Category: Sales Recruiting

The 4 Best Places to Find Elite Passive Sales Candidates

Posted on by Nick Mann

We’ve talked a lot about passive sales candidates on this blog. And for good reason. Over three-quarters of sales candidates can be classified as passive, and they’re often some of the most talented individuals you’ll find in your industry. That said, not all are created equal. So how do you find elite passive sales candidates? The best of the best?

In this post, I’ll share four of the top resources I recommend that can be potential goldmines for sourcing passive talent to take your sales force to the next level.

1. An Employee Referral Program

For most companies, the best place to start is by establishing an employee referral program because this gives you access to a steady supply of potentially amazing salespeople.

There are two main reasons why this can be a smart move. First, rather than having to constantly seek out elite passive sales candidates yourself, they come to you instead. Second, the overall caliber of talent companies find with an employee referral program tends to be high quality.

For perspective, Forbes states that “referrals are the leading source of superior candidates for 88% of employers,” and “referred candidates are a better culture fit than those hired through other sources.”

And it makes sense when you think about it. If you already have a team of bright, capable salespeople, odds are they’re in contact with other potential salespeople that are equally as talented.

By launching an employee referral program and encouraging existing team members to source other rockstars, there’s a great chance you can make some A+ acquisitions.

To learn the basics of how to get one set up, check out this guide from SHRM.

2. LinkedIn

Social media in general can be a great place to source elite passive sales candidates. But, in my opinion, LinkedIn is still number one because 1) it focuses specifically on professional networking and 2) it’s a simple, intuitive platform that lets you quickly search for top talent.

Say, for example, you were looking for a SaaS salesperson in the tech industry. You can simply type what you’re looking for in the search bar here.

Then, you can browse through LinkedIn’s comprehensive results to learn more about each LinkedIn member.

At a glance, you can see what each person specializes in. And some LinkedIn users even openly state that they’re looking for job opportunities.

From there, you can learn more about a prospective candidate’s experience, qualifications, current job status, and more.

If have LinkedIn Premium, you can instantly message them without having to connect first. Or, if you don’t have the premium version, you can connect and then message them.

3. AI Tools

In recent years, AI has spread its tentacles to nearly every aspect of business, and passive recruiting is no exception. Now there are a variety of AI tools that allow you to streamline and automate much of the passive recruiting process.

Not only does this save you valuable time and eliminate a ton of tedious manual tasks, it dramatically increases your odds of landing elite talent. That’s because AI can leverage sophisticated technology to match you with highly qualified passive sales candidates with the skills, experience, and personality needed to thrive in your sales team.

There are countless AI tools on the market, but a good example of one that specializes in the outbound recruiting of passive candidates is HireEZ.

With it, you can search from over 800 million candidate profiles and use over 30 advanced AI filters to pinpoint the exact type of candidates you’re looking for. From there, HireEZ helps you engage with the best of the best to facilitate friction-free communication.

And that’s just one example. You can find a list of 9 of the best AI tools for sourcing elite passive sales candidates here.

4. Industry Conferences and Local Events

In our modern era, the majority of sales recruiting is done digitally. But it’s important to remember that in-person networking is still very much alive and well. And in the right circumstances, it can be the perfect way to meet talented passive sales candidates that could be tremendous assets to your company.

One of the main reasons why I still like in-person networking is that it lets you interact with prospective candidates face-to-face and get a feel for their style and personality. If, for example, someone is particularly charismatic and has a high social IQ, there’s a good chance they would thrive on your sales team.

Also, the people you meet at these events often have a strong commitment to sales. After all, why would someone go to the trouble of attending an event if they didn’t have a genuine passion?

Besides that, these events allow you to quickly meet a high volume of people so you can make a ton of connections and exchange contact information. So within the course of a few hours, you could potentially have several quality contacts that you can reach out to later.

When it comes to finding events, a quick Google search of “[your industry] conferences” should turn up plenty of information.

Besides that, websites such as Meetup.com, Eventbrite, and CitySocializer can help you find local events. Note that many of the events on these sites aren’t specifically sales-centric, but events in general, which can nonetheless help you connect with talented individuals.

Building a Successful Team with Elite Passive Sales Candidates

With more than 75% of sales candidates being passive and these candidates often being some of the most qualified, it’s important to have a passive recruiting strategy in place. And this starts with tapping into the right resources for finding passive sales candidates.

While there are numerous resources you can leverage, these four are my absolute favorites and should allow you to cast a wide net for finding the cream of the crop.

If you’re looking to build an all-star team, be sure to register with HireDNA today. We offer cutting-edge technology that helps sales companies attract, recruit, and retain the best talent.

Don’t Make Passive Sales Candidates Jump Through Hoops: Tips for Creating a Streamlined Recruiting Process

Posted on by Nick Mann

When most people think of sales recruiting, they likely envision scouting for active candidates who come to them and apply for a job. But according to a recent survey, 73% of candidates are passive, meaning they’re not actively looking for a sales position, but would be open to it if the right opportunity came along. Given passive candidates are often the most talented, it’s vital to develop a streamlined recruiting process where they don’t have to jump through a bunch of hoops.

And that’s what I’m going to tackle in this post. Here’s a formula for swiftly moving A+ passive candidates through your hiring process without unnecessary friction.

Put Yourself in a Passive Candidate’s Shoes

First, I think it’s helpful to look at the situation from the perspective of a passive sales candidate. Most are already employed, and because they’re in demand, have plenty of leverage. Therefore, they’re not going to jump at just any offer that comes their way.

To seriously consider switching companies, it has to be a truly enticing offer that goes beyond what they have at their current job. So if you realistically expect to land elite talent like this, you need two main things — an amazing offer that surpasses what they have in their current position and a straightforward system that seamlessly moves them through the hiring process.

This brings me to my next point.

Clearly Define Why Passive Sales Candidates Should Choose You

Before you ever reach out to a passive candidate, you need to be able to quickly articulate what makes your company a better choice than their current employer — an elevator pitch if you will. While every brand’s selling points will differ, here are some specific things most passive sales candidates want across the board.

Based on this and the unique selling points your offer, I suggest creating a recruitment pitch that you can reference at any time. And if you have multiple sales recruiters interacting with passive candidates, this should ensure a consistent experience.

Use Technology to Ensure a Passive Candidate is a Good Fit

If someone has stood out enough for you to have your sights on them, odds are they can sell. But there are other factors to take into account, such as working style, cultural fit, personality traits, and so on that will ultimately determine their likelihood of success.

Before you officially reach out to a passive candidate, it’s smart to use technology like an AI tool or a SaaS sales recruiting platform to analyze passive candidates based on the specific criteria you’re looking for. This will allow you to narrow the talent pool down and find the best of the best.

That way you don’t waste the candidate’s time or yours.

Make the Application Process Dead Simple

Research has found that “60% of job seekers quit in the middle of filling out online job applications because of their length or complexity.” And for passive candidates that aren’t actively seeking employment, they’re even less likely to complete a long-winded application.

For that reason, it’s critical to boil it down to the absolute essentials when gathering information. Better yet, allow passive candidates to apply through platforms like LinkedIn or Google so they can use their existing profiles rather than filling out a new one from scratch.

Offer Seamless Interview Scheduling

Another common source of frustration for candidates during sales recruiting is interviewing. The last thing you want is for a dream candidate to sour on a position because of complications during interview scheduling.

A simple way to prevent this is to use a tool like Calendly that allows candidates to conveniently schedule an interview at a time that’s best for them.

Simply send an invite with several time slots that are available, and a candidate can have their pick.

An added plus is that this also saves your recruiting team time from having to back-and-forth with candidates.

Keep Interview Rounds to a Minimum

Many sales recruiters require candidates to have two, three, or even four rounds of interviews before officially giving them a job offer. And while you want to be sure you’ve found the right person, going overboard on interviewing can be a major turnoff, especially for passive candidates that are already employed.

That’s why I suggest keeping your interviewing to a maximum of two rounds to prevent any conflicts. However, if you can just have one comprehensive interview, that’s even better.

As long as you’ve done your research and used technology like a sales recruiting platform or AI tool as I mentioned earlier, this shouldn’t be a problem.

Offer Job Status Updates

After you’ve conducted an interview(s), it’s extremely important to keep candidates in the loop as you’re making your final decision. Ideally, you’ll provide real-time updates via email, text, or messenger so candidates instantly know what’s happening.

And needless to say, don’t drag on your decision-making any longer than necessary.

Optimizing the Passive Candidate Experience with a Streamlined Recruiting Process

Because of their skills, talent, and proven success, passive candidates are often the best candidates. And while effective recruiting is important for filling all positions, it’s especially critical when recruiting passive candidates.

By following the formula outlined above, you should be able to create a more streamlined recruiting process that results in a better candidate experience and more A+ passive candidates accepting your job offers.

If you’re looking for technology to accurately and efficiently assess sales candidates, check out The Original Sales Assessment. 92% of individuals recommended by it go on to reach the top half of their sales force within one year.

How to Find Great Talent in Tough Economic Times

Posted on by hiredna

Finding talented salespeople can be difficult in even the best of circumstances. But it can be especially challenging to find great talent in tough economic times.

And that’s precisely what sales recruiters are up against today. Although the recruiting climate has stabilized somewhat in the wake of COVID, there are still some major challenges that must be overcome to secure elite talent.  

In this post, I’ll offer some background on the current rocky economic state and specific strategies and tools you can use to find rockstar salespeople in your industry.

Some Statistics for Perspective

By definition, the US is not currently in a recession as of the time of this writing in May 2023. However, many financial experts believe there could be one on the horizon.

“Slowing in GDP could be due to negative US inventory accumulations and trade deficits,” writes Bill Adams, chief economist for Comerica Bank. “Whether these factors will continue dragging on the economy throughout 2023 remains to be seen, but steadily slowing GDP growth could be an advance warning of recession ahead.”

Besides that, there are also the issues of inflation, stock market volatility, sluggish retail sales, and other factors that are contributing to our current economic woes.

And from a recruiting standpoint, today’s businesses must contend with what McKinsey calls “the Great Attrition” or “Great Resignation,” where a staggering 40% of American workers say they may leave their job in the near future.

By these numbers, two out of every five salespeople are theoretically ready to look elsewhere, which is no doubt alarming to many recruiters.

Capitalizing on Opportunities

This isn’t to say that everything is all doom and gloom. In fact, there are plenty of opportunities for sales recruiters to find great talent in tough economic times.

For instance, this often translates into a larger candidate pool that wasn’t available a few years ago. You may also be able to find elite-level talent from other organizations that wouldn’t have previously been possible.

It’s just a matter of adjusting your sales recruiting strategy, which is what I’ll discuss for the rest of this post.

Start with Your UVP

I love what Cassie Pike, managing director at Cielo Talent has to say about the importance of strengthening your UVP in tough economic times.

“When slowdowns occur and candidates are in the market, it’s prime time for companies to campaign for who they want and show why their offerings stand out amongst the rest. It’s important to help candidates understand why you’re hiring and why you’re a safe bet for them when it comes to a job change. It’s about more than the money; it’s about the full value proposition, including stability of your organization, growth for the organization, and what it provides for your employees, as well as other non-monetary benefits like flexibility.”

Refining your UVP is a critical precursor to anything else, especially in our current economic climate, because it affects everything else. This is a topic I’ve covered in detail before, and you can learn how to create a winning UVP here.

Use a SaaS Sales Recruiting Platform

Perhaps the best way to streamline recruiting is to use a data-driven tool like HireDNA.

With it, you can tap into a robust national network of qualified sales talent and access top performers — both active and passive candidates — that have the exact skills and qualifications needed to thrive at your company.

Here’s how it works.

First, you’ll be assigned a dedicated recruiting manager who will work alongside you to create an ideal candidate profile.

Based on that, we’ll come up with a list of verified candidates that match what you’re looking for using 26 profile data points and 21 core selling competencies. Note that this goes beyond just traditional hard skills and is extremely granular with traits like motivation, desire to sell, the ability to handle rejection, and much more.

From there, we’ll provide you with a short list of handpicked, verified candidates that are most likely to succeed.

And finally, you choose the candidates you’re most interested in and can schedule interviews.

Sales recruiters that use HireDNA are able to eliminate 96% of hiring mistakes, speed up their time to hire by 50%, and have 50% less turnover. So if you’re looking to streamline your sales recruiting and find the best of the best, this type of platform can be very helpful.

Hire for Skills Over Industry Experience

The other main strategy I recommend to find great talent in tough economic times is being flexible with your job requirements.

In a previous blog, I explained why selling skills are often more important than industry/product experience. Although this post is over two years old, I think it’s just as relevant as ever.

The bottom line with this logic is that you can always train someone on a product, but you can’t always teach someone how to sell.

Say, for example, you find a candidate that has a stellar track record and has consistently exceeded their expectations in all previous roles, but they don’t have any experience in your specific industry. Odds are, they could learn it fairly quickly and use their natural talent to reach the top of your sales force.

On the other hand, let’s say there’s another candidate that does have plenty of experience in your industry, but they have a history of underwhelming performance. Although you could probably get them up to speed quicker, they’ll likely hit their plateau and won’t have nearly the same potential as someone who’s a natural winner.

This is a simple example, but I’m sure you can see my point. More often than not, prioritizing raw sales talent over experience and being willing to hire someone you know can sell, even if they lack direct industry/product experience, should lead to positive results and can give you an edge over many competitors.

Finding Great Talent in Tough Economic Times

Although the current economy is far from ideal, it’s still possible to find elite talent. In fact, there are golden opportunities as long as you leverage the right strategies and take advantage of helpful tools.

To see HireDNA in action and learn how it can take your sales recruiting to the next level, schedule a live demo today.

SaaS Sales Hiring for Beginners: How to Build a Winning Team From the Ground Up

Posted on by hiredna

Besides having an amazing product, SaaS sales hiring is arguably the most critical part of building a successful business. It’s also one of the most daunting, with Bersin Research, reporting that 75% of companies struggle with SaaS sales hiring.

Even for established companies with deep pockets and a dedicated recruiting team, it can be tricky. But if you’re a new startup just getting your bearings, it can be truly intimidating.

For this post, I’m going to lay down a simple template you can follow to build a winning SaaS sales team from the ground up so you’ll know which specific areas to address and assemble a team of true rockstars. Let’s get right into it.

Figure Out What Type of Culture You Want

It may sound a little cliche, but I believe that building a great SaaS sales team starts with first setting a firm foundation. And perhaps the most integral part of establishing a foundation is deciding what you want your culture to be like.

Why?

Because your culture will set the tone on how you approach sales hiring, what type of salespeople you want, what skills and characteristics you want them to have, and so on. Without a clearly defined culture, you’re almost guaranteed to lack direction, which will throw off every subsequent step in the formula.

So I recommend taking the time to crystallize exactly what type of culture you want. It will likely evolve over time, but having a clear initial snapshot should help you get started out on the right foot. For guidance on this, check out this Forbes article.

Create an Ideal Candidate Profile

Once you have a grasp on the company culture you’re going for, you’ll want to use that to create an ideal candidate profile. This can include industry experience, hard skills, soft skills, talent needs, working style, and so on. The more specific you get, the more likely you’ll be to find winning candidates that will thrive in your sales environment.

A tool you can use to streamline this process is HireDNA, which will help you build an ideal candidate from scratch.

With it, you can pinpoint exactly what you’re looking for in a SaaS salesperson, leaving no stone unturned, which brings us to our next step.

Use Data-Driven Sourcing, Assessments, and Screening

SaaS recruiting has advanced dramatically in recent years. Rather than relying on “old school” tactics for sourcing, assessing, and screening candidates, you can now leverage cutting-edge technology and concrete data that simply wasn’t possible in the past.

With HireDNA, for example, you can tap into a national network of hundreds of thousands of SaaS salespeople — both active and passive candidates — to find relevant professionals based on your ideal candidate profile.

For assessment, HireDNA uses a data-driven evaluation, looking at key factors like the role, your culture, required experiences, and unique selling skills. Each candidate receives a score in each category, and those with a match score of 75% or higher qualify for the position.

And for screening, HireDNA uses a sophisticated science-based skills assessment that tests 21 core selling competencies, such as the will to sell, motivation, and responsibility.

That way, every candidate in your talent pool is thoroughly vetted, and you can narrow it down to the absolute cream of the crop. From there, it’s just a matter of interviewing the list of candidates you’ve shortlisted and choosing those that best match your culture and ideal candidate profile.

Set Your Sales Reps Up for Success

Up until this point, I’ve talked about the steps leading up to the pre-hire moment. But for the rest of the post, I’ll focus on everything post-hire, starting with equipping your salespeople with what they need to succeed.

This typically begins with robust onboarding, which is something I’ve covered extensively in this post. Some essentials of SaaS onboarding include:

  • Offering new reps an end-all-be-all orientation resource to quickly get them up to speed
  • Formally training them on the software they’ll be selling
  • Educating them on buyer personas
  • Educating them on your UVP and competitor strengths and weaknesses

Another big piece of the puzzle is providing salespeople with proper mentorship and coaching, especially during the initial stages. This should ensure they have the built-in support system needed to “get in the groove” with minimal friction. Not to mention, it’s an effective way to reduce turnover.

Also, simply making it a point to consistently check in with SaaS salespeople to see how they’re doing and if they’re comfortable can go a long way.

Objectively Assess Performance with Analytics

Finally, you’ll want to identify a list of core metrics that most essential to success and stay on top of them with analytics. You don’t need to go crazy with it and measure every single metric, per se, but you should analyze those that are critical to your bottom line like maximizing revenue, increasing efficiency, and fueling growth.

Some examples include:

  • The number of qualified prospects a rep reaches out to
  • Conversion rate
  • Length of the sales cycle
  • Gross revenue
  • Long-term sales growth

You can find a list of the best SaaS sales analytics platforms here.

Winning with Your SaaS Sales Hiring

The fact that three-quarters of companies struggle with SaaS sales hiring speaks to the inherent difficulty of the process, especially for beginners. But by following a proven template that checks all the key boxes, you’ll know how to systematically approach the process and assemble a team of professionals that will position your business for success.

To learn more about how HireDNA can help with SaaS candidate sourcing, assessments, screening, and more, schedule a demo today. Companies that use HireDNA are able to cut their hiring time in half and eliminate 96% of hiring mistakes.

Why Companies That Use a Sales Assessment Have Reps That Are 24% More Likely to Exceed Performance Goals

Posted on by hiredna

When it comes to sales candidates, what you see isn’t always what you get. One study found that nearly four out of five sales resumes are misleading, and up to 46% contain straight-up lies! This isn’t to say all sales candidates are deliberately trying to be deceptive. But the fact of the matter is that you simply can’t take everything at face value. That’s where a sales assessment comes in.

Though not a magic bullet, there’s a solid body of evidence that shows effectively using a sales assessment can have a dramatic impact on recruiting, with companies that use it having a noticeable advantage over those that don’t. Allow me to explain.

Some Eye-Opening Stats

Most sales recruiters acknowledge that sales assessments have some type of impact on recruiting. But many don’t realize the extent of the impact. So let’s quantify.

One of the most telling studies comes from Aberdeen Group, which found “organizations that use pre-hire assessments are 24% more likely to have employees who exceed performance goals.” That alone I found to be highly impressive and, right off the bat, it shows the correlation between evaluating the skills a potential candidate claims and making smart hiring decisions.

But that’s not all.

Additional research found that “hiring managers who utilize pre-employment assessments report 36% more satisfaction with their final decision than those who don’t.”

So not only are salespeople who are hired after completing a sales assessment far more likely to thrive, hiring managers are far more likely to be satisfied with their decision.

Why is a Sales Assessment So Beneficial?

Again, a sales assessment isn’t a cure-all, and there’s no guarantee that by using one you’ll find the perfect salesperson 100% of the time. But there’s no denying that it can be an immensely helpful tool. I think Aberdeen Group summarizes it well with this quote.

“While this technology might not predict every facet of an employee’s tenure with a company, it certainly is an improvement over making hiring decisions based on interviews, references, resumes, and/or gut feel — together or separately.” By objectively evaluating a sales candidate’s knowledge and skills, you can approach recruiting much more confidently than in the past. And the odds of the person you hire working out long-term are much higher.

But what are some specific reasons why companies that use a sales assessment have reps that are much more likely to exceed their performance goals? Here are three of the biggest.

You Can Verify a Sales Candidate’s Claims

Perhaps the most obvious benefit is that this tool gives you a means of “fact-checking” a sales candidate to ensure they truly possess the skills they claim to have on their resume. Going back to the data in the intro, the majority of resumes are misleading, and, unfortunately, close to half contain some type of lie. So you shouldn’t assume that every candidate you encounter is as good as they say they are.

But with a sales assessment, you can see exactly what they bring to the table. And because all candidates answer the same questions and perform the same tasks in their assessment, you can accurately compare each one side-by-side to see who’s the best fit for your company.

You Can Get a Feel for a Sales Candidate’s Personality

Besides finding someone with the right hard skills, it’s also important to take soft skills like communication, problem-solving, and organization into account. While you can get a general sense of a candidate’s personality through interactions and interviewing, this doesn’t always tell the whole story.

Another big advantage of a sales assessment is that it goes beyond traditional interviewing where you can ask questions to gauge their personality and see how good of a match they would be for the specific role and your overall company culture.

You Can Eliminate Bias

One reason why some sales recruiters make the wrong hire is that they “fall in love” with a particular candidate, even if they’re not the optimal choice. Say, for example, a candidate is incredibly charismatic, shares the same interest, and went to your same college. There’s a good chance you would be compelled to hire them over another candidate that didn’t check these boxes even if they’re not objectively the better fit.

At the end of the day, human bias is always a factor and can easily cloud a recruiter’s judgment. The great thing about a sales assessment is that it eliminates bias so each candidate can be evaluated objectively.

Sales Assessment Tools to Use

At this point, I think we can agree that, when used correctly, a sales assessment can be a huge asset. But what specific tool should you use?

One that many sales recruiters have success with is HireDNA, which offers the industry’s number one skills assessment solution. Here’s an overview of what HireDNA has to offer.

With it, you can assess core selling competencies like lead hunting, the ability to reach decision-makers, relationship-building, and more.

You can also measure “sales DNA competencies,” such as being able to control emotions, comfortably discuss money, and handle rejection, as well as development traits like the will to sell and coachability.

Aftering setting up your ideal candidate profile, you can use HireDNA to filter and screen candidates 10x faster, and recruiters that use it are able to eliminate 96% of hiring mistakes. You can get a full overview of HireDNA and learn more about it here.

Wrapping Up

Sales recruiting isn’t something you want to leave to chance. Fortunately, technology like a sales assessment has created a framework that allows you to evaluate potential candidates from all angles while eliminating many of the inefficiencies that recruiters had to deal with in the past. With a clear correlation between using a sales assessment and reps exceeding their goals, it’s definitely a technology worth implementing if you haven’t done so already.

Ready to take the next step? Schedule a live HireDNA demo today.

SaaS Sales Recruiting: 5 Essential Tips for Hiring the Right Talent

Posted on by hiredna

In 2022, the United States contained more than 17,000 SaaS companies within its borders. Those 17,000 companies serve over 59 billion global customers. In 2023, Statista projects the global SaaS market to exceed $195 billion in market value.

What’s the common thread pinning these statistics together?

They wouldn’t be possible without SaaS sales jobs.

Salespeople deliver results that directly contribute to company (and industry) growth. But, selling SaaS products and solutions is not easy. Tech companies are observing major issues with their SaaS sales recruiting and staff retention metrics—why?

SaaS Sales Recruitment: Obstacles & Challenges

Companies are finding it extremely difficult to source, hire, and more importantly retain competent, high-performing sales staff. Below, I’ll examine some of the key reasons why businesses are experiencing these issues, and then how to revamp your sales hiring strategy.

It’s a Skill Issue—Soft Skill Issue

One of my past blogs was on sales recruiting challenges. In it, I detailed one of the biggest challenges for sales recruiters and SaaS hiring managers: lack of soft skills in new hires. Why is that one of the biggest challenges? It’s notoriously hard to quantify a candidate’s actual soft skill competence with hard data. Companies often hire salespeople who have underdeveloped soft skills.

Empathy, collaboration, the ability to build rapport, and communication skills have always been difficult to quantify with hard data. However, there have been many innovations in this arena in recent years. For example, certain forward-thinking recruiting platforms are providing companies with the ability to accurately quantify a candidate’s soft skill competence level.

For example, HireDNA is able to measure specific sales competencies, such as emotional regulation, foundational beliefs, and resilience in the face of rejection. This enables precise determinations of one’s sales potential. This capability can have a significant impact on SaaS recruiting and hiring success.

Inefficient Hiring Processes

The top salespeople don’t often stay between jobs for very long. In one of my past blogs, I mentioned that it’s common to have a window of only 10 days to find and hire the cream of the crop sales candidates. This is why inefficiency can destroy an organization’s ability to hire the best talent possible. In the fast-paced world of SaaS sales and IT sales recruitment, this rings especially true. 

Below are a few of my recommendations to improve your recruiting and hiring processes:

  • Have a clear understanding of the role you are hiring for and the goals you wish to achieve through this hire.
  • Leverage both passive and active candidates: A lot of the industry’s top talent will not be actively looking for a job.
  • Use a thorough pre-screening process that includes state-of-the-art tools and science-based evaluations. Interviews that focus on behavior, and an in-depth examination of candidates’ past performance, are also beneficial.
  • Employ a sales-specific assessment tool to ensure a candidate’s “sales DNA” competencies are accurately assessed and measured against your organizational needs.
  • Simplify the application process: It’s possible you are losing great candidates very early in the process simply because your application process is too complex or drawn out. I wrote more on this topic here.

Recommended Tools to Source, Screen, Interview, Hire, and Onboard Top SaaS Sales Talent

The end-to-end process of recruiting and hiring top sales professionals can be overwhelming and time-consuming, especially for SaaS companies. But it doesn’t have to be. I want to share with you two powerful tools that can help streamline your hiring process and ensure you find the optimal fit for your team.

eSkill

 eSkill provides a detailed evaluation of a candidate’s communication and collaboration skills. These traits are critical in a sales role. Here are a few of the main advantages that eSkill can provide your company:

  • Gain a deeper understanding of how well a candidate will work within your sales team, increasing the chances of a successful hire.
  • Easy to use and can be integrated into your existing hiring process, making it seamless and efficient.
  • Wide range of assessments, including pre-employment assessments, behavioral assessments, and skills assessments, allowing you to assess a candidate’s fit for the role and your company culture.
  • Detailed reports on each candidate, allowing you to make more informed hiring decisions.
  • Identify potential red flags early on in the hiring process, saving you time and resources.
  • Cost-effective and can help you save money by reducing the need for expensive and time-consuming interviews.
  • Determine the strengths and weaknesses of your candidates’ emotional intelligence, so you can provide specific, targeted training and development after they are hired to help them (and your company) flourish.

HireDNA

Using HireDNA as a part of their recruiting, hiring, onboarding, and training processes, SaaS companies can gain access to a powerful platform that leverages AI and science-based assessments to find the perfect fit for their sales team. Custom-developed for the needs of technology sales teams, HireDNA enables a faster and more streamlined pipeline of qualified candidates, accurate and predictive sales assessments, and effective onboarding and training.

Here is a short overview of our platform’s features and service offerings:

  • Powerful AI matching technology coupled with a proprietary sales recruiting platform, ensuring companies can source and attract top sales producers who fit their ideal candidate profile and selling environment.
  • Crowdsourcing and candidate referral models provide access to an extensive network of sales professionals. This creates a faster pipeline of qualified candidates.
  • Partnership with Objective Management Group (OMG) provides access to sales-specific candidate assessments and salesforce evaluations. These evaluations have been independently verified at 95% accuracy.
  • Onboarding and training processes designed to help new hires ramp up faster and improve retention. HireDNA’s training includes micro-learning, videos, quizzes, and action plans. All are tailored to the new hire’s sales DNA.
  • HireDNA’s results speak for themselves. 50% faster new hire ramp-up, 80% of searches ending in a successful placement, and 92% of candidates recommended and hired reaching the top half of the salesforce.

Using a science-based approach to SaaS sales hiring will continue to become more prevalent over the coming years. As tools like HireDNA and eSkill continue to evolve, companies will be able to attract, hire, and retain more of the best candidates possible—candidates who fit perfectly into their sales ecosystem, company culture, and performance requirements. 

Top 5 Best Practices for SaaS Sales Recruiting and Hiring

1. Have a deep understanding of your “why”

What is your company’s “why?” What about your sales department’s “why?” Culture, vision, goals, objectives, etc.—these all play an important role in the formation of your company’s “why.” When you lack a clear understanding of your company’s vision, ideals, and mission, it can be extremely difficult to find the right talent that fits into your brand’s unique culture and sales ecosystem.

2. Streamline and use a data-driven approach

Having a long, over-extended recruitment process is a talent killer. Luckily, recruiting in SaaS has come a long way (even compared to just a few years ago). Platforms like ours empower companies to fully transform the way they source, recruit, hire, and retain top sales talent. The importance of streamlining your approach to recruiting cannot be overstated. Likewise, leveraging the power of data and AI-driven recruiting tools can be a real game-changer for SaaS companies. 

3. Use your company’s value proposition

One of the more overlooked sales recruiting tips is leveraging your company’s value proposition. Your unique value proposition is a strong selling point to potential sales candidates. Using your value proposition during the recruitment process is crucial. It makes sure that potential hires align with the mission, culture, and “why” of your company. By clearly communicating your unique value proposition, you can ensure you are only bringing on individuals who are genuinely excited about what your company has to offer. 

4. Leverage the power of incentives

Incentives, for both on-hire and performance-based, can make a large difference in attracting top talent that is able to perform versus mid-range salespeople that deliver lukewarm results. Another major reason why incentives are vital to elevating your hiring strategy—passive candidates, which are often top performers, will typically need to be coaxed out of their current roles. Incentivizing passive candidates is highly recommended. Examples of compelling incentives include:

  • Bonus upon hiring
  • Compensation increase
  • Stock ownershp
  • Flexible and/or hybrid work environments
  • Growth opportunities within your organization
  • Ongoing SaaS sales training using industry-leading frameworks, workshops, and resources

5. Consider using SaaS sales recruiters

Delegating the traditionally resource-intensive process of recruitment to SaaS sales recruitment agencies can be helpful for certain companies. Top-notch agencies and their rosters of recruiters are experts at matching top talent with the right companies. However, many recruitment agencies in the tech industry use outdated methods and source poor-quality talent, so I recommend doing your due diligence if you’re considering hiring an agency.

Wrap-Up

Salespeople play a vital role in the growth of SaaS companies and the industry as a whole. Finding and retaining the industry’s top talent can be difficult, but the advice laid out above can help transform your recruiting process. A quick recap of what we covered:

  • Leverage next-gen recruiting platforms (e.g., eSkill, HireDNA, etc.) to help weed out poor-fit candidates.
  • Restructure your offer – focus on your value proposition, incentives, and attracting talent.
  • Recruit both active and passive candidates.
  • Streamline your processes.

Although companies face many challenges in SaaS hiring and recruitment, the strategies outlined in this blog can help maximize your recruiting efforts and source tier-one talent for your organization.

The 3 Best SaaS Sales Candidate Screening Tools (And Their Key Features)

Posted on by hiredna

Bad hires, unfortunately, happen more frequently than most SaaS sales recruiters would like. According to research, 74% of recruiters say they’ve hired the wrong rep at some point. And with the average cost of a bad hire being at least 30% of the salesperson’s first-year annual income, it can be highly detrimental. That’s where SaaS sales candidate screening tools come in.

By using the right software, you can effectively filter through a candidate pool to find the cream of the crop while also saving a ton of time and money. Here are my top three picks for the absolute best SaaS sales candidate screening tools.

1. HireDNA

HireDNA is all about taking a scientific, data-driven approach to SaaS sales recruiting to ensure the best possible matches while avoiding common friction points. First, HireDNA evaluates your company’s unique hiring needs, goals, selling requirements, selling environment, culture, and more to create a digital profile of the perfect candidate.

Next, it uses cutting-edge technology to tap into a massive national network of hundreds of thousands of elite SaaS sales professionals. From there, HireDNA uses in-depth screening to objectively evaluate each potential candidate’s abilities based on your exact candidate profile to see how well they match. Candidates that receive a match score of 75% or higher are then qualified to ensure an ultra-high level of compatibility.

At that point, each eligible candidate is asked to complete a comprehensive skills assessment that tests 21 selling competencies to measure things like skill set, motivation, determination, and more.

Those that make the cut will then be shortlisted so you can schedule interviews and make your final decision. The streamlined, systematic, data-driven approach HireDNA takes makes it extremely efficient for SaaS sales candidate screening and has a very high success rate, with recruiters able to eliminate 96% of wrong hires. Further, 92% of candidates that are hired reach the top of their sales force within one year.

You can learn more about HireDNA’s screening process here.

2. Breezy HR

Like HireDNA, Breezy HR is an end-to-end SaaS recruiting tool that does the heavy lifting for you so you spend less time in the trenches looking for candidates and more time on shortlisting and interviewing.

It starts with advertising and attracting where you first create a professional, branded careers page to send candidates to. This can be fully customized and launched in less than a minute without any development knowledge and includes built-in analytics. Or, if you already have a careers page, you can use the Breezy HR widget to create a list of available jobs on it.

Once that’s set up, the software streamlines the process of getting your SaaS sales job in front of millions of potential candidates. After creating a job ad, Breezy HR will automatically post it on over 50 of today’s top job sites, such as LinkedIn, Indeed, Google, and ZipRecruiter.

As SaaS sales candidates start pouring in, Breezy HR has several different features to help you efficiently screen and manage them. For example, the AI-powered Candidate Match Score feature lets you identify the best of the best and instantly prioritize them for quick outreach.

Touchless pre-screening lets you send personalized questionnaires to top candidates, and “Breezy will automatically advance (or disqualify) candidates based on their answers.” Additionally, video screening lets you take it one step further by qualifying candidates with digital face-to-face recordings so you can get a better feel for their personality and style. Once you’ve created your shortlist, Breezy HR offers calendar integrations with Google and Outlook so you can effortlessly schedule interviews.

And with built-in analytics that measure pipeline performance, time to fill, and team productivity, you can identify inefficiencies to continually refine your SaaS sales recruiting process.

3. JazzHR

Let me start by saying that JazzHR is specifically designed for SMBs. So if you’re an enterprise company, this platform won’t have the type of scale that you need. But if you fall into the SMB category, read on.

JazzHR is a straightforward SaaS sales candidate screening tool that doesn’t have quite the same amount of features as HireDNA and Breezy HR, but it definitely gets the job done. It offers a custom careers page with branded templates to send candidates to.

There’s a streamlined candidate sourcing feature that lets you post a single job ad to numerous job boards and social networks. And there’s a built-in referral feature that lets you manage a company-wide referral program to tap into additional candidate leads. This combination allows you to build a strong initial candidate pool right from the start.

From there, JazzHR has ranking features that help you choose individuals who are best fitted for the position you’re hiring for and “organize your hiring pool based on your own criteria and decide who gets moved along in one centralized location.” There are comprehensive assessments with score-based evaluations that let you quantitatively compare top candidates. And after you’ve done your round of interviews, JazzHR assists hiring managers in ranking them one by one while implementing feedback.

Once you’ve made your decision, there are offers and eSignature features to expedite the formalities and ensure all the necessary paperwork is completed while staying fully compliant. In turn, this makes for a better candidate experience so you can get build strong rapport right from the start.

Put it all together, and this makes JazzHR a solid option that works well for many SMBs.

Finding Elite Talent with SaaS Sales Candidate Screening

Sales recruiting technology has come a long in recent years. While recruiters of the past often had to deal with a lengthy, convoluted process and rely on gut feelings that weren’t always accurate, SaaS sales candidate screening tools have been a true game-changer.

While there are numerous options available, HireDNA, Breezy HR, and JazzHR are three of the best overall and cover the full spectrum of candidate screening while also including other great features.

To learn more about why HireDNA is the industry’s number one sales skills assessment tool, check out this resource.

Why Creating a Clear Hiring Process Timeline Can Make Your Brand More Appealing to 83% of Sales Candidates

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Searching for a sales job can be overwhelming and stressful. In fact, 73% of job seekers say it’s “one of the most stressful events in life.” As a recruiter, it’s important to simplify and streamline things to 1) improve the candidate experience and 2) increase your odds of acquiring A+ salespeople while building strong relationships right off the bat. And this often starts with creating a clear hiring process timeline.

In this post, we’ll look at some compelling data that shows just how important a hiring process timeline is, along with specific elements to focus on.

Putting Yourself in a Sale’s Candidates Shoes

Nearly everyone will perform a job search at some point in their career. And nearly everyone will experience the struggles that come along with it.

Searching for a new sales position marks a big life change. A person may need to give notice to their current company, figure out how to transition from their current job to a new one, switch up their daily schedule, or even move to a new city. Not to mention the potential financial strains it can create.

With this comes a lot of uncertainty and stress if a sales candidate is left in the dark about what’s happening with a potential employer. This is bad for everyone because, on their end, it hurts the candidate’s experience. And on your end, the friction it creates can sour what could have been a solid relationship.

Even if a sales candidate was initially excited about the idea of joining your team, they may end up going elsewhere simply because they weren’t sure about their status. In turn, quality candidates can end up slipping through your fingers, and in the long run, this can even hurt your brand equity if you get negative online reviews from resentful ex-candidates.

Looking it at like this, lacking a clear hiring process timeline is bad all around. However, when sales candidates know what to expect, it can create positive rapport and make things smoother for both parties.

What the Data Says

Now the question is, just how big of an impact can a clear hiring process timeline have?

According to SmallBizGenius, “83% of candidates say it would greatly improve the overall experience if employers provided a clear timeline of the hiring process.” Based on this data, you could create a pleasant experience for more than 8 out of 10 candidates by simply making the process more transparent.

In a world where many companies are struggling to create a positive candidate experience and 58% of job seekers say they’ve declined an offer because of a negative experience, this an extremely important stat to take note of.

To crystallize things further, here’s some additional data:

  • “52% of job seekers cite lack of response from employers as their biggest frustration
  • 75% of applicants never hear back from employers
  • 81% of job seekers say employers continuously communicating status updates would greatly improve their candidate experience” 

At this point, it’s clear that the vast majority of sales candidates want more transparency from employers and that offering it can have significant results. But how exactly do you go about that?

Elements to Include in the Hiring Process Timeline

For starters, you’ll want to give sales candidates at least a rough idea of how long your hiring process is. While the specific stages of recruiting can vary, the seven fundamental stages usually look something like this.

Seven Steps of Selection Process

So, for instance, when a sales candidate submits their application, you could send them an email outlining what to expect, what the next step is, and when they’ll hear from you next. Keep in mind you don’t necessarily need to include exact dates, but try to give them a basic overview of what your timeline looks like so you’re on the same page.

For candidates that make it to the interview stage, you’ll want to be more detailed with the upcoming phases in the process. This can include how many rounds of interviews there will be (e.g. an initial 15-minute Zoom call and a longer follow-up call if they pass), what will happen during each round, and how long it will take your recruitment team to make their decision.

This alone can make for a far better candidate experience and should help you avoid many of the common “friction points” that are detrimental to the process.

When it comes to sales candidates that have been disqualified, you’ll want to let them know as soon as possible that you’ve decided to move on. While this, understandably, can be difficult and no one wants to be the bearer of bad news, you never want to leave someone hanging when they’re no longer in the candidate pool. In this situation, you’ll want to thank them for applying and let them know that you sincerely appreciate their interest in your company, but you’ve decided to go with someone else who is a better fit.

If you’re not sure how to approach this, here’s a basic email template you can use.

10 Essential Recruiting Email Templates

Also, note that most experts suggest never going longer than a maximum of one week to follow up at any point in the hiring process.

Wrapping Up

A poor sales candidate experience can be toxic to everyone involved. It leaves a sour taste in the mouth of what could be a rockstar salesperson. And it can hurt your company if you lose out on top-tier talent to competitors. Fortunately, this is often avoidable by creating a transparent hiring process timeline.

Doing so puts you on the same page with sales candidates and drastically reduces the likelihood of friction arising, as they’ll know what to expect every step of the way. From putting in their application to scheduling an interview to making your final decision, you’ll have close communication throughout.

If you’re looking to fill your pipeline with leading sales talent while cutting your hire time in half, check out HireDNA. Recruiters that use it eliminate, on average, 96% of mistakes and lower turnover by more than 33%.

2023 Sales Recruiting: What Changes to Expect This Year

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Sales recruiting is always evolving. But you could argue that it’s changing at a faster rate than ever before in the 2020s. And 2023 is no exception. As we settle into the New Year, here are some key changes to expect for 2023 sales recruiting to put you at the top of your industry.

A Heavier Use of Recruiting Automation

Recruiting automation isn’t exactly new, and many companies are already using it in some capacity. For reference, recruiting automation software saw a CAGR of 1.9% from 2015 to 2021. But it’s expected to gain even more momentum in 2023 and beyond. More specifically, “the global market is predicted to surge at a CAGR of 2.7% and record sales worth $660 million by the end of 2032.”

2023 is shaping up to be a pivotal year for the growth and expansion of recruiting automation, where its capabilities will continue to evolve, and more companies across a wide variety of industries will implement it. So if it’s something you’ve considered using but haven’t pulled the trigger on yet, now is the perfect time to do so.

In terms of what you can do with recruiting automation, the applications are far-ranging. With HireDNA, for example, you can use it for everything from pinpointing your ideal candidate and sourcing to screening and interview scheduling.

Not only does this save time, it can dramatically increase productivity and performance, with 80% of executives believing it gets results.

Using Data-Driven Matching to Find Ideal Sales Candidates

In the past, a lot of recruiting was done the “old school” way, often relying on a gut feeling when trying to figure out who the best candidate for the job was. But in recent years, there’s been a big shift to taking a more data-driven approach to things. And 2023 appears to be the official boiling point for this.

While tapping into a wealth of personal experience, especially if you’ve been sales recruiting for years or decades, is certainly helpful, studies have found that data-driven companies are 3X more likely to achieve long-term success and make better decisions than those that don’t leverage data.

So what exactly does data-driven matching look like in 2023?

A prime example is using a matching algorithm to analyze key data points, such as work style, sales process, quota attainment, team environment, and compensation to objectively evaluate sales candidates to see who’s the optimal match for the role you’re looking to fill. HireDNA analyzes over 20 data points to show you the whole picture, which allows you to find the best of the best without having to rely on your intuition.

Besides that, HireDNA offers scienced-based assessments where 21 core selling competencies are evaluated, such as motivation, desire, and coachability to accurately predict success.

Putting this technology to use when many other companies are behind the curb is nearly guaranteed to give you a palpable sales recruiting advantage in 2023.

Focusing More on the Sales Candidate Experience

In mid-2021, I wrote a post about the sales candidate experience, saying it had become more important than it was in the past. To quantify, “59% of candidates abandon a job application due to bugs, issues, or complexity of process,” and “42% of candidates with a negative experience won’t reapply to your company.” On the other hand, “38% of candidates who are satisfied with their experience are more likely to accept a job offer.”

Fast forward to the start of 2023, and the sales candidate experience is even more critical and an area of recruiting that companies are placing a growing emphasis on. Fortunately, creating a great sales candidate experience isn’t rocket science. It just boils down to the following fundamentals, such as:

  • Optimizing your website to prevent bugs and needless complications
  • Not making forms any longer or more complex than they need to be
  • Being transparent with candidates, letting them know what stage they’re at in the recruiting process, where they stand, and so on
  • Keeping interviews simple and straightforward

You can learn more about how to improve the sales candidate experience here.

Using Branding as a Sales Recruiting Strategy

When most people hear the word “branding,” they think about it in a marketing context. And they wouldn’t be wrong. However, in 2023, branding is also starting to be used as a key part of a sales recruiting strategy.

Consider this. 82% of sales candidates now take a potential employer’s reputation into account before applying.

If their research yields positive results where multiple employees — past and present — sing your praises saying you’re an amazing company to work for, it’s going to help you get your foot in the door with elite talent. If, however, your brand reputation isn’t so great, it’s going to have the opposite effect.

That’s why it’s important to 1) recognize the correlation between branding and recruiting and 2) take measures to improve your brand reputation if it’s lacking. Or, if your brand reputation is solid, you should work to reinforce it to further capitalize on the momentum.

A good resource for learning how to win with employer branding and recruiting is this blog post from Recright.

Winning at 2023 Sales Recruiting

Every new year comes with its own unique challenges. But on the flip side, it also comes with distinct opportunities.

2023 sales recruiting looks to be packed with a lot of changes, but I feel the four listed above are some of the most pertinent. Getting on board at the start of the year and capitalizing on recruiting automation, data-driven matching, the sales candidate experience, and branding as a recruiting tool should put you ahead of the game and ensure you have a steady pipeline of qualified talent.

To learn more about how HireDNA works and how it can help, specifically with recruiting automation and data-driven matching, book your live demo today.

Recruiting Passive Sales Candidates Requires Up to 17 Touchpoints: Tactics for Winning Over Elite Talent

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When most people think of sales recruiting, they envision going after traditional active candidates — individuals that respond to a job ad or reach out to you. But some of today’s most successful sales recruiters are those that seek out passive sales candidates — individuals who aren’t actively looking for a new job but would be open to the right offer.

According to research, passive sales candidates account for as many as 75% of professionals and often end up being the best team members. However, landing these rockstars isn’t always easy and requires several touchpoints. Up to 17 to be exact.

Let’s now unpack this phenomenon and explain how you can win over elite talent.

Passive Recruiting According to an Expert

In an interesting article, job description optimization software Ongig talks about an interview they had with a talent acquisition leader at a Fortune 500 company. “Some candidates are worth the time,” they write. “Their team has to make 17 touches to recruit passive candidates.” And to clarify, “by ‘touches,’ she is referring to 17 outreach activities it takes to close a passive candidate.”

Here’s an exact breakdown of the specific touchpoints they use.

Now are every single one of these touchpoints necessary to land a passive candidate? No.

And is this the exact sequence you should follow at your company? Perhaps not.

The point here is that recruiting passive sales candidates is more involved than many people think, and it’s something you need to have a strategy for. After all, many passive sales candidates already have cushy jobs and make good money. They know their value and aren’t in a rush to find new opportunities.

Therefore, most won’t jump at the first thing that comes along. Instead, they need to be nurtured — wooed if you will. This brings me to my next point.

Treating Recruiting Like Sales

Another thing I like about the article from Ongig is that they mention that “recruiting is no different than sales,” and “sales trainer Grant Cardone has some interesting related data: he claims that 95% of closed sales happen between the 3rd to 12th touch.” That really struck a chord with me, as I completely agree.

You can’t throw up a single piece of marketing collateral and expect leads to buy right off the bat. It’s a process that requires delicate nurturing where you gradually build rapport with a lead, get them comfortable with your brand, and address their concerns before they’re ready to buy. And it’s basically the same when recruiting passive sales candidates.

So I think having this mindset is the first step in winning over elite talent. I suggest borrowing from the sequence of touchpoints mentioned above and using that as a basic formula. You can, of course, customize it as you see fit and make adjustments as you go.

Besides that, here are some other helpful tactics.

Use a Sales Recruiting Platform

Recruiting technology has come a long in recent years and can be a huge asset for connecting with passive candidates. One particular type of technology that’s helpful is a sales recruiting platform like HireDNA. With it, you can engage passive candidates that match your criteria and tap into a national network of the top sales recruiters to fill your pipeline.

Rather than spending a ton of time manually seeking out passive candidates, HireDNA automates the process for you. That way you can focus on your core business activities rather than sales recruiting. And to make the experience even more convenient, HireDNA will screen each candidate and evaluate their core selling skills to ensure they’re a good fit for your specific sales environment.

From there, qualified candidates will be delivered right to your inbox for final approval and you can set up an interview.

Be Active on LinkedIn

With 875 million users in 2022, it’s the number one social media site for professional networking. And it’s a potential gold mine for meeting and engaging with passive sales candidates that could be strong assets to your company. That’s why I recommend being active on LinkedIn and always being on the lookout for great talent.

The more robust your network is, the more sales professionals you’ll be in contact with. And if you find someone that looks like the right fit, you can pounce on the opportunity right away.

Set up a Careers Page on Your Website

I’m a firm believer in letting elite talent come to you rather than always being the one pursuing talent. Just like a sales recruiting platform automates much of the process, so does having a careers page on your website. Here’s the logic.

Say a talented sales rep who wasn’t officially seeking a position came across your site. After being impressed by your product/service and overall brand, this could pique their interest to check out what it’s like working for you. Then, after browsing through your careers page, they notice you have an open position that’s right up their alley. This could compel them to apply without you having to lift a finger. Rather, high-quality talent comes right to you by having a recruiting funnel in place.

HubSpot is a great example of a brand that uses this strategy.

And it’s something that can work for you as well.

Recruiting Passive Sales Candidates

With as many as three-quarters of professionals being passive sales candidates, this is an aspect of recruiting that shouldn’t be overlooked. I personally found it interesting that this can require up to 17 touchpoints, which is why it’s important to have a fully fleshed-out formula to nurture passive candidates until they’re ready to commit. That along with implementing a few key strategies can help you fully capitalize on this potent form of recruiting and increase the strength of your sales team.

To see HireDNA in use and understand its full range of benefits, go ahead and schedule your demo today. 92% of suggested candidates go on to reach the top of their sales force within a year.