As sales managers and sales team leaders, it’s your responsibility to be on top of sales staffing and find the top sales talent in the market. It’s even more critical when you realize there is a sales labor shortage on the horizon, which means you want to find the absolute best candidates for the role before they’re offered a position with another company.
If you’re finding it increasingly difficult to attract and retain top talent in your area, you’re not alone. In this guide, we’ll go through how to attract top talent so that your sales staffing issues are non-existent.
Why Is It Hard To Attract Top Talent?
Today’s sales talent is highly sought after, and sales leaders can’t just rely on sales staff referrals to find talent. In fact, according to a recent study, there are about 1 million more job openings than people looking for work. This means that employees can be pickier about the jobs that they accept.
Regardless, you likely won’t find the candidate you need by posting a job description on the internet and hoping for the best. In fact, you now have to spend time selling your job to your candidates. This is not an easy task to take on, especially if you don’t have a sales recruiter on your side.
This means that potential employees want to know what makes your company different from other organizations. You might need to attract sales talent by offering perks such as:
- Increasing salaries
- Improving training & development opportunities
- Offering flexible work locations and hours
With so many factors to recruiting new employees, it can seem difficult to increase your sales staffing. Thankfully, we’ll break down how to improve the process below!
The 5 Top Qualities Of A Good Salesperson
Before you begin sales staffing, it’s important to ensure they meet your criteria. While you might have specific job requirements depending on the industry, most sales candidates have particular qualities that help them stand apart from their competitors. Therefore, when networking or reaching out to potential candidates, you’ll want to ensure that they embody these top five qualities of a good salesperson.
Confidence
Since salespeople have to call new prospects and interact with them, sales candidates need a certain confidence level. While sales managers want sales talent who is genuinely enthusiastic about sales as a career path, salespeople also need the ability to be persistent when reaching out to new people.
A salesperson might not be able to sell an idea if they’re shy and nervous, which means sales managers should look for sales recruits that are comfortable making calls and talking to people.
Persistence
As sales managers, you’ll also need salespeople that don’t give up when they hit a sales roadblock. Sales candidates should be persistent in their sales calls and always show eagerness to learn from mistakes.
Salespeople should work through an issue quickly when they find themselves not reaching their sales goals and find a way to always be closing.
Honesty
Sales candidates should be honest, especially when they’re talking to sales prospects. Sales talent should have strong sales ethics and be able to provide reliable information in their sales pitches. Unfortunately, when you think about the average sales process, sales candidates have plenty of opportunities to slip up and say something dishonest during a sales call or even in sales correspondence. This is why it’s essential to ensure your potential candidate is honest and transparent.
Good Listener
Whether salespeople are talking to sales prospects or sales partners, they need to be good listeners. Sales candidates should be able to absorb information and use it when they’re in a sales conversation with their prospects and partners. When sales staff aren’t listening closely during sales calls, it can cause them to miss important points or neglect issues that will affect the sales process.
Multitasker
Finally, sales managers want sales staff they can trust to multitask when making sales. Salespeople need to juggle a myriad of tasks and responsibilities throughout the sales process. This means that they should be able to work quickly and efficiently while staying productive.
Top 8 Steps To Attract Top Talent
For sales teams to be successful, you’ll want to ensure that you have the best sales talents on your staff. But, even if you know the exact type of candidate you want to hire, you might still be struggling to hire the perfect person. So, if you think it’s time to recruit new salespeople or improve your sales staffing efforts, here are eight tips that can help you attract top talent.
Highlight The Company Culture
When sales managers are looking for sales staffing, they should understand the company personality they want to display to potential employees. For example, are you a serious and down-to-business type company? Or do you cultivate a laid-back, casual environment? Whatever the style is, you’ll want to make sure potential sales staffing candidates know it.
Your company culture should be crystal clear when sales candidates look into a sales job with your team. You can highlight this in your sales recruiting materials and incorporate it into sales interview questions you ask sales talent during the hiring process. Regardless, it’s essential to attract the type of talent that will best fit your team, which starts by making your company culture clear before an applicant will even apply!
Build Your Reputation
Candidates will not choose your company over another similar firm if you don’t have a reputation to back yourself up. In addition, with the number of fraudulent job postings online, sales jobs are especially under scrutiny by sales candidates. This means that if your job posting doesn’t look real, potential candidates are less likely to apply.
This is why it should be a priority to build up your company’s reputation. How do people view your company? What do they think of when they hear your brand name? Are you actively involved in the community or your sales field? When sales candidates see your company’s name and reputation, it should instantly make them want to learn more about your team or apply for a position.
Offer Competitive Benefits
When sales candidates are looking for sales staffing, there’s one thing they’re definitely looking for: competitive benefits. Although some sales jobs might offer excellent hourly rates, sales talent might be willing to go elsewhere if the benefits don’t stack up.
One of the most common benefits sales managers offer is paid time off. If you’re constantly struggling to find sales staffing, you might want to reevaluate how many paid days off your team takes off each year. Even though it might be challenging, offering limited vacation time may make it tougher to hire top-level sales talent!
Besides paid time off, employees consistently seek out other benefits such as healthcare plans, retirement plans, remote working, and more. Depending on your sales job’s location, sales candidates may have several companies to choose from with various benefits packages. That being said, it doesn’t hurt to offer a benefits package that surpasses those of other similar sales recruiting firms!
Compensate Your Staff Fairly
If you want the best sales staffing, you’ll want to ensure that candidates know your sales recruiting company offers fair sales pay. From hourly rates to commission structures, sales talent should know the base compensation package when applying for a sales job with your team.
In addition, sales managers should be transparent about how exactly they determine sales salaries. For example, if you’re hiring a new sales executive, let them know that their pay will increase based on performance during their first review period after joining the team. Transparency in this area not only ensures you’re able to attract top-notch talent but also holds businesses accountable. This keeps everyone up-to-date on where they stand within the organization!
If you find that you have few applicants, you might want to recheck your current compensation plans to make sure they’re on par with the industry average.
Attend Networking Events
Attending networking events is a great way to network with potential sales candidates. This may be a local in-person event, online networking meeting, or even a digital conference. Although sales managers might not meet every sales job candidate, reaching out via social media or e-mail is a significant first step to finding the right potential hires.
If you’re attending a networking event as a sales manager, remember to dress the part. Dressing as if you were going for an interview will help sales candidates view your company as professional and reputable. Furthermore, it might even spark some interest from experienced sales veterans.
Be Persistent
When looking for sales staffing, sales managers might have difficulty convincing them to join your team. Although sales recruiting can sometimes be challenging, you’ll want to stay persistent with sales candidates instead of being pushy. If sales talent feels like they’re just being pushed around, they may choose another sales recruiting company that might offer more freedom or flexibility.
If you feel as though you’ve sent enough messages or followed up enough times, don’t hesitate to reach out one last time! Keep in mind that you don’t necessarily need to hire someone immediately. If they say no, it’s okay! Even if the candidate is not interested now, they might be in the future. So make sure to keep your sales recruiting sales staffing options open!
Build Relationships With Neighboring Colleges
Although sales recruiting can be difficult, sales managers should make it a point to partner with nearby colleges and universities. This might be an agreement to hand out your company’s sales job flyer or even hand out business cards at the school. By establishing relationships with these schools, sales managers will have access to new entry-level sales talent that is fresh on the market!
Since college students are looking for sales experience before graduating, you’ll want to reach out and let them know about all of your sales job opportunities. Remember: hiring college graduates gives your business a “new” feel. By offering growth opportunities, you can stand out from other companies in your industry!
Use Sales Recruiters Dallas To Find New Leads
Although sales managers might be doing their own sales recruiting, sales recruiters can help increase sales job applicants and find the perfect candidate for the job. In addition, sales recruiters can use their networks and find talent leads to match the right candidate to your open position.
Conclusion
Remember that sales recruiting can be difficult, but if you apply the sales staffing tips, we’ve listed above, finding successful candidates won’t be as hard as it seems. Remember to stay persistent and follow this guide closely. If you’re looking to list your job, check out our online employer’s section or contact us today.