bonuses, health benefits, and recognition awards, which collectively help boost your employee value proposition (EVP). A study by Gartner found that effectively delivering on your EVP can lower annual turnover by 69%. 

#2 – Leadership Issues

The second biggest culprit for high turnover is when there’s either A) a disconnect between sales reps and company leaders or B) a perceived incompetence among leaders. Liz Ryan of Forbes chimes in on this saying, “Turnover is a leadership problem. When you as a manager are told over and over again that your employees will get raises and over and over again, the raises don’t come through, you become part of the problem.”

Admittedly, this isn’t usually something that’s a quick fix and often requires a fundamental cultural shift. That said, there are some specific techniques higher ups in your company can take to become better leaders. Lolly Daskal, President and CEO of Lead From Within, offers some great insights, including:

  • Accepting criticism
  • Being open to feedback from salespeople
  • Being authentic, honest, humble, and transparent
  • Taking a “practice what you preach” approach to leadership
  • Constantly striving to improve communication skills
  • Being quick to praise reps for a job well done

#3 – Concerns About a Company Meeting Market Needs

“‘Marketplace needs’ is a marketing concept that relates to the functional or emotional needs or desires of a target market,” explains college marketing professor Neil Kokemuller. “Generally, a successful company identifies when a segment of customers is not effectively served by existing providers and develops and promotes products or services to match.”

But when a company fails to do this effectively, it can create concerns for salespeople, where they have anxieties about its long-term growth and success. And this is understandable given that nearly 400,000 startups close their doors each year. 

Couple that with the negative impact COVID-19 has had on the economy, and concerns from salespeople are definitely justified. 

By these numbers, it’s clear that companies need to have a pulse on market needs — both functional and emotional — and be constantly evolving to stay relevant. It’s also important to develop a strong unique value proposition (UVP) and offer products that give your brand a clear edge over the competition. Not only is this important for carving out a sustainable niche, it lets your salespeople know that they have job security, which reduces the likelihood of excessive turnover. 

Keeping Turnover In Check

Turnover has become a serious problem for many of today’s organizations. BambooHR found that nearly a third of people have quit a job within the first six months, and 68% of those people left within the first three months. 

While there’s no magic bullet for turnover, understanding the root causes we’ve discussed here should help you gain a better understanding of what compels top salespeople to quit. Then, implementing solutions like offering competitive pay, developing better company wide leadership, and better meeting market needs should help you get it under control.

And with the right effort and focus, you can keep your most elite salespeople around for the long haul. 

Another big part of increasing retention is improving your recruiting process. Find out how you can use HireDNA to attract and recruit better candidates using science-based sales assessments. 

HireDNA Named a Top Recruiting Company for 2020

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At HireDNA, we know how important it is to work with a team you can trust. We provide a modern sales recruitment platform for growth-stage technology companies to hire and retain the right sales talent to hit their goals faster.

Clutch recently announced the top 72 highest-ranking recruiting firms on their site. This effort is part of Clutch’s Small Business Solidarity program. We are excited to announce that Clutch has listed HireDNA among the top recruiting firms for 2020.

Located in the heart of Washington, DC, Clutch is a ratings and reviews platform operating in the B2B space. Their independent team of analysts conducts interviews with the former clients of companies listed on their site. This direct feedback ensures that all of their rankings and awards are fair and transparent. 

We are also featured on The Manifest, Clutch’s sister site! The platform helps guide users through each stage of the buying process. The Manifest features shortlists of B2B service providers according to geographic location and service line as well as business survey data and how-to guides. We are excited to announce that HireDNA is among the top recruiting companies on the Manifest!

“When you are looking to expand you company’s team, recruiting firms are invaluable partners,” said Clutch Business Development Analyst Dustin Sammons, “You want to ensure that you are hiring the right person with the EQ, IQ, and technical skillset necessary to do the job right. Recruiting firms’ number one priority is making sure they find you that perfect fit.”

We are grateful for each and every one of our customers, especially those that took the time to leave us a review on Clutch! We always appreciate hearing feedback from our clients. Here’s what they had to say about working with us.

“Their team really listens to what the client is asking for and what type of candidates they want. They ask a tremendous amount of questions about the business, it’s leadership, and the role so that they have a clear and concise message with which to bring in candidates.” – Director of Sales & Marketing, Software Company

We owe so much to our clients. This award and our 4.8-star rating on Clutch were made possible by all of your support over the years.

To learn more about us, check out our profile on Clutch and read the reviews left by our customers. Ready to get started on your next project? Get in touch!