| Hiring sales reps is time-consuming, costly, and can feel | | | | "tells." It's just body language and behavior. Read the |
| like a gamble for a sales team manager. However, | | | | book: Reading People. It's excellent. |
| there are steps you can take that will save time, | | | | 5. Pay attention to the candidate's follow up behavior. |
| reduce your risk of a bad hire, and ultimately improve | | | | How do they follow up with you after the interview? |
| the performance of your sales team. | | | | Do they write you (or email you) a thank you note? |
| 1. Review your current team. Your first step in making | | | | Does it include their thoughts on what you talked about |
| a new hire should involve knowing what works for | | | | during the interview? Did they send it quickly? |
| your team already. Many managers hire on autopilot, | | | | 6. CHECK REFERENCES. I'm amazed at how some |
| but making a hiring decision based on what has yielded | | | | hiring managers don't check for references or pay |
| the best results in the past will give you a more | | | | close attention to the ones they call. There are definite |
| successful outcome. So, find a profile for your current | | | | signs to look for that will give you solid clues about |
| successful sales reps. It will be based on past | | | | your candidate. |
| experience, sales background, educational background, | | | | My best tip of all: |
| or personality. (Or some combination of these.) You | | | | 7. Use an experienced sales recruiter. A good |
| can do this as a general overview, or you can use | | | | third-party recruiter will save you and your company |
| formal assessment tools like DISC or Caliper. | | | | time and money by sending you quality candidates |
| 2. Always do your first interview over the phone. That | | | | hand-picked to improve your sales-force effectivness |
| way, you can cut the call short as soon as you know | | | | and benefit your bottom line. That eliminates |
| they are a "no." No obligatory hour interview. | | | | tremendous amounts of time spent on interviews, and |
| 3. Have a well-defined interview process. Talk to your | | | | reduces your chances of making a bad hire. Once you |
| top candidates several times. Make sure you're getting | | | | add up (1) money spent on ads, (2) the lost time of the |
| a full picture of the candidate, not on just one really | | | | Regional Sales Manager, (3) lost sales/team-building |
| spectacular day. And, have others speak to them. See | | | | training time, (4) lost sales resulting from a lesser-quality |
| if others on your team are getting the same | | | | sales force, and (5) the significant chance for hiring |
| impression you are. | | | | errors, working with a third-party recruiter becomes a |
| 4. Watch the "tells." If you play poker, you know about | | | | reasonable and cost-effective option. |