Category: Sales Recruiting

70% of Top Sales Managers Assess This Skill in Sales Candidates

Posted on by hiredna

Effectively gauging the skill set of salespeople is an absolute must when recruiting, as well as when analyzing the performance of existing reps. This is what allows you to assemble an A+ team, get the most from your leads, and inevitably maximize revenue. 

But with so many different factors, what exactly do you focus on?

While there are several skills recruiters analyze, there’s one that outshines all others at the top of the list.

The Ability to Close

Allego, a digital learning and enablement platform that focuses largely on sales training, performed in-depth research in a resource called The Ultimate Guide to Assessing Sales Rep Competency. In it, they examined the current state, as well as the future of sales competency. 

This resource contains a ton of great information, including ramp times by industry, sales training approaches commonly used, and which specific skills determine sales competency. But one piece of data I found particularly interesting was where Allego identified the top eight sales skills managers assess in their reps. 

“We looked at the eight key aspects of sales competency, including sales planning, prospecting, qualifying pipeline, pitching to prospects, negotiating contracts, closing deals, managing customers, and retaining customers,” they write. Of those eight skills, the number one that sales managers assess the most across the board is the ability to close at 70%.

And that’s not surprising. While other sales skills like prospecting new opportunities, making pitches, and negotiating are tremendously important, they pale in comparison to actually closing deals. In fact, you could ask, “What good does it do if a salesperson crushes every other aspect of the sales process but can’t seal the deal?”

The fact that 7 out of 10 managers assess the ability to close makes it the ultimate “bottom line metric” and the primary factor to consider when recruiting new reps, as well as analyzing the performance of current team members. 

This begs the question. 

How Should You Handle Underperforming Reps?

We now know that the ability to close is what you should look at most closely when recruiting new reps. Therefore, you’ll want to ask relevant questions during the interview stage, such as, “What was your close rate at your previous company?”

But what should you do with current reps that struggle closing deals and fail to hit their quota?

That’s another topic Allego examined in their research. According to their findings, the top three actions sales managers take to handle competency gaps are:

  • Implementing performance improvements plans – 50%
  • Increasing focus from management – 31%
  • Increasing training – 15%

Allego summarizes it perfectly with this quote. 

By these numbers, it’s clear that top sales managers take initiatives to put concrete performance improvement plans in place, have leaders place a bigger focus on helping reps improve, and generally offer a higher level of training. 

Note that a very small percentage of sales managers fire reps at just 3%. Therefore, we can surmise that simply letting underperforming reps go isn’t usually the best solution, and successful companies opt for investing in their people. 

Practical Tips to Help Reps Close More Deals

For the final part of this post, I’d like to share with you a few key strategies that are highly effective for helping salespeople increase their close rate. 

One is to create a resource that’s designed specifically for overcoming sales objections. The purpose is to 1) identify common sales objections and 2) show reps how to respond in each situation. That way they can react instantly and efficiently disarm the situation using “muscle memory.”

HubSpot wrote an amazing post about the 40 top sales objections, with the top five being:

  1. It’s too expensive.
  2. There’s no money.
  3. We don’t have any budget left.
  4. I need to use this budget somewhere else.
  5. I don’t want to get stuck in a contract.

They also include rebuttals for each. I suggest reading over that post and using it to create a customized resource for your team members. That alone can be a huge help. 

Next, work on ironing out any kinks in the lead handoff process from marketing to sales. As Allego pointed out earlier, 31% of sales managers increase their focus from management when reps aren’t closing as much as they should. It’s all hands on deck, and your whole team should work on moving marketing qualified leads (MQLs) to sales qualified leads (SQLs) with the least friction possible. 

This may include:

  • Using lead scoring to quantitatively rank leads so marketing knows the perfect time to hand them off
  • Ensure marketing passes along notes to sales mentioning key information (e.g. a lead’s pain points or current software)
  • Using meeting scheduling platform to strike while the iron is hot

For more on improving the MQL to SQL handoff, check out this article from Chili Piper. 

Finally, provide ongoing support for your salespeople. I recently wrote a post that talked about looking past a rep’s initial development and equipping them with the tools to continually improve and stay engaged. And I can’t stress enough how important this is, especially when your reps are in a slump. 

Not only can continual training help underperforming reps get back on track, it creates a framework for perpetual refinement that helps them operate at their absolute best. 

Here are some ideas:

Assessing Reps on the Most Important Skill

A big part of successfully recruiting potential new salespeople and analyzing the performance of your current ones is knowing what specific skills to assess. While there are several that are important, the ability to close is the most important of all based on data. So, keep this in mind moving forward and use this as your bottom line metric. 

Looking for a surefire way to recruit top tier reps? Learn how HireDNA can help you find the best of the best in your industry and eliminate 96% of hiring mistakes. 

Use This Tool to Accelerate New SaaS Salesperson Ramp Time By 20-50%

Posted on by hiredna

I talk about SaaS sales rep onboarding a lot for one simple reason. It’s insanely important. 

Research has found that effective onboarding can increase your win rate by 15% and quota achievement by 14%. Further, leading SaaS companies with A+ onboarding practices experience 39% higher employee engagement, which not only translates into much better performance but a dramatically lower turnover rate. 

But there’s a problem.

Most SaaS Companies Have a Sluggish Ramp Time

One aspect of SaaS onboarding where many companies struggle is with speed. According to data involving 384 SaaS companies, ramp time takes an average of 4.5 months. However, that time is even longer for nearly 20% of companies, where it takes longer than seven months to get their salespeople completely dialed in. 

So, while reps are still learning the ropes, they’re not hitting their full potential, and deals are likely being lost. Fortunately, there’s a tool that can help you accelerate new SaaS salesperson ramp time by 20-50%. Here it is. 

Use Cutting-Edge Sales Onboarding Software

Like nearly every aspect of sales, there’s software available that’s specifically geared toward SaaS salesperson onboarding. Simply put, “sales onboarding software is a tool that helps sales managers onboard team members smoothly, develop courses and programs to train sales reps, and build their product knowledge.” 

By adding it to the mix, you can establish an extremely efficient process and structure that turns even the greenest salesperson into one that knows the ins and outs of your products and can confidently close deals. 

Common Features You’ll Find in Sales Onboarding Software

For starters, these platforms offer real-time access to interactive, personalized learning content. You can, for example, create learning videos, product demo examples, and quizzes that new hires can access 24/7 from anywhere in the world.

Whether they’re working in-house from your office or remotely on the other side of the planet, salespeople can get up-to-speed quickly, soaking up information in a structured, uniform way. 

Most platforms also offer guided selling systems that teach new salespeople how to close more deals faster, along with tips and tricks to maximize their potential. Saleshood is a sales onboarding software that includes sales playbooks, presentations, knowledge sharing, and win stories that show new reps firsthand how to thrive within your company and rapidly evolve their skills. 

And just like learning hubs, guided selling systems can be fully customized and modified over time to evolve along with your salesforce. 

Role-playing practices are another critical part of sales onboarding software and give new reps a framework for practicing their skills for calls, demos, and negotiations. This is huge for helping salespeople feel more comfortable and confident once they’re actually in the thick of things, and they should be ready for whatever is thrown at them. To quantify, reps that properly practice these skills increase their sales by more than 75%, says sales onboarding platform, Lessonly. 

Finally, you’ll usually find some type of analytics built into this type of software. Sales enablement and readiness platform, Brainshark, for instance, allows you to gauge the effectiveness of your training program as reps enter the field. With their software, you can “visualize the impact of training programs by tracking course data alongside sales KPIs.”

This is super helpful because it offers objective insights on which specific elements of your onboarding program are working well and which need to be tweaked. So, over time, you can get it down to a science.

Offer Ongoing Reinforcement

In an ideal world, you would give new SaaS reps initial training, and they’d be off to the races never needing a second of further instruction. But it just doesn’t work that way. 

“Research shows that most new reps get overwhelmed with information in the first 30 days, and they can forget as much as 80% of sales boot camp training if they do not receive ongoing reinforcement.” That’s why it’s critical to provide ongoing reinforcement until a new salesperson is firmly rooted and firing on all cylinders. 

Fortunately, most sales onboarding software offers continuous learning where salespeople receive consistent updates and assessments to ensure they retain the information and keep evolving. MindTickle is a good example and places a heavy emphasis on reinforced sales skills so the knowledge reps gain sticks. 

Also, note that some platforms feature additional learning, such as micro courses and certifications that are designed to take salespeople from being good to great. So, when you have a new rep that quickly works their way up the ranks and shows a lot of promise, you can help them elevate their skill set even more through this type of training. 

I’ve featured a handful of different sales onboarding software in this post, but for a full rundown, comparison, and information on pricing, I suggest reading this resource from G2. 

Reducing Your Ramp Time By as Much as Half

There’s no denying how vital proper onboarding is to the success of new SaaS sales reps. Research has found that it significantly increases win rate, boosts quota achievement, creates higher employee engagement, and lowers turnover. The problem, however, is that many SaaS companies are inefficient at the process.

But this is something that can easily be remedied through sales onboarding software. In fact, brands that use it are able to accelerate new SaaS salesperson ramp time by 20-50% on average. That combined with ongoing reinforcement is incredibly potent and can help you get the absolute most from your sales team. 

Speaking of sales teams, are you looking to hire top-tier sales talent, faster? See how HireDNA can help you find the best of the best in your industry using intelligent matching and science-based assessments.

The Science of New SaaS Salesperson Onboarding: Breaking the Process Down Into 4 Key Phases

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Having a streamlined, structured onboarding process for new SaaS salespeople can have a dramatic impact on both productivity and retention. To quantify, businesses with effective sales onboarding see a 6.7% improvement in quota attainment and 50% higher new rep retention. 

Not bad! 

But how exactly do you accomplish this? And what are the exact steps you need to take?

That’s what I’m going to discuss in this post. Here’s the science behind new SaaS salesperson onboarding broken down into four key phases. 

Phase 1 – Introduction and Acclimation

One of the biggest mistakes I see businesses make is overwhelming new reps by bombarding them with information right from the start. You obviously want to get SaaS salespeople up-to-speed quickly, but you don’t want to throw too much at them at once. 

That’s why the first step involves a basic introduction and acclimation phase where you do the following:

  • Make introductions to sales leaders and team members
  • Familiarize them with your company, industry, and mission 
  • Let them know about your philosophy and culture
  • Explain your unique value proposition (UVP)
  • Articulate what differentiates your brand from key competitors
  • Provide reps with training materials like product info, sales scripts, and demo examples

This is also the time to take care of formalities like tax documents, software platform logins, and so on. The main goal here is to reduce the chaos and make it easy for new SaaS salespeople to get their bearings. 

Think of it as letting them dip their toes in the water but not taking a full plunge. Don’t worry about getting into the real nuts and bolts just yet. This will come later. 

Phase 2 – Initial Development

Once a new SaaS salesperson has had some time to digest the materials from phase 1 and get a basic feel for the position, it’s time for phase 2 where you focus on initial development. This largely revolves around providing them with a standardized training program — one that’s uniform among all sales reps. 

“If you expect your team members to meet their goals, you must also give them the knowledge and tools they need to succeed,” explains Michelle Richardson, VP of Sales Performance Research at Brooks Group. “A training program that teaches new sales hires a consistent sales process is a must.”

While the specifics will vary from company to company, some common sales training content objectives include the following:

I personally suggest starting with product knowledge, as this is integral for creating context for new reps and should help them connect the dots as they move into other areas like customer use cases and communication. Teaching them how to give a powerful product demo is especially important because it has such a strong impact on their conversion rate. 

I also recommend reading this previous post I wrote for creating a streamlined checklist for this process. In it, you can get tips for:

  • Creating a single orientation resource
  • Training reps on the software they’ll be selling (and using)
  • Educating them on buyer personas

The goal isn’t for new SaaS salespeople to perfect their skills here. It’s simply to lay down the core foundation so they’ll have the base level of knowledge to sell your products and be in alignment with the rest of your team. Incremental improvements, which I’ll discuss in a minute, will come later on. 

Phase 3 – Ongoing Support

By this point, a SaaS salesperson will have gotten the hang of their initial skills development and have a firm command of the sales process. They should also be adept enough at nurturing leads and delivering demos that they’re comfortably meeting their sales quotas. Once they’ve hit that mark, it’s time for phase 3 of providing ongoing support, which is designed to keep salespeople engaged and refine their skills. 

This graphic from sales enablement platform MindTickle pinpoints some specific strategies that go into providing ongoing support. 

In particular, I suggest:

  • Competency assessments to determine a rep’s overall level of comprehension
  • Remediation to see which areas could use improvement
  • Metrics reporting for analyzing KPIs

Then, as you unearth information, provide new reps with either one-on-one support or relevant training materials to help them get better. This leads me to the final phase of SaaS salesperson onboarding. 

Phase 4 – Continual Improvement

Phase 4 is about one thing — sales mastery, which serves two main purposes. One is to get the absolute most from each rep. By helping them maximize their strengths and minimize their weaknesses, for example, they should become more productive and consistently reach (if not exceed) quotas. 

The other main purpose is to increase your retention rate. LinkedIn’s 2018 Workplace Learning Report found that 94% of salespeople would remain with a company longer if it invested in their career. 

And it’s easy to see why. After all, who wants to stick around in a dead end job where there’s no opportunity for growth and advancement. Following a continuous improvement cycle, which looks like this, is critical for helping reps reach their full potential and motivating them to stay with your company. 

Perfecting Your SaaS Salesperson Onboarding 

Unfortunately, the onboarding process of many SaaS companies merely involves a cobbled together plan that’s barely fleshed out. “While you want salespeople to be resourceful, it’s a mistake to simply throw them into the pool and expect them to swim,” notes Michelle Richardson. 

By having a clear, repeatable, long-term process in place, you can get new SaaS salespeople up-to-speed quickly without overwhelming them, while ensuring they reach major milestones. The 4 key phases I’ve outlined here should provide you with a tangible game plan so that you get your onboarding down to a science. 

Want to hire better sales talent, faster? Learn how HireDNA can help you recruit elite SaaS salespeople while reducing 96% of hiring mistakes. 

How to Build a Winning Saas Sales Team Step-By-Step

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Seldom does a winning SaaS sales team come together on its own. A study by the Harvard Business Review found that half of high-performing companies had sales processes that were “closely monitored, strictly enforced, or automated.” On other hand, 48% of underperforming companies had sales structures that were either nonexistent or informal. 

One of, if not the most important aspects of organizing sales processes is having a system in place for building your sales team. Not only does this increase your chances of hiring top tier talent that aligns with your company’s mission, it provides a framework that maximizes their productivity and ultimately boosts profitability. And in many cases, this can also contribute to less turnover so you can keep your true rockstars around for longer. 

Here’s a step-by-step guide on how to build a winning SaaS sales team.

Step 1 – Prioritize SaaS Sales Roles

In most cases, SaaS companies gradually scale up over time. If you’re a newer startup, you may not have the resources (or the current demand) for a massive team of inside sales reps, sales development reps, account executives, and so on. Therefore, you need to be selective about the specific positions you hire for initially and focus on only the most essential. 

Say, for example, you’re just getting the ball rolling. You’d probably want to hire a single account executive and a handful of sales development reps and inside sales reps. Then, as you grow, you could expand as needed.

Step 2 – Pinpoint Critical Skills and Characteristics 

It’s vital that you’re hyper-specific with what you’re looking for in your SaaS sales team members. Simply taking the “we’re looking for a great sales rep” approach is only going to lead to ambiguity that marginalizes your impact. That’s why you’ll want to pinpoint a distinct set of hard and soft skills to accurately predict each team member’s aptitude to ensure they’re an ideal fit for your company. 

For instance, Sales Hacker compiled a list of over 30 sales skills that must be mastered to become a top performer, which is a good starting point. Here are the top nine from their list. 

And you can use a technology sales recruiting platform like HireDNA to screen and assess candidates based on core selling skills and capabilities to find the best of the best. 

This is an excellent way to quantify traits like having the will to sell and being coachable that would otherwise be difficult. And 92% of recommended candidates become top performers on their sales team within a year. 

Step 3 – Use Proven Recruiting Strategies

Many SaaS recruiters look in the wrong places to find salespeople. Traditional job boards and staffing agencies, for example, may seem like safe bets.  But they often lead to underwhelming results for the simple reason that top performers aren’t actively looking for jobs. However, many are open to offers as long as they check off the right boxes. 

So, how do you find these heavy hitters? It’s actually quite simple. Use recruiting software. 

A recent study found that more than 98% of Fortune 500 companies currently use it, and 68% of recruiting professionals say it’s the number one way “to improve recruiting performance over the next five years.”

You can get full details on why recruiting software is such a game changer in this post I wrote. 

Step 4 – Onboard with Ruthless Efficiency

The quicker you get new SaaS sales team members acclimated and up-to-speed, the quicker you can extract their full potential. But here’s what’s crazy. 

“88% of organizations don’t onboard well.”

So, if you take measures to onboard efficiently, this essentially puts your company in the top 12%, enabling you to get the absolute most from your SaaS sales team. This is another topic I’ve covered in detail in a recent blog post that you can read about here. 

And here are the key steps involved with great onboarding:

  • Create a single orientation resource to give new hires a bird’s eye view of their position
  • Provide comprehensive training on the software they’ll be selling
  • Offer training on the software they’ll be using (e.g. your CRM and lead scoring platform)
  • Break down buyer personas
  • Pinpoint your competitor’s strengths and weaknesses

When it comes specifically to SaaS sales reps, I also suggest having them run through a mock demo so you can critique it, as this helps work out the kinks in a hurry. 

Step 5 – Develop a Legit Retention Plan

“The average turnover cost per sales rep is $97,690 when you add up recruiting costs, training costs, and lost sales,” according to a DePaul University study. Not to mention, high turnover is incredibly disruptive to everyday operations and diminishes synergy within your sales team. 

So, the final step is to create an actionable game plan to keep your team members around for as long as possible. Here are some ideas:

  • Start by offering a competitive salary (89% of salespeople leave due to insufficient compensation)
  • Help sales leaders be their best (you can find leadership building tips here)
  • Provide your team with modern sales tools like CRM and lead scoring software to make their lives easier
  • Give top performers advancement opportunities 
  • Consider large retention bonuses at strategic inteverals (e.g. after 1, 2, 4, and 5 years)
  • Promote from within whenever possible
  • Be quick to celebrate team wins 

Putting the Pieces Together

At the end of the day, your SaaS company is only as good as your sales team. Without the right combination of professionals that are cohesive, collaborative, and “all in,” it’s hard to make any real progress. And as I pointed out earlier, there’s a clear correlation between organizing and systemizing this process and high performance. 

See how HireDNA can dramatically improve the recruiting aspect of your SaaS sales team building and eliminate 96% of hiring mistakes. Get your demo today. 

90% of SaaS Companies Look for Salespeople in the Wrong Places: Here’s Where You Should Be Looking

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What are some of the first places that come to mind for SaaS companies when recruiting sales reps?

For most, it’s conventional resources like job boards, LinkedIn, staffing agencies, and so on. That’s where 90% of SaaS companies look, says Steli Efti, CEO of sales CRM, Close.com. 

But, as he points out, these are often the wrong places and tend to yield underwhelming results. 

Here’s why. 

A+ Salespeople Seldom Have to Look for Work

“You know who the only salespeople are who are actively looking for sales jobs?,” asks Efti. “Bad salespeople. The good ones are too good at selling to be out of work.”

I think he summarizes it perfectly with this line and illustrates the inherent problem of using conventional resources for recruiting. Although there can certainly be situations where even the best of the best SaaS salespeople find themselves out of work on occasion (the fallout from COVID is a great example), he makes an excellent point. In most cases, the truly elite reps are already employed. So, if you slap up an ad on a job board, you can’t expect miracles. 

It should also be noted that the reps that are hyper-qualified are often headhunted because of their insane selling abilities. Therefore, you’re probably not going to see them applying for a sales position through a job board. And you’re almost certainly not going to see them going through a staffing agency. They simply don’t need to because SaaS companies come to them. 

Are there ever exceptions? Sure. But generally speaking, high caliber salespeople are in enough demand that they don’t need to spend time job hunting. 

Another Area Where Many SaaS Recruiters Go Wrong

Besides taking traditional recruiting approaches like I just mentioned, another common mistake I see many SaaS sales recruiters make is obsessing over industry/product experience rather than actual selling skills. This is something I talked about in-depth in a previous post, but let me give you the highlights. 

There’s a tendency where many saas sales recruiters fixate on finding sales candidates with several years of experience but aren’t necessarily heavy hitters in terms of their sales talent. According to a survey by the National Association of Colleges and Employers, 64.5% of recruiters prefer to hire sales reps with relevant work experience. 

This is a stat that’s understandable, but having this mindset can sometimes end up sabotaging a SaaS sales recruiter’s efforts if they pass up potential rockstars because they’re concentrating so intensely on industry/product experience rather than core selling skills. 

My point here is that you’re almost always better off looking for top-tier salespeople with transferable skills rather than mediocre salespeople with years of industry/product experience. After all, the former can always learn your industry/product, but the latter will likely plateau because they simply don’t possess the intrinsic sales DNA.

So this is something else to keep in mind when determining your hiring approach and filtering through candidates. 

Where You Should Be Looking

If a conventional approach is likely to only have a marginal impact, what exactly is the approach you should be taking with your SaaS sales recruiting?

“The first place to look for these people is always your own network: friends, acquaintances, fellow founders whose startup just failed or is on a path of failure, family members,” explains Efti. “Always ask if they know somebody who might be a good fit.” 

Rather than turning to the usual suspects like job boards, LinkedIn, and staffing agencies, tapping into your own network can often put you in touch with homerun salespeople that could be massive assets to your team. 

That’s a good starting point. 

The other main, and often best route to take is using a technology sales recruiting platform like HireDNA. Designed specifically for SaaS companies, HireDNA sources top talent from a verified national network to generate next-level candidates. 

It uses intelligent matching that analyzes 21 key data points to help you pinpoint the optimal candidates based on the role criteria you’re looking to fill. It also uses science-based assessments built on 21 core selling competencies like motivation, relationship-building, and the ability to handle rejection in order to predict success. 

That way you not only find active candidates who are looking for sales jobs, but also passive candidates that match your criteria. This in turn, can put top talent on your radar that you wouldn’t otherwise know about if you were using conventional resources. And as we just discussed, this tends to make for the best candidate pool. 

Then, HireDNA delivers the most qualified candidates to your inbox for feedback and approval. From there you can browse through the list and pick the ones that are the best fit and start scheduling interviews. It’s very straightforward. 

Finding SaaS Salespeople in the Right Places

There’s no lack of sales reps out there. In fact, the US Bureau of Labor Statistics estimates there are about 14.3 million in the US alone. So, it’s not hard to find them, and putting in a traditional job ad can easily bring in hundreds of applicants. 

Finding high-level performers, however, is another story. As sales expert, Steli Efti, pointed out, your chances of finding these professionals are low if you take a conventional approach. The problem is that this is exactly what 90% of SaaS companies do. 

But that’s good news for you. Switching up your approach and focusing on your network or a technology sales recruiting platform like HireDNA can supply you with all the A+ talent you need to assemble a winning team. This, in turn, can give you a huge advantage over most competitors that are still using stale, outdated SaaS recruiting techniques. 

See firsthand how HireDNA can help you find top sales talent. Request a demo now. 

A Dead Simple Checklist for Quickly Onboarding New SaaS Sales Reps

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In a recent post, I mentioned that it takes, on average, around 11 months for new SaaS sales reps to reach their full potential. Significantly longer than what most sales leaders would consider ideal. But as I also pointed out, having a strong onboarding process can slash this time in half. 

But what exactly does that entail? 

Here’s an actionable checklist so you’ll know step-by-step how to quickly onboard new SaaS sales reps and get them up-to-speed. 

Provide a Single Orientation Resource

First, create a 101 level resource that provides new hires with a basic overview of their position. 

Topics to cover may include:

  • What your company’s mission is
  • What your philosophy and values are
  • What your culture is like
  • What the SaaS sales rep’s role is
  • Specific job duties
  • Expectations
  • Management structure
  • Tools and software the rep will be using
  • Training materials
  • Who to reach out to for questions
  • Staff email addresses and phone numbers
  • Answers to FAQs

Most SaaS companies find that a digital hub is the best way to go here (as opposed to a traditional employee handbook) because it’s dynamic where updates can easily be made. The goal is to focus on the essentials without overwhelming new SaaS sales reps, and give them a resource to turn to as new questions inevitably arise. 

Offer Training for the Software They’ll Be Selling

In order for a salesperson to thrive, they need to: 

  • Know your SaaS product inside and out
  • Know key features and benefits
  • Fully grasp your unique value proposition (UVP)
  • Know the context of how your product fits into your leads’ lives
  • Know what differentiates your product from what other competitors offer
  • Offer engaging demos

It will obviously take time to learn the full details, and it’s not something that can be taught overnight. That said, offering formal training on your product will reduce the learning curve and create a level of cohesiveness among your SaaS sales reps. 

Perhaps the easiest way to do this is to compile a list of links to landing pages, product videos, blog posts, and so on for quick reference. Then, offer either video-based or expert led training on product essentials to help new hires get their bearings. 

Offer Training for the Software They’ll Be Using

Besides selling software, salespeople will likely be using it on a daily basis for operations. This could include a CRM, a scheduling app, a lead scoring platform, or project management software. Most SaaS sales reps will have a basic understanding of how to use these, but it’s smart to provide training on the specific features. That way they can leverage the full functionality of the platform and reduce unnecessary friction.

Software walkthroughs tend to work well, as does a knowledge base of tutorials featuring screenshots. 

Educate New Hires on Buyer Personas

Next, you’ll want to ensure SaaS sales reps have a clear understanding of:

  • Who your ideal prospects are
  • Their specific pain points
  • What they’re looking for in a SaaS solution
  • How to effectively approach them
  • Common lead objections

The best way to quickly do that is to give them buyer personas to reference. 

Here’s a simple example.

As for developing buyer personas, they “can be created through research, surveys, and interviews — all with a mix of customers, prospects, and those outside your contacts database who might align with your target audience,” explains Pamela Vaughn of HubSpot. 

Check out her in-depth guide here.

Explain Key Competitor Strengths and Weaknesses

Again, understanding your company’s UVP is an essential component of succeeding as a SaaS sales rep. This will guide their initial outreach and discussion with leads. It will also ensure they can swiftly disarm any objections leads may have. 

A big part of a rep crystallizing the UVP is knowing the specific areas where your product outshines your competitors. To quickly get them up-to-speed, you’ll want to create a list of competitor strengths and weaknesses. 

Dan Shewan of Wordstream highlights precisely what to focus on when doing this, saying for strengths, pinpoint:

  • What each competitor does well
  • What their UVP is
  • Internal resources they have (e.g. skilled, knowledgeable staff)
  • Proprietary technology they use

As for weaknesses, identify:

  • Areas where each competitor lacks
  • Resource limitations
  • Where they fall behind in proprietary technology

Critique a Rep’s Product Demo

Once a new SaaS sales rep has digested the essentials and learned the ropes of your product, have them perform a demo and critique it. This is a great way to gauge their level of comprehension and quickly determine what they’re doing right and what needs improving.  

It also allows you to assess how they perform under pressure, so you’ll know what areas they should fine-tune before having conversations with actual leads. 

Maybe, for example, their talk talk-to-listen ratio was too high. Research from Gong.io found top reps spend 46% of the time talking and 54% of the time listening, while bottom reps spend 72% of the time talking and 28% of the time listening. That would be a specific area of focus.

Setting the Stage for Success

Strong onboarding can rev up SaaS sales rep cut ramp-up time by more than 50% and increase their productivity by over 70%. The numbers speak for themselves. 

A big part of achieving that is having a streamlined, systematized formula to use with all new hires. This checklist covers all the major points and should help you get them firing on all cylinders lighting fast. 

Struggling to find elite sales reps in your industry? Learn how HireDNA can help you build a top performing sales team, while eliminating 96% of hiring mistakes. 

98% of Top SaaS Companies Use Recruiting Software: Why You Should Too

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If you’ve ever done SaaS sales recruiting, you know how challenging it can be. Finding reps with the right knowledge, skillset, and sales DNA is difficult. And retaining them long-term can be even trickier.  

So, rather than relying on old school tactics and “a hunch,” smart companies are turning to technology to streamline the process and find elite sales talent. They’re turning to recruiting software. 

Here’s why you should too. 

Some Telling Stats

One statistic I found extremely interesting is that “over 98% of Fortune 500 companies use recruitment software.”

Not a third. Not half. Not even 75%. But nearly all Fortune 500 companies now use this technology to find elite salespeople. These brands clearly know what they’re doing, and considering that such a ridiculously high percentage use recruiting software, there’s obviously something to it. 

And when it comes to results, they’re undeniable. “94% of recruiters and hiring professionals say that using a recruitment software has positively impacted their hiring process,” and “68% say the best way to improve recruiting performance over the next five years is by investing in new recruiting technology.”

This graphic from business consulting firm, Grand View Research, adds even more perspective on where recruiting software is heading as we move deeper in the 2020s. Just look at where the market size was in 2016 and where it’s projected to be at by 2027 (light blue marks recruiting software market size). 

Why Recruiting Software is a Game Changer for SaaS Companies

Now, let’s look at some of the biggest reasons why this technology is something you want to implement and specific platforms to consider. 

Quickly Generate Top-Level Candidates

Generating SaaS sales candidates isn’t necessarily difficult. Pretty much any brand can slap a posting up on a job board and get a flood of candidates. But generating bonafide SaaS sales rockstars certainly is. 

At the end of the day, there’s only so many quality standards you can have in place when using conventional recruiting tactics. Using recruiting software, however, allows you to quickly generate top-level candidates that are often head and shoulders above others. 

How? 

A platform like HireDNA:

  • Taps into a verified national network of sales recruitment experts
  • Uses intelligent matching to analyze 20 key data points to find individuals that best fit the role and match your criteria
  • Uses science-based assessments involving 21 core selling competencies, such as the will to sell, coachability, and the ability to handle rejection

Recruitment software essentially has built-in quality assurance, which provides you with a top-tier candidate pool right off the bat. 

Evaluate Sales Candidates Objectively

In the past, the only things recruiters had to evaluate sales talent on were a resume, cover letter, references, and flat out intuition. While these things can certainly give you a base level reading of a candidate, they don’t always tell the whole story. 

And critical hiring decisions often ended up falling into the trap of subjectivity, which can be detrimental for obvious reasons. 

But recruiting software provides you with quantifiable data, allowing you to evaluate candidates with full objectivity and transparency using visuals like these. 

With just a glance, you can get a full overview of a candidate’s capabilities and compare them to others without your emotion getting in the way. This brings us to our next point. 

Make Better Hiring Decisions 

Just like in nearly every other aspect of business, the more data you have, the better your decision-making becomes. It’s really that simple. 

According to The Harvard Business School, “highly data-driven organizations are three times more likely to report significant improvements in decision-making compared to those who rely less on data.” This is why you see so many companies who use recruiting software reaching the Fortune 500. 

By leveraging concrete data, this knocks down the first domino, helping them hire next level reps, which in turn, helps their salesforce be more productive, create a better customer experience, increase loyalty, generate more revenue, and so on. It’s a virtuous cycle. 

When it comes to SaaS companies that hire based on candidate recommendations from HireDNA, 92% of the suggested candidates reach the top of the sales team within their first year. 

Fill Positions Quicker

Time to hire is another major concern for SaaS companies. On average, it takes about a month to fill a vacant position in this industry. And the time and energy you spend sifting through sales candidates distracts you from core business tasks. 

But with recruiting software, you can reduce your time to hire significantly. Companies that use HireDNA, for instance, are able to slash their hiring time in half, quickly gaining access to pre-screened, qualified candidates that are ready to be interviewed. 

Drastically Reduce Hiring Mistakes

Because recruiting software gives you objective data and access to such a high-level candidate pool, you’ll naturally make fewer hiring mistakes. To quantify, HireDNA eliminates 96% of hiring mistakes, which gives companies the best possible chance of finding the right talent without needless drama.  

Increase Salesperson Retention 

Finally, there’s a definite correlation between using recruiting software and minimizing turnover. SaaS companies that use HireDNA are able to, on average, lower turnover by more than 33%, greatly increasing the odds of keeping top talent around for the long haul. 

Leveraging This Potent Technology

Software recruiting has never been easy. But modern SaaS companies have access to amazing technology in the form of recruiting software. It’s evolved substantially over the past few years, and given that 98% of top Fortune 500 companies use recruiting software, there’s no denying the impact it can have. It’s just a matter of choosing the right platform that meets the unique needs of your business. 


To learn more about this potent technology and see HireDNA in action, request a free demo today.

Tips to Cut New Sales Rep Ramp Time by 50%

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How Long Does it Take the Average Sales Rep to Reach Their Maximum Potential?

Sales rep development can be both costly and time-consuming. Training alone costs an average of nearly $1,900 per salesperson for companies with less than 500 employees. 

And when you factor in the time spent recruiting, onboarding, and ongoing development, it’s clear that getting a new sales rep up to speed can be quite onerous. So, a common question many companies have is, “How long does it take the average sales rep to reach their maximum potential?”

Let’s find out by synthesizing the findings from a few different studies. 

Looking to the Data

One study by independent research firm, CSO Insights, found that it takes a minimum of seven months for salespeople to reach full productivity. Of the businesses surveyed, 61% said it takes at least this long for investments they make in reps to pay off. 

A second study by the Sales Management Association (SMA) found that it takes a bit longer at just over 11 months for a new sales rep to become fully productive. 

And a third study from sales training and consulting firm, RAIN Group, found that it’s even longer and takes more like 15 months. Although it takes around 9 months for a new sales rep to become “competent to perform,” it takes well over a year before they hit their full stride. 

Ask different experts and you’ll get different answers, but after crunching the numbers, we can surmise that it takes around 11 months or so for the average sales rep to reach their maximum potential. 

11 Months? That’s a While!

I was personally a little surprised that it takes this long, and I’m sure many other companies feel the same. But it makes sense when you consider all of the steps a new salesperson has to go through to get in the groove. 

They have to:

  • Not only learn your industry and product but eventually master it
  • Understand the greater context of how your product fits in with the needs of prospects
  • Learn your brand’s core values and philosophy
  • Master the product demo
  • Build initial rapport with your customers
  • Nurture relationships
  • And so on

When you unpack everything, it’s easy to see why it takes nearly a year for the average sales rep to reach their full potential. 

How to Accelerate Sales Rep Development

So, what can you do to hasten the process and get a salesperson firing on all cylinders more quickly? 

Mike Schultz, president of RAIN Group, boils it down to focusing on two main things — strengthening your onboarding and sales enablement. 

“With a strong onboarding and sales enablement process, this timeframe can be shortened considerably,” Schultz writes. “We’ve seen ramp-up time cut by greater than 50% when companies hone in on improving in this area, increasing seller effectiveness, and correlating turnover of sellers for whom getting up to speed was taking too long.”

In terms of specific actions, you’ll want to first identify the skills that are most essential to your sales team’s success and make those focal points during onboarding and continually reinforce them during the subsequent phases of a rep’s development. Schultz also suggests systematically teaching additional skills as a rep becomes more comfortable in their position. This allows you to effectively distill foundational knowledge and gradually build upon it over time. 

Finally, Schultz emphasizes the importance of holding sales reps accountable when using those skills. One of the best ways to do this is to use tangible metrics such as a leaderboard like this that shows performance.

This creates a high level of transparency, while at the same time creating some friendly competition — something many reps thrive on. In fact, research found that 55% of salespeople enjoy a competitive environment. 

“A well-built curriculum not only shortens ramp-up time,” Schultz says, “but also transforms sellers into top performers.”

Besides developing a strong onboarding and sales enablement process, there’s one last thing I’d like to suggest, which I’ve personally had a lot of success with. And that’s hiring sales candidates with amazing selling skills over those who simply possess a wealth of industry knowledge. 

From my experience, I’ve found that most people can be trained on products, but very few people have naturally outstanding sales talent. Unfortunately, many companies hinder the growth of their sales team because they zero in solely on finding candidates with X years of industry knowledge. 

Like I said in a previous post, as long as someone knows how to sell and will sell, their skills are usually transferable, and they’re likely to thrive in less time than it would take if you have to teach someone to sell from scratch. 

So, this is definitely something to keep in mind. 

Building a Framework to Help Sales Reps Succeed

Although the findings vary somewhat from study to study, research suggests that it takes most sales reps somewhere around 11 months to really get going. And that’s longer than what I think most sales leaders would prefer. 

That’s why it’s important to consciously look for ways to expedite that process — something that can usually be done through a strong onboarding and sales enablement process. That alone has the potential to cut salesperson development time in half. 

Also, don’t get so fixated on industry knowledge that you pass up A+ salespeople with transferable experience. These types of reps should be able to climb the ranks faster and have a much higher ceiling than their counterparts who simply possess a ton of industry knowledge but are only mediocre at selling. 

sales rep ramp time

A great way to do that and find the best of the best is by using a hiring tool like HireDNA. It uses science-based assessments based on 21 core selling competencies and intelligent matching that analyzes 20 key data points to help you filter through the candidate pool and find high-level salespeople, while saving you a ton of time.

2021 Sales Hiring Forecast: 5 Juicy Stats You Need to Know

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2020 was a tumultuous year to say the least. It was a year that reminded us how important adaptability and resilience are, and it showed us how critical it is for sales hiring managers to keep evolving. 

Now that 2021 has arrived, what can we expect in the New Year?

Here’s an in-depth sales hiring forecast to help shape your approach. 

1. 19% of Salespeople Will Work From Home Permanently

One of the biggest trends that’s resulted from the pandemic is a growing number of salespeople working from home indefinitely. 

“A majority of North American employers expect that most of their furloughed workers will return to work by the end of the first quarter of 2021,” writes Stephen Miller of SHRM. “Nevertheless, more workers will continue working from home on a permanent basis than before the COVID-19 pandemic.”

In fact, experts predict that roughly one out of five salespeople will continue to work remotely. That’s a percentage that’s down considerably from its peak of 44% in July 2020. But it’s nearly three times what it was prior to the pandemic, which was just 7% in 2019. 

Bottom line: working at home is becoming mainstream, and it’s wise for sales leaders to account for this trend when building their sales team. 

2. 92% of Salespeople Think 2021 is a Good Time to Look for “Gig” Work

The “gig” economy, which refers to people working temporary, flexible jobs rather than full-time, permanent positions, has been steadily gaining steam in recent years. But just like with the surge of remote workers, COVID has accelerated its growth as well. 

According to recent data, a staggering 92% of salespeople think 2021 is “a good time” to look for gig work. And a growing number of businesses are adopting this hiring framework, with “15% of the total job market consisting of open sales positions.”

This graph from VizWorld illustrates projected growth in the gig economy from 2017 to 2027, and conversely, shows how the number of traditional employees is declining. 

This really puts the trajectory of the gig economy into perspective and shows that hiring salespeople on a contract-by-contract basis is something to at least consider in 2021. And if you need extra manpower for seasonal spikes, this can be a great solution. 

3. 81% of Hiring Experts Say Virtual Recruiting Will Continue Post-Pandemic

In addition to a growing number of sales reps working remotely permanently, there’s also a huge trend where companies have turned to 100% virtual-based recruiting to find quality candidates. 

More than 4 out 5 talent professionals believe virtual recruiting will continue after COVID, and 70% believe it will become the new norm. 

“Companies have dabbled with video interviewing and remote assessments in the past, but the lockdown realities of COVID-19 have sparked them to create an end-to-end virtual recruiting process for the first time,” explains Gregory Lewis of LinkedIn. “And they’re both noting and embracing the cost and time savings that that change has brought with it.”

Although traditional face-to-face interactions during recruiting will likely rise as COVID vaccines are distributed and the overall situation stabilizes, it’s clear that developing a virtual recruiting strategy is advantageous and something that’s definitely worth your attention. 

4. 77% of Hiring Experts Say Diversity is Essential to the Future of Recruiting

Besides the pandemic, several other topics have shaken the headlines, and the push toward racial equality has gained massive momentum. While many companies have embraced diversity for some time, it should be taken to a whole new level in 2021. 

More than three-quarters (77%) of talent professionals say diversity is “very important” to recruiting not just in 2021, but to the future of recruiting. 

And as Gregory Lewis adds, “Diversity is not a feel-good ‘initiative’, but a business-critical imperative — one that recruiting can lead.” 

Just look at the numbers. 

Businesses that rank below-average in their diversity scores only generate an average innovation revenue of 26%. But those with above-average diversity scores generate an average innovation revenue of 45%.

Further, a separate study found that diverse teams make smarter decisions 87% of the time — largely because of the insights that stem from different perspectives and experiences. 

This isn’t to say that you should make diverse hires just for the sake of being diverse and blindly jump on the bandwagon. But the data clearly shows that salesperson diversity can have a positive impact, both financially and culturally. 

And with a virtual framework for recruiting and working remotely already in place for many businesses where you can reach sales candidates all around the world, this shouldn’t be all that difficult of a transition to make. 

5. 44% of Companies Currently Use AI to Find Top Salespeople 

AI has spread its tentacles to multiple areas of HR and has a plethora of applications. One of which is identifying top tier sales candidates. 

At the start of 2021, 44% of companies already used AI for recruiting to find the best salespeople, and beyond that, 40% use AI for screening and assessing candidates throughout the process. 

This chart shows the details. 

Many sales hiring managers are familiar with applicant tracking systems and use them in some capacity to filter through the sales candidate pool, but AI takes things to a whole new level. With it, you can zero in on an extremely targeted segment of candidates, narrowing it down to the small handful that meet key criteria and making the overall process much more efficient. 

It’s also helpful for reducing bias with hiring and creating a level of objectivity that up until this point has been impossible. So, this is definitely a type of technology worth your attention in 2021. 

Gearing Your Sales Hiring Up For Success

By nature, sales hiring is always evolving. But you could argue that it’s moving at a faster rate than ever before. These insightful stats should crystallize your approach in 2021 and help you attract the best and brightest. 

If you’re looking for a top of the line tool to hire better sales talent, faster, check out HireDNA. It uses cutting-edge technology that analyzes candidates based on 20 key data points and 21 core selling competencies to help you find the perfect fit. 

The Dos and Don’ts of Headhunting Next Level Sales Reps

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The Pareto Principle, or the 80/20 rule, applies to many aspects of business, including sales rep performance. Under this principle, roughly 80% of salespeople will account for 20% of sales, and the other 20% of salespeople will account for 80% of sales. 

And it’s the latter — the elite, top performers — you want to focus on hiring. One of best ways to find these next level sales reps is with “headhunting” where you proactively target a handful of hyper-qualified individuals who you believe would be major assets to your company. 

Here’s an overview of how headhunting works and actionable tips on how to implement it into your hiring process. 

What’s the Difference Between Regular Recruiting and Headhunting?

“Recruiters advertise jobs and wait to be contacted by potential candidates, or approach a wide network of potential candidates,” explains WikiJob. “Headhunters approach a select few candidates, and only the ones that fit the brief.” 

These are highly skilled sales reps, the exclusive candidates that, if hired, could be potential game-changers for your company. As you might imagine, these salespeople are in high demand and often already employed, which means they have a ton of leverage. 

Therefore, you need to go after them, tailoring your approach to capture their attention and effectively differentiating your brand from the competition. 

What to Do When Headhunting Sales Reps

First, you need to be ultra specific when narrowing down the candidates you want to reach out to. By nature, headhunting goes after the best of the best, so it’s essential that you only contact individuals that meet the right criteria. 

This graphic from SOCO Sales Training serves as a good starting point for traits to look for. 

Also, note that possessing amazing selling skills that are transferable to the position is often better than going after reps with a lot of industry/product experience — something I discussed in detail in this blog post. 

Next, it’s essential to give a salesperson enough incentive to realistically entertain your offer. And if they’re currently employed, it needs to clear that joining your company would be a legitimate “come up.” Better pay, more benefits, clear cut advancement opportunities, and an amazing company culture are all potential areas to focus on. 

To better understand the reasons why elite sales reps are attracted to new companies, check out this graph from PayScale. 

Finally, find the right balance between persistence and pushiness. Fittingly, headhunting elite sales reps is a lot like selling where you’ll naturally encounter rejection. 

Therefore, you’ll want to follow-up with these candidates to stay on their radar and remind them of the benefits of joining your team. However, you don’t want to be a pest because that’s going to reflect poorly on your company culture. 

What Not to Do When Headhunting Sales Reps

I think one of the biggest mistakes businesses make when headhunting is making their offer all about the money. Is earning a handsome salary — and for sales reps that are already employed a larger salary — important? 

Sure. Increased pay is the third biggest thing that attracts salespeople to a new organization. 

But it’s not the only thing to focus on. Over a quarter of people (27%) seek the opportunity to do more meaningful work, and 16% seek increased responsibilities — both of which are more important than money. So, you never just want to make it a cash grab. 

Rather, you should look at the big picture and articulate the full range of benefits to make the position more desirable. 

Something else to avoid is reaching out to sales candidates prematurely without doing adequate research on their skills and background. Oftentimes, someone looks great initially and seems to check all of the boxes. Maybe, for instance, they’ve worked for a Fortune 500 company and have over 10 years of experience in your industry. 

But when you dig a little deeper, there are chinks in their armor. Perhaps they’re hyper-aggressive and lack listening skills, or they’re so confident in their skills that they’re unwilling to accept feedback. Or maybe, they have a history of jumping ship and lack loyalty. 

The specifics can vary, but you’ll want to take a close-up look at what they’re like before investing the time and resources into acquiring them. Digging through their LinkedIn account is usually a good place to start.

Besides that, you’ll want to avoid approaching any candidates that have non-compete agreements in place with their current employer. “Because no-poaching agreements eliminate competition, the government generally considers them to violate anti-trust laws,” writes Alison Doyle of The Balance Careers. 

If you violate one of these agreements, even unknowingly, it can potentially lead to costly litigation. While this won’t be an issue if you’re headhunting someone who isn’t currently employed, it’s definitely something to be aware of if you’re going after a sales rep who is. 

Hiring the Best of the Best

You can’t expect A+ salespeople to come to you. Often, you need to go to them. 

That’s why taking a conventional recruiting approach where you simply put up a job ad can lead to subpar results. At the end of the day, the true rockstars don’t usually need to spend time perusing job boards and applying to positions. They’ve got enough talent that they can pick and choose the companies they want to work for. 

Headhunting, when done correctly, creates a framework that allows you to get in touch with the best of the best and provide them with the right incentive to choose your business over your competitors.  

To learn more about sourcing top talent while filling open positions faster, check out HireDNA. It’s a platform that utilizes cutting-edge technology like science-based assessments and intelligent matching to find ultra qualified sales candidates to fill your talent pipeline. 

HireDNA has been proven to lower hiring mistakes by 96%, and 92% of candidates found through it go on to reach the top half of the salesforce within a year.