Category: Sales Recruiting

Here Are the Most Important Traits to Look for in a Software Sales Recruiter

Posted on by hiredna

The Saas industry is on fire. According to a global forecast, it’s expected to grow from $272 billion in 2018 to $623 billion by 2023, with a Compound Annual Growth Rate of 18%. 

While this presents plenty of opportunity, it also comes with growing competition. And the SaaS companies that thrive are the ones with skilled software sales recruiters, as they’re integral for assembling a winning team. 

Here’s a list of the most important skills — both hard and soft — to look for in a software sales recruiter. 

A Proven Record of SaaS Success

First off, they need to have a track record of success and plenty of proven experience. Ideally, a software sales recruiter will have at least a Bachelor’s degree in business, human resources, technology, or a related field. However, this can extend into other areas of study as well. 

In terms of real-world experience, common jobs qualified experts have before becoming a recruiter include sales, operations, administrative, support, and research. 

Candidates should have a minimum of five years of experience and firsthand knowledge working with SaaS products. This brings us to our next trait. 

Being Comfortable with SaaS and Recruiting Technology

To thrive in this position, a recruiter needs to have in-depth experience both with SaaS and recruiting technology. When it comes to SaaS, this can include:

  • Sales
  • Programming
  • Digital operations
  • Virtualization
  • Artificial intelligence
  • Administrative tasks

As for recruiting technology, this can include:

  • Sourcing talent using software programs
  • Candidate profiling and screening
  • Using data-driven tools for candidate evaluation

Familiarity with Software Sales KPIs

When evaluating candidates, there’s a definitive list of key performance indicators (KPIs) a software sales recruiter should pay attention to. This allows them to make an objective assessment and determine how good of a fit a rep would be for your team. 

Here are some specific KPIs a recruiter should be familiar with:

  • First response time – How long it takes a rep to follow up with leads
  • Sales closing ratio – How many quotes a rep sends out and how many deals they close
  • Average conversion time – How long it takes for a rep to convert a lead
  • Sales targets – The number of deals that are closed over a period of time

A Deep Understanding of SaaS Trends 

As you’re probably well aware, the SaaS industry is rapidly evolving. There are currently over 10,000 private SaaS companies, and 80% of businesses use at least one SaaS application. 

At the current rate of adoption, both of these numbers should only continue to increase. Just look at how the SaaS market has grown over the past decade. 

For a software sales recruiter to be successful, it’s vital that they see the big picture and pay close attention to statistics like these. They should have a genuine passion for SaaS trends and always be up-to-date on what’s happening in this incredibly dynamic industry. 

Besides simply knowing the numbers, they need to have a deep understanding of the greater context and how everything fits together collectively, as this will inform their recruiting strategies and impact the direction of your business. Additionally, being open to new ideas, like participating in a sales recruiting training and certification programs, will help a recruiter continually evolve and stay ahead of the pack.  

A Science-Based Approach to Recruiting

Up until now, we’ve discussed the hard skills to look for in a recruiter. But there are also some essential soft skills they should possess. One of the most important is that they take a science-based approach to recruiting.

“The future of recruiting is scientific, data-driven, and businesslike,” explains author, professor, and HR advisor Dr. John Sullivan. “The roadblock to that transition is our current ‘art not science’ approach where intuitive recruiters act like artists who want 100% freedom over how they work.”

Sullivan also adds that scientific recruiting has some major benefits, including:

  • A more efficient, systematic hiring process
  • More consistency
  • Faster hiring speed
  • The utilization of concrete data to fine-tune hiring over time
  • Recruiter accountability

And in the long run, it often leads to increased team productivity because of the overall higher quality level of your hires. The bottom line here is that you’ll want to look for a software sales recruiter who turns to science rather than merely “a hunch” when assembling your team. 

Exceptional Interpersonal and Communication Skills 

The other main soft skill is being inherently gifted at communication. This role requires exceptional verbal and written communication skills, with a recruiter acting as liaison between company leaders and job candidates. It’s also a position that at times demands brutal honesty with candidates where they may have to provide unpleasant feedback.

Although certain elements of social skills like these can be learned, it’s ideal for a recruiter to be gifted with them naturally. So, how do you assess this when looking at a potential software sales recruiter?

First, see how their in-person communication compares with their resume or cover letter. “A person’s ‘voice’ or way of communicating should be similar, whether they are writing or speaking,” says career coach April Klimkiewicz. 

Next, ask a few communication centered interview questions. Some examples include, “Tell me how you go about giving bad news to a candidate that they won’t be hired for a position,” or “How do you handle conflicts that arise in the workplace?”

Finally, pay attention to how they listen because this accounts for 45% of communication. 

Landing a Top Tier Software Sales Recruiter 

Finding the right recruiter is vital to your SaaS company’s success. It improves the overall quality of your hires, lowers turnover, and gives your business a competitive advantage. 

Knowing which specific traits to look for should help you systematize your approach and base your decision on the most critical criteria.  

Note that many companies have greater success outsourcing this process to a professional technology sales recruiter. See how HireDNA can help you source, screen, and qualify candidates using powerful recruiting technology and science-based sales assessments. 

Sales Manager Responsibilities: Job Description, Duties, Key Skills, and More

Posted on by hiredna

Sales managers play an integral role in your company’s success. Their level of performance directly impacts your ability to hit your targets, your reps’ ability to reach their quotas, and your overall bottom line. 

“The bottom 25% of sales managers were performing at 76% of their target, while the top 25% of sales managers were performing at 115% of their target,” Michelle Vazzana, CSO and Co-Founder at VantagePoint explains. Furthermore, “The bottom 25% of sales managers had 47% of reps achieving quota, while the top 25% of sales managers had 65% of reps achieving quota.”

This data shows first hand the difference of making the right hire. Now, let’s examine sales manager responsibilities and other essential career information, along with specific questions you can ask when hiring a sales manager.

Sales Manager Job Description

A sales manager is responsible for leading sales reps to consistently reach their targets individually and collectively as a team. They coach, mentor, motivate, hold reps accountable, manage the sales forecast, identify current trends, and run sales reports. They’re usually involved in the sales training and onboarding process and are responsible for equipping reps with the tools for success. And in many cases, they’re also involved with recruiting. 

Median Pay

The median pay for a sales manager in 2019 was $60.89 per hour, totaling $126,640 a year, according to the BLS. Here’s how that breaks down by state. 

Experience Requirements

Most sales managers are required to have at least a Bachelor’s degree in business or a similar field. They must also have direct experience in business and/or management, ideally with five years of experience or more. 

Many organizations make the mistake of promoting their top reps to sales manager. While this often seems like a good idea, top-performing sales reps don’t always have the needed skills, desire, and commitment required to be a successful sales manager. It’s important before making any hiring decision to use a science-based assessment to help identify the candidates’ strengths and weaknesses to ensure they have what it takes to be successful. 

Sales Manager Duties

  • Recruit team members to build and maintain an effective sales team
  • Monitor market trends and continually create sales forecasts
  • Identify sales opportunities and emerging markets
  • Create concrete short-term and long-term goals for the entire sales team, as well as for individual reps
  • Closely monitor the results of their team, determining what percentage of quotas are met
  • Perform routine assessments of reps to identify those who are getting the best results, as well as those who need to improve their performance
  • Use analytics to gain in-depth insights on KPIs
  • Provide reps with ongoing sales coaching to fully develop their skills 
  • Offer individual help to reps who need it
  • Communicate with marketing and upper management
  • Motivate and mentor sales reps 
  • Set goals and hold reps accountable to achieving those goals
  • Work diligently to build trust and rapport among key accounts to create lasting customer relationships

Key Skills of Top Performing Sales Managers

John Thomas of CRM platform SalesBabu highlights the five most vital skills that a top performing sales manager should possess. 

  1. Leadership – This should come naturally, where a sales manager understands how to interact and engage with reps and how to guide them without micromanaging. 
  2. Sales performance management – They must be skilled at A) setting goals and B) staying up-to-date on KPIs to determine if those goals are being met. If not, they must make changes to align the sales team’s results with their expectations. 
  3. Coaching and motivating the sales team – Being a great motivator is paramount — something that largely boils down to keeping reps engaged. Research has found, “Organizations with higher than average levels of employee engagement realized 27% higher profits, 50% higher sales, 50% higher customer loyalty levels, and 38% above-average productivity.” Research has shown that top sales managers spend more than 50% of their time coaching their sales team. 
  4. Organization and planning – A top sales manager understands how the pieces fit together and knows how to leverage the unique skill sets of individuals to guide their planning. They’re “big picture” thinkers and use their organization and planning abilities to pave the way for attaining ambitious achievements. 
  5. Being adept at hiring – Making a bad hire costs companies an average of nearly $15,000. A top sales manager knows how to find sales reps that are natural fits with their business’s culture and develops a streamlined onboarding process to reduce the learning curve. How much is a bad sales hire costing you? Use this sales hiring mistake calculator to find out. 

Beyond those five key skills, data from independent research firm ZS Associates identified some additional characteristics that distinguish top sales managers from their average counterparts. This information is based on an occupational personality questionnaire, with the traits on the right being the ones we’re interested in. 

Some of the most important traits include being:

  • Variety seeking
  • Innovative
  • Caring
  • Democratic
  • Socially confident
  • Outgoing
  • Decisive
  • Achieving

Interview Questions When Assessing a Potential Sales Manager

Now that we know what a sales manager’s core responsibilities are and the specific skills they should possess, let’s take a look at some interview questions you can use to assess a candidate’s potential. 

  • What particular things do you like most about sales?
  • What’s your style of leadership?
  • What traits do you look for when recruiting sales reps?
  • What techniques do you use to onboard new sales reps?
  • How do you minimize onboarding friction and quickly get reps up to speed?
  • What strategies do you use to motivate sales reps?
  • What motivates you?
  • How have you gotten yourself out of a sales slump in the past?
  • How do you help a rep with poor performance get back on track?
  • How do you handle issues that arise in the workplace? (Ask for an example)
  • What specific steps did you take to improve sales performance at a previous position? (Ask for data-driven metrics)
  • Which types of sales platforms are you familiar with?
  • Which platforms are your favorite, and why?
  • How comfortable are you with using data analytics?
  • What makes you the best candidate for our sales manager position?

Hiring Top Tier Sales Managers

“Top-performing sales managers achieve 39% more of their target than bottom-performing managers,” making them a critical part of your organization. Understanding sales manager responsibilities and knowing which factors play the biggest role in success should improve your hiring process and help you pinpoint the most qualified candidates.  

Looking to hire better sales talent, faster? See how HireDNA can help you attract and recruit more qualified candidates and improve retention by using cutting-edge technology and science-based sales assessments. 

How to Avoid Costly Sales Rep Hiring Mistakes

Posted on by hiredna

Hiring salespeople is typically among a company’s largest budget items, and the cost of a bad hire is immense. The average cost of a bad sales hire is more than $115,000, while the cost of a bad sales management hire can reach as high as  $3.5 million, as outlined in our recent blog post on hiring effective sales managers.

These numbers represent average costs; you can use this free Hiring Mistake Calculator to determine your organization’s specific bad hire impact, including your cost of recruitment, development and lost business.

And that’s strictly from a mathematical perspective – the overall impact is compounded when you factor in the loss of resources devoted to the bad hire, lowered team morale and performance, and the damage to your brand reputation among your clients and prospects. 

In this blog post, we examine why the wrong sales reps are hired so often, and what smart sales leaders are doing to reduce the risk and impact of hiring mistakes.

Wrong People Are Hired 77% of the Time

According to a recent evaluation by Objective Management Group (OMG), the wrong salespeople are hired 77% of the time. According to OMG, these bad hires: 

  • Make excuses for their lack of performance (60%)
  • Lack commitment to sales success (37%)
  • Are not motivated to achieve sales success (20%)

How to Avoid a Bad Sales Hire

When OMG compared data between all salespeople and the lowest-performing 50%, they found that the most significant differentiator among “good” and “bad” hires was their Sales DNA – the unique set of  traits and behaviors that influence a rep’s performance. 97% of weak salespeople lack the minimum required Sales DNA for success in their roles. 

In a detailed white paper exploring the science behind salesperson selection, OMG outlined five key components of a rep’s Sales DNA that signal a potential bad hire: 

  • Need to Be Liked – While it’s important for a sales rep to be likable, reps who demonstrate a need for approval usually have difficulty facing potential challenges like confrontation, rejection, and asking tough but necessary questions.
  • Tendency to Become Emotional – Reps with higher emotional involvement may struggle to listen and remain focused on the prospect, which can result in missing important details or losing control of a conversation.
  • Self-Limiting Beliefs – Ineffective sales reps exhibit a number of self-limiting beliefs that can sabotage their selling process, such as “I don’t like making cold calls” or “It’s impolite to ask a lot of questions.”
  • Bad Empathy – Sales reps who make their own major purchases using a non-supportive buy cycle (comparison shopping, heavy research, long decision timeframes, etc.) are more likely to empathize with prospects who engage in the same behavior, and are less effective at helping prospects move forward with the purchase decision.
  • Discomfort Discussing Money – When sales reps are uncomfortable asking questions about budget or a prospect’s financial position, they are unable to ask the necessary questions or make suggestions on solving potential budget-related objections.

Science-based sales assessments that identify a candidate’s Sales DNA, along with other sales competencies, can help sales leaders determine a candidate’s likelihood of success before making a costly hiring mistake. 

Build A Winning Sales Team

At HireDNA, we offer a range of science-based recruiting and assessment solutions for companies looking to hire and retain top sales talent. We help sales leaders determine candidates’ Sales DNA, among other competencies, and avoid costly hiring mistakes.

Why Choose Us?                

  • Our predictive candidate assessments eliminate 96% of hiring mistakes
  • Businesses hire 50% faster when they work with us
  • We have an 80% success rate for placements across organizations

Secrets To Sell Your Company To Prospective Employees

Posted on by hiredna

As the labor market tightens, companies are in search of new recruitment tactics that can attract top sales talent to come work for them. It’s easy to get caught up in what candidates have to offer, but the key to successful hiring lies in making the right offer. That’s because top tier candidates want to hear what makes your company the best place to work. In this post, we’ll teach you key strategies to sell your company to prospective employees so you can attract the best talent to your organization.

At HireDNA, our recruiting experts can help you attract, hire, and retain the perfect candidates for your company. Learn More.

Start By Setting Clear Expectations

Securing jobs is no longer as important for candidates your company is likely looking to hire. Unlike their older counterparts, millennials tend to look at their jobs as a form of advancement in their careers—just another stepping stone. According to a Gallup Report, 87% of Millennials said career growth was an essential factor in their job search. The bottom line? Prospective candidates want to know how they benefit from working for you.

To attract top talent, employers should outline the recruits’ learning journey at the company at the outset of the hiring process. Have an honest conversation on what resources your organization will provide for their learning and development. Talk to them about the nature of their work and the room for growth in the near future.   

Be Transparent

Be transparent about your hiring process. 83% of candidates say their experience would improve if employers gave a timeline of their employee acquisition processes. In a time where companies are competing to secure skilled candidates, being transparent can help retain candidate interest in your offering.

Distinguish Your Company Culture

Your work culture is a reflection of your company’s vision and values. Luckily, it’s also a marketable facet of your business as a workplace. Your company culture should attract candidates that would be an excellent fit for your work environment and repel those who seem unlikely to flourish.

It’s important to establish your culture through channels such as your company website and social platforms. Use social media to give future employees an inside look into what your company represents and create more transparency into how it functions.  

Remember, you’re selling a vision of where your company is and where you’re going. Help candidates see how your company culture will help them thrive. Aligning your company’s goals with your candidate’s goals will attract better talent.  

Revamp Your Employment Brand

Did you know that a poor company reputation can cost you approximately 10% more per hire? Your employee brand tells fresh hires precisely what they’re getting into and could help to strengthen the idea that your company as the ideal workplace for them.

Employment branding isn’t just renewing your company logo or boosting your advertising. Your employment brand needs to be just as strong as your consumer brand, and you won’t find better ambassadors for your company than your employees! Empower your employees to become brand ambassadors, engage them in your business, and inspire a commitment to your company mission.

Manage your employment brand, so it increases the value recruits see in working for you. Address poor reviews on employment sites like Glassdoor, touch up your LinkedIn profiles, and always put your best face forward as an employer.

Personalize Your Hiring Process

Accepting your job offer is an extremely important decision for job candidates. They have much to consider:

  • Will they have to relocate to come work for you?
  • How does your job affect their family?
  • Does it mean they spend less time at home?
  • What if they’re leaving a job? Will your company match any benefits they are giving up?

Candidates may consider refusing your offer because a job with you might render them unable to fulfill personal commitments. Recruiting teams must realize that their candidates have other options. You need to know what you’re up against, and how to make counteroffers that recruits simply can’t ignore. Ask the right questions regarding compensation needs and work closely with candidates to outline a competitive offer that they can’t refuse.

Build A Winning Sales Team

At HireDNA, we offer a range of solutions for businesses looking to hire and retain top talent. Our expert sales recruiters can help you find top talent, assess candidates, evaluate your current talent pool, and more.

Why Choose Us?                

  • Our predictive candidate assessments eliminate 96% of hiring mistakes
  • Businesses hire 50% faster when they work with us
  • We have an 80% success rate for placements across organizations

Ready to hire the best salespeople for your company?

Contact Us

8 Qualities Of The Best Sales Representatives

Posted on by hiredna

Generating sales is not easy, yet the best sales reps understand the challenges of their job and are always at the top of their game. So, what qualities does a successful sales representative have that makes them a cut above the rest? Let’s take a look at the traits that help distinguish a seasoned salesperson from an average one.

At HireDNA, our rigorous sales recruiting processes can help you locate top talent so you can hire the best salesperson for your needs. Talk to an expert today.

What Are The Traits Of An Effective Salesperson?

Some personality traits have a direct impact on a person’s selling style and ultimately their ability to succeed. Here are eight key qualities of the best sales representatives:

Extensive Product Knowledge

To sell a product, an exceptional salesperson must have in-depth knowledge of it, down to the smallest detail. Closing a deal requires extensive research, confidence, and perfect execution of the sales pitch. Without deep product knowledge, that will be difficult to achieve.

A highly successful salesperson is always prepared with the right information and resources to make a profitable sale. They are aware of any potential criticism their product might receive and know how to pitch its advantages to a possible buyer to make it seem like an excellent purchase.

Accountability

More than 70% of salespeople are not prepared for meetings. The best sales representatives, however, are dedicated to their job, clients and work schedule. They are always ready to meet or give a demo to a client.  

The best salespeople recognize their mistakes and do not blame others for any shortcomings or failures. Instead, they remedy the flaws and minimize the risk of failure in future sale pitches. Furthermore, they possess a sense of responsibility to follow up with the client and remain vigilant for resulting queries.

Listening Skills

Successful sales reps know that the secret to a successful sale lies in the loyalty of a customer. Therefore, they will strike a connection with the client by addressing their concerns and issues before offering the product. That’s why the best salespeople seldom talk—instead, they are always listening. This helps ensure that they understand a client’s needs and can respond accordingly.

Clients usually have a positive reaction to the empathetic attitude of a salesperson, and they are more open to listening to a sales pitch from them.  

Polite Persistence

It takes 18 calls on average to even connect with a buyer. Anyone who gives up after the first few phone calls can’t possibly be successful in this field.

The best sales reps are persistent in their efforts to get through to a prospective buyer. They are tenacious yet polite and never give up an opportunity to convert a lead into a buyer—or to at least get them into the sales funnel. At the same time, they respect the boundaries of their clients and instead of showing extreme doggedness, they strive to develop a relationship with the potential customers through frequent personalized follow-ups.

HireDNA’s streamlined hiring process can help you get in touch with the best sales representatives that satisfy the talent needs of your organization. Learn more.

Ambition & Will to Sell

Goals motivate the majority of sales representatives, but the most successful among them take it to the next level by creating a plan for their career. The targets they set for themselves may be even more challenging than any professional goals set for them. This determination helps salespeople grow as individuals and as professionals. Achieving personal goals requires patience, resilience, long-term planning and can encourage better sales habits.

Candidates who are committed and possess the will to sell are willing to do whatever it takes to achieve greater sales success. Today, selling is more difficult than ever. Avoid hiring sales people who are unwilling to commit and push beyond their comfort zone to get results.

Coachable & Curious To Learn

An essential quality of a successful salesperson is their curiosity to learn. They educate themselves by reading industry blogs, watching video tutorials, and attending training sessions.

The best reps work on their presentation skills, time management, and other relevant abilities that make a significant impact on their performance. Studies have shown that sales personnel produce 50% higher net sales when they work at companies that offer training activities.

Hiring sales people who are coachable and willing to learn is essential. The best candidates agree that there is always room for improvement. Look for reps who are open to constructive criticism and are always ready to learn.

Whether you would like to train an existing team or need help onboarding as part of the hiring process, HireDNA offers sales training services to help turn your sales team into a high-performance machine. Learn more.

Tech-Savvy

Technology is a crucial part of sales, as the latest developments such as AI, CRMs and automation tools have changed the way sales activities are executed.

Today’s world requires salespeople who can keep up with tech and its contributions to the sector of sales. The best reps know how to use up-and-coming tools to enhance their prospecting and pitch processes.

The Right Sales DNA

Sales DNA is a term used to describe a candidate’s mix of natural and learned skills. Finding candidates with the right sales DNA for your team is crucial. At HireDNA, we offer a predictive sales candidate assessment that goes beyond personality traits to assess 21 core selling competencies possessed by top sales performers. Predictive hiring accounts for much more than credentials or standard interview answers. We go further with comprehensive assessments and analysis to find the right candidate for your organization’s needs.

Learn more about our Predictive Hiring Assessments.

Hire Outstanding Sale Representatives

Highly competent and persuasive sales reps can enhance the effectiveness of any sales and marketing team manifold. They possess unique attributes that set them apart from an average salesperson.

At HireDNA, we bring over 10 years of experience recruiting, hiring, and training the most successful salespeople. Get in touch to learn how we can help you build a winning sales team.

Why Choose Us?              

  • 80% of our searches for sales talent end in a successful hire
  • 92% of our hired candidates reach top half of sales force in 12 months
  • 50% faster onboarding for new hires

Ready to hire the best sales representatives for your company?

CONTACT US

6 Characteristics of a High Performing Sales Team

Posted on by hiredna

The hallmark of a high performing sales team is their ability to push through obstacles and continue to provide a constant revenue stream for the business. But what do high performers have that others don’t? Let’s take a look at some of the top characteristics of high performing sales teams.

HireDNA sales recruiting, evaluation, and training services can help you build a winning sales team. Contact us today.

1. Invested in Better Customer Research

With the dramatic rise of social media and other public communication platforms, the modern consumer is well-aware and has access to various sources of information. In many cases, by the time consumers get in touch with a sales team, they are already midway through their buying journey.

Top salespeople recognize the need to invest time into understanding their consumers better, instead of relying on conventional selling pitches and tactics. In fact, research shows that high performing sales teams are 2.8X more focused on personalizing customer interactions.

Highly successful sales teams invest resources in researching for their target audience. This includes developing call objectives before you even pick the phone, asking highly targeted questions, and tailoring your solution to fit the prospect’s requirements.

2. Ruthless with Qualification

A top tier sales team knows how to make the most of every single minute of their time. This means identifying high-value targets and dedicating more time to cultivating high-quality leads.

The best salespeople are decisive when it comes to wasting time on prospects. Some consumers do not convert, regardless of the effort you put in. A distinguished sales team knows every minute spent on an unsuccessful lead is a minute lost that could have been used to close a deal.

By closely analyzing your pipeline and evaluating every opportunity that comes your way, you can make sure to only dedicate your time on the highest value leads.

3. Exceptional Sales Managers

One of the major driving forces behind the success of a sales team is exceptional leadership. Every salesperson is likely to hit a slump at some point in time, but teams with outstanding sales managers tend to do a lot better than teams without one.

Read our blog on Essential Sales Manager Skills for more insight into what makes the best sales managers.

Successful teams rely on the coaching skills of the manager to improve their performance, and the best managers dedicate more than 50% of their time to transferring their skills to their colleagues.

According to a recent study, managers of sales teams that achieved 75% or more of their quota were not only more proficient at training their sales team, but they actually spent more time in training their sales staff compared to low performing sales teams.

HireDNA can help you build out custom sales training programs to improve performance at both the individual and team levels. Learn more.

4. Increased Accountability

Regardless of the fact that they work as a unit, a high-performing sales team holds every individual salesperson accountable for their own performance. Every sales rep has to be accountable for their sales quotas. If there isn’t a clear system to help ensure accountability, your performance can quickly decline..

Some key tips to improve accountability within your sales team include:

  • Set clear, realistic, and actionable goals. Your team can’t be held accountable for goals that are not clear.
  • Establish periodic check-ins. While you don’t want to be overbearing, regular check-ins at both the individual and team level can let your team know that their performance is being monitored. You will also be able to take action if you notice a team member’s performance lagging.
  • Make corrective actions clear and fair. What is your plan to improve performance for a lagging team member? Your reps should know what to expect if they begin to or repeatedly miss goals.
  • Coach and train when needed. Corrective action doesn’t have to be the threat of termination. Remaining positive and providing essential coaching and training to lagging team members can help to establish a culture of improvement and success.
  • Congratulate successes. Incentives and recognition can go a long way to motivate your team and keep them accountable for their quotas.

At HireDNA, we offer thorough sales evaluations to identify and resolve weaknesses and skill gaps limiting your sales results. Learn more.

5. No Space for Poor Performers

As a sales manager, you need to enforce accountability in order for your team members to actually take their quotas seriously. That may include making some tough decisions, such as terminating continuously low performing sales reps.

A high performing sales team is made up of over-achievers who meet their goals consistently. If coaching is not helping to improve an individual’s performance, a sales performance improvement plan (PIP) can be a great way to get them back on track.

However, if they fail to improve beyond a certain period, they don’t deserve a place in your high performing sales team. Terminating a rep may be tough, but it may be necessary to keep the team on track.

6. Continuously Striving for Improvement

A relentless desire to improve and get better is one of the hallmarks of a highly successful sales team. Never be content with previous achievements, and always show a determination to exceed previous goals.

A determination for improvement can be made visible through the metrics your team sets each year, such as a 10% raise on annual quotas every year. While this may seem like an aggressive tactic, it can help to push your sales team to achieve grander goals.

On a more micro level, this translates to every sales rep trying to overcome their weaknesses. Unable to land high-quality leads? Prospect more diligently. Struggling to make it past the demo stage? Research and customize your offering to the consumers’ pain points.

Build an Exceptional Sales Team

A highly efficient and productive sales team is the cornerstone of organizational success. A high performing sales team has several unique characteristics that allow them to scale their performance.

At HireDNA, we bring 10 years of experience to help you recruit, manage, evaluate, and develop an efficient sales team.

Ready to take your sales performance to the next level?

Contact Us

Offer Stage Recruitment Tips to Win Over Top Candidates

Posted on by hiredna

Sales organizations are always on the lookout for standout reps that can boost their team’s performance. These exceptional individuals bring a proven track record of success, a wealth of experience and a role model presence to your team that positively affects the entire organization.

While recruiting top sales reps is a unique challenge on its own, the offer stage represents the last hurdle before you get them on board. Some recruiters mistake the offer stage as a mere formality, assuming the deal is already closed. Instead, it is arguably the most important stage where the candidate will make their final choice. Here are some offer stage recruitment tips to help you win over top candidates.

Do away with guesswork and hire the best candidates for your organization based on a data-backed predictive hiring system. Get in touch with a HireDNA sales recruiting expert today.

4 Offer Stage Tips For Top Candidates

If a candidate makes it to the offer stage, it means that they have been vetted, interviewed and passed all relevant organizational checks. Now is the time to close the deal effectively, and you should be well prepared. Here are some tips that can help increase your odds of attracting the best sales talent available.

Highlight The Details Behind Your Offer

Many times, sales managers simply parrot the offer details without attempting to extrapolate the value behind it and lend insight as to how your offer can truly benefit the candidate.

Simply repeating what you have been told by your HR manager is less likely to impress a top candidate that may very well have several other offers on their desk. Instead, you should take the time to help them understand the nuances behind the offer. For instance, if equity is involved, it is your duty to help the candidate understand the value of the equity being offered. Beyond the routine discussion involving vesting cycles and benefits, try to highlight how your offer can work toward their benefit down the line.

Of course, it’s important to have a detailed and realistic compensation plan available to walk the candidate through. Top candidates will want to know how existing reps are performing against targets and will want a clear roadmap for achieving success. No candidate wants to sign up for a role with unrealistic expectations.

Partner With Human Resources

Highly talented salespeople know their worth and often have the freedom to choose between several organizations. When seeking a new opportunity, the culture, onboarding process, and career growth opportunities are some of the commonplace concerns top sales reps share.

Partnering with your hiring manager or human resource manager can allow you to have a knowledgeable aid by your side who can answer pertinent questions with ease. They can help to elaborate on the individual growth prospects available at your organization and other key benefits available.

Eliminate hiring mistakes and improve retention rates with our proven hiring tools. Learn More.

Don’t Go Overboard

Asking too many questions, making too many calls or scheduling too many interviews are all signs of an organization going overboard with their recruitment process. Hiring top sales talent is a priority for many companies—and once you get to the offer stage, you are more likely to anticipate the deal as good as done. However, as the candidate is nearing their decision, they may become increasingly observant of their (potential) next employer.

Excessively nagging them to conduct multiple touchpoints will not only convey your organization as desperate but may adversely affect the candidate’s decision to stick with their current employer or go with another opportunity. Furthermore, asking repetitive questions regarding their desired role or salary can also work against you. You may come across as unsure, or unwilling—and when you’re aiming to recruit top sales talent, such ambiguity can work against you.

We recommend no more than three steps to the interview process before extending an offer. Any more is overkill. If you thoroughly screen candidates before the interview and use a sales specific assessment to predict compatibility and success, there’s no reason you need more than three interviews to make a decision. In today’s low unemployment market, you risk losing top talent to an overly complex, long, and unproductive interview process. 

Don’t Start From Your Lowest

The modern business world is highly competitive, and every company can benefit from having a high performing salesperson. Once you’ve found a top candidate and have managed to hold on to them until the offer-stage, don’t risk losing them because your offer couldn’t match their ambition.

Many organizations still deploy the age-old tactic of lowballing. However, there is one major flaw in this strategy—it doesn’t work with modern salespeople. Modern salespeople know their worth. By offering them a low starting offer, you are signaling that you don’t value them as much.

The best strategy is to present what you think is the strongest possible offer and elaborate on why you think it is right. It is important to remember that top sales talent may not be actively pursuing a new opportunity, so your offer needs to have the persuasive element that eases their decision in your favor.

There are online resources like salary.com that will provide insights on competitive comp plans. A good recruiting firm will also have data they can share and will identify each candidate’s desired comp in the screening process to help you determine what a competitive offer looks like. 

Build A Highly Talented Sales Team

Recruiting and retaining top sales talent is one of the greatest challenges sales managers face. HireDNA offers you a modern approach to the hiring process with our data-backed, scientific technology that allows you to discover top candidates, eliminate hiring mistakes, decrease onboarding ramp-up times, and grow your sales potential!

Why Choose Us?

  • 80% placement success
  • 79% candidate retention
  • 50% faster new hire ramp-up

CONTACT US

Strategies To Improve Your Sales Onboarding Process

Posted on by hiredna

Modern sales organizations are always in the process of hiring, whether you need to replace team members or increase sales capacity. That’s why an effective sales onboarding process is crucial. The success of your team comes down to how quickly your new hires can pick up the necessary skills and become a productive part of your sales team.

With industry reports stating that the average new hire can take as long as nine months to ramp up, sales managers are always searching for strategies to improve their onboarding process and reduce training costs. Consider these tips!

HireDNA can help you identify training needs and ramp up your new hires more effectively. Talk to an expert.

4 Strategies To Improve Your Onboarding Process

As employee turnover rises, companies face the pressure to speed up their sales hiring and training process to maintain their revenue. According to a CSO Insight survey, 45% of sales leaders place reduction of the sales onboarding time as their topmost priority.

Here are four proven strategies to improve your sales onboarding process:

Invest In A Comprehensive Training Process

Onboarding isn’t something that can be completed within a week. Depending on your niche and business complexity, it may take several months before a new sales rep is ready to take on new clients alone.

By creating a comprehensive training program with daily, weekly and monthly checklists, organizations can remove the guesswork from the onboarding process, giving every sales manager a precise idea of how to ramp up a new hire.

As you improvise with each hire, you will gradually formulate an exhaustive training process that allows new salespeople to integrate with your organization seamlessly. This includes everything from incorporating them within your workplace culture to educating them about your products and finally helping them to understand your target audience.

This training process can be used for both new hires and existing salespeople. HireDNA can help you identify and resolve weaknesses and skill gaps limiting your sales results, then deliver comprehensive training to close those gaps. Learn more.

Modernize Your Communication Channels

Traditional onboarding tactics made frequent use of charts, books and other items that have been duly replaced by our smartphones and laptops. As managers continue to interact with an increasing number of millennials sales reps, the onboarding training channels should evolve to maintain a process that is effective and efficient.

Make use of explainer videos, online training modules and interactive case scenarios that allow sales reps to apply what they have learned in real-life settings. Additionally, organizations can provide relevant product guides and descriptions to new sales reps during their training period. This increases their interest, resulting in higher retention and an effective training process.

At HireDNA, we use Rapid Learning Institutes’ (RLI) Micro-Learning Platform , which features a library of training videos, modules, role play scenarios, quizzes and more—all of which can be customized to meet your unique training needs. Learn how we can help you reduce onboarding time by 50%! Learn more.

Enforce ‘Shadowing’ As A Focal Training Process

While newer communication channels are a must-have in any sales organization, they don’t negate the importance of some evergreen training methods, such as shadowing.

Consider encouraging new hires to shadow veteran salespeople as they go about their usual routine—prioritizing prospects, conducting customer outreach, giving demos, etc. This allows the new hire to pick up vital traits, and is a more hands-on way to introduce them to the company culture and related procedures.

The ideal mentor should be an experienced salesperson who has the capacity to teach the skills required to make it to the top level while also possessing the temperament to answer any questions the new hire may have. Organizations need to identify the right mentors as well as develop the right training regimen to optimize this technique even further.

Don’t Rush Your Training Process

Impending team quotas and organizational pressure can get to the best of sales managers, resulting in new hires being rushed to their workstations before going through the entire training process.

While you may be recruiting experienced sales professionals with a history of achieving their quotas, you must understand their prior experience is of a different workplace culture, dealing in different products or maybe a different industry altogether.

To become a valuable member of your organization, every new sales hire needs to receive adequate, personalized training that can allow them to integrate with your organization’s sales process. While rushing sales reps through the hiring process may look like a beneficial step in the short run, the long-term implications can be unsatisfied team members who might not want to continue. This is why it is important to allow sales reps to complete their training in due time.

Train Your Sales Reps More Effectively With HireDNA

As sales managers continue to ramp up new hires, they face challenges that hinder sales reps from learning effectively before being moved on to the next phase. At HireDNA, we utilize modern strategies and innovative tools to cut down on your training time by half.

Leverage a modern cloud-based micro-learning platform that provides custom mapped training content tailored to the skill gaps for each individual sales representative. With interactive learning, quizzes and real-world simulations and more, we make sure your new hires are ready to perform in no time.

Why Choose Us?

  • Employees ramped up by HireDNA provide 33% more sales opportunities
  • Our proven, data-backed methods increase top-line revenue by 25%
  • Our innovative techniques cut down the training period by up to 50%

CONTACT US

Top Reasons to Hire Millennials in Sales

Posted on by hiredna

You’re likely always on the lookout for exceptional salespeople to join your team. Inevitably, you will find yourself reading a lot of resumes from new graduates. There is a stereotype, however, that millennials are apathetic, entitled, and lacking drive. Not only is this stereotype ill-founded, but if believed, it can deprive you of the most ideal candidates that your organization needs. In this post, let’s take a look at some of the top reasons to hire millennials for sales.

At HireDNA, our sales recruiting experts can help you find, hire, and train the perfect sales candidates for your team. Contact Us.

Millennials Are The Most Dominant Demographic

According to PEW Research, millennials make up 35% of the workforce, which is more than Boomers (25%) and Gen Xers (33%).

In other words, when you begin headhunting for a valuable addition to your organization, there is a 35% chance that you will run into a millennial. Considering they meet your requirements, are you willing to let them go just because they were born in a certain era? With an Ernst & Young study predicting that millennials will constitute about 75% of the workforce by 2025, your team would be better prepared for that future if you start integrating millennials as core members of your team as soon as possible.

Technically Savvy

Millennials have grown up with computers and smartphones. They are quick to learn and adapt to new sales technologies, which can be very valuable in the workforce. Many millennials also have very high social selling skills, which could be a result of having to learn varying online communication methods.

Highly Purpose-Driven

Millennials successfully navigated through the post 9/11 economic slump, the 2008 stock market crash, and other major incidents due to their persistence and dedication. They are driven by their purpose, which in a salesperson’s case, would be providing clients with the best possible solution and closing a high number of deals every month.

As such, many millennials are focused on making an impact. This drive has seen them put off marriage and children longer than any of the previous generations.

Thanks to our data-backed recruiting process, candidates recommended by HireDNA have an 80% placement success rate. Learn more.

No Need for Micromanagement

Millennials don’t like being chased around by managers and being micromanaged every step of the way. As a sales manager, you probably don’t like to run around employees and bind them to hard and fast rules, either. And so, hiring employees from this generation might be the best option for you.

Remember, the millennial generation is keen on learning and tailoring their ways in the face of new challenges. Ready to adapt in the face of changing consumer patterns, millennials can prove to be a real asset.

They Appreciate Feedback

Ever had a sales representative who took feedback way too personally? As a sales manager, your job is to correct where they are wrong and provide constant advice on how to manage the challenges they face when dealing with customers.

Even though some salespeople do not take constructive criticism in the right way, it is a crucial part of becoming a high performing employee. When dealing with millennials, you are less likely to see such behavior.

According to a Deloitte study of the five most important factors when evaluating jobs, millennials view the potential of professional development and training programs as one of the top factors they value. Because of this drive, millennials may be more open to criticism if they believe that correcting their behavior can help them to progress within the organization.

How to Recruit Millennials

To attract millennials to your organization, you need to focus on what matters most to them:

  • Impact. How can you present the work that your organization is doing as meaningful and impactful?
  • Work-life balance and flexibility. Is there a possibility to work from home? Are salespeople tied to their desks all day?
  • Collaborative work environments. How does your team work together? How will new hires be able to contribute?
  • Continuous learning opportunities. What opportunities are available through your organization for continued improvement?
  • Clear career paths. Millennials want to be rewarded for their hard work. They want to see a clear progression, or they may lose motivation.

With a science-backed predictive hiring assessment, you can find the right candidate with far greater accuracy than relying on impressions or instinct. At HireDNA, we can help you to create a custom assessment based on your hiring criteria and unique sales environment. Go beyond personality traits to assess candidates’ true sales DNA and potential in the role.

Learn more about our Predictive Hiring Assessments.   

Create A Successful Sales Team

At HireDNA, we can help you recruit the perfect candidates for your sales team. Let us help you grow your organization with the right candidates for the right roles, backed by proven data and science.

Why Choose Us?

  • 20 years’ worth of hiring experience
  • 8m candidates assessed
  • 50% faster new hire ramp-up
  • 70% candidate retention

Are you ready to hire top quality salespeople for your organization?

CONTACT US

Improve Your Sales Hiring Strategy In 5 Easy Steps

Posted on by hiredna

Many organizations are heavily dependent on their sales team to reach their customers and grow. However, the sales industry is symbolized by a high turnover rate of 25%. Essentially, this means that organizations are often faced with a shortage of good salespeople that consistently produce. To help you attract and retain higher quality sales hires, here are some tips to improve your sales hiring strategy.

HireDNA can help you identify, hire, and train the perfect candidates for your sales team. Speak with a sales recruiting expert today.

5 Easy Steps To Enhance Your Hiring Strategy

In addition to solving the high turnover problem, improving your sales hiring strategy can also allow you to hire candidates who are a better fit for your organizational culture, product, and sales environment. Here are three ways to enhance your strategy:

Draft A Detailed Candidate Profile & Job Description

The first step to a high-quality hire is to provide a clearly defined candidate profile and job description that outlines the tasks and level of performance you expect. Specifically, your candidate profile and description should include the job-centric skills and characteristics that are required to excel in this role. You can also include the responsibilities that will be levied upon the new hire. For instance, will they be spending more time prospecting or managing key accounts?

The higher the level of detail in your job criteria, the better your chances of attracting a best-fit candidate. And here’s a tip: to create a tailored fit candidate profile and job description, conduct an evaluation of your top performers to identify the perfect skills and qualities that are most important to succeed in their position.

Use a Predictive Hiring Assessment

So, you’ve received a number of resumes and applicants. How can you screen them faster to find the perfect candidate for the job? Consider using a predictive hiring assessment like the Objective Management Group (OMG) Sales Candidate Assessment through HireDNA.

With a science-backed assessment, you can find the right candidate with far greater accuracy than relying on impressions or instinct. In fact, 92% of candidates who are recommended by the OMG Sales Candidate Assessment exceed expectations in the first year! At HireDNA, we can help you to create a custom assessment based on your hiring criteria and unique sales environment. Go beyond personality traits to assess candidates’ true sales DNA and potential in the role.

Learn more about our Predictive Hiring Assessments.   

Strengthen Your Interviews

In combination with a predictive sales hiring assessment, situational interview questions can be a powerful tool to help you assess how a candidate might perform on the job. These questions pose hypothetical situations that candidates must answer, requiring them to think on their feet and eliminating any reliance on cookie-cutter, prepared answers.

Cast A Wider Net

While conventional methods like posting on different job boards might have worked in the past, high-quality candidates no longer depend on such platforms.

In other words, posting on common forums might result in a high number of applicants, but there is no guarantee on the quality of the resumes that will flood your inbox. Here are a few of the leading job posting channels used by top sales recruiters today:

  • Industry-Specific Job Boards. Every industry has specific job boards. For instance, the job posting site ‘MedReps.com’ caters to candidates who are interested in working in the pharmaceutical industry. By posting in such targeted job boards, you are likely to come across a greater pool of best-fit candidates.
  • LinkedIn. LinkedIn is one of the most popular business-related sites in the world, amassing an impressive 610 million followers. With 92% of Fortune 500 companies also active on the forum, you can expect to find high-quality sales professionals here. Despite this, posting on LinkedIn is usually time-consuming and not always feasible for businesses that experience a high turnover rate.
  • Referrals. Ask your team to refer people who fit your job description—and consider setting up an incentive program for successful referrals. As this puts their reputation on the line, people are likely to only refer candidates who are qualified and hardworking. This is the reason why referrals continue to result in highly desirable hires. In fact, 50% of referrals are likely to stay at a job for three years—vs 14% of employees hired from a job board.
  • Proactive sourcing. There’s a difference between sitting back and waiting for resumes to come in versus proactively sourcing candidates. At HireDNA, more than 90% of our hires are proactively sourced. We find this to be the best method, because most top sales performers are not active candidates—they’re not actively searching job boards for opportunities. But, if approached with a great opportunity with good incentives, many great candidates will likely consider making a move.

Promote Yourself As A Preferable Employer

Similar to how consumers profile a brand before converting, candidates evaluate employers before choosing to join the organization. High-end salespeople are likely to have multiple offers, which means that they can take their time to research and select the best option and it’s not always about money.

This is why it’s incredibly important to invest in your ‘employer brand’ to ensure your company is positioned as a market leader. Showcase major clients on your website, highlight your sales reps, and make sure to emphasize your resourcefulness and culture to gain the attention of the top sales talent in your niche.

To further up the ante, engage with prospective candidates from the first point of contact (which is usually your website). Feel free to highlight positive testimonials, share success stories, and even include employee success stories to add weight to your claims. By showcasing your achievements, you are appealing to ambitious candidates who want to work with reputable organizations that can help take their careers to the next level.

Create A Highly Successful Sales Team

By optimizing your recruiting strategy, you can create a successful team of high performing sales reps. At HireDNA, our industry-leading, science-backed recruiting process can help you create a robust sales team primed for performance.

Why Choose Us?

  • We have an 80% successful placement rate
  • 92% of our hired candidates reach the top half of the sales force within 12 months
  • With innovative training tools, we help new hires onboard and ramp-up in 50% less time
  • Candidates hired via HireDNA have a 79% retention rate

Do you want to build a successful sales team? Contact Us