How do I select the salesperson for my company? This is a very tough question to answer as most startups or existing companies in any field suffer the most because of a shortage of salespeople, as the turnover in salespersons is the highest in any company. Experienced salespeople get jobs very fast, and the competition is always ready to pick them up as they know the market well and have a relationship with dealers and distributors.

So, this challenge can be divided into two parts: hiring fresh salespeople without experience and hiring experienced salespeople from the same or some other industry.

  1. If we are hiring fresh salespeople, we need a very strong training team and a motivation team, which will train them continuously while hiring and after hiring for at least one year to handhold them.
  2.  If we are hiring experienced people in the company, another challenge is assimilating them into our company culture and getting the best output.
training of sales people

training picture

 

So let us start with fresh hiring individuals and what we should see while hiring:

 

  1. Define the ideal candidate profile. What are the essential skills and qualities you are looking for in a salesperson? Consider factors such as:

    • His family background: If we ask relevant questions about his family and can make out whether there has been any struggle he has faced or by his family and how they solved it, people from struggling backgrounds can always perform better compared to people from comfortable backgrounds. This could also be wrong, but this is largely true as the sales career is struggling, and academics hardly play any role. The MBA can be better if he has done an MBA after the sales experience; otherwise, hiring MBAs without experience does not make much difference.
    • Shy or outgoing: In the interview questioning, one has to make sure whether the candidate is shy or outgoing, which plays an important role in the sales job.
    • Problem-solving skills: It is very tough to determine whether they are problem solvers as this will ultimately be important to promote a person to the manager level. Some people have five solutions to the problem you throw at them, and few people can’t answer any given problem. Also, what kind of challenges he has gone through, personal and professional and how they solved them. This is a very important point in the interview to understand.
    • Have they played any Sports? This is another important point, and generally, people who have played sports have better discipline and passion for winning, and they know how to lose in life, and that’s very important as this becomes their nature. Generally, sports-playing guys become better sales and later become good managers and leaders.
    • Ability to build relationships: This is also important to understand through his social profile, and one should focus on this point by interviewing him personally.
    • Positive attitude. Attitude is the most critical factor in deciding about the person, and this also can be seen on their social profile during the interview; one should focus on questions to judge their attitude.
    • Do they have a learning attitude? This is another important parameter in an interview to learn about the candidate’s habit of learning new things about any subject they are interested in. How to select the salesperson for my company is the statement here to follow.
  2. Write a job description. The job description should clearly outline the responsibilities and expectations of the role. It should also highlight the skills and qualities you seek in a candidate. https://www.pipedrive.com/en/blog/8-steps-finding-perfect-salesperson-team

  3. Use a variety of channels to recruit candidates. This could include online job boards, social media, employee referrals, and networking events from friend’s referrals.

  4. Screen candidates carefully. This may involve reviewing resumes, conducting phone interviews, and scheduling in-person interviews.

  5. Ask the right questions during the interview. Your questions should be designed to assess the candidate’s skills, experience, and fit for the role.

  6. Online Social media check. Nowadays, one has a social media profile, so one has to see it carefully and assess the candidate through this, as one can get a better idea through Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter, etc.

  7. Give him role clarity. Role clarity is the most important before hiring and what is expected from them.

  8. Onboard your new salesperson. Once your new salesperson is onboarded, it’s important to provide them with the training and support they need to be successful. This could include training on your products or services, sales techniques, and the company culture.https://www.kunwersachdev.com/uncategorized/6-catastrophic-mistakes-made-by-hr-departments-while-hiring-individuals/17/

  9. Now the next comes is experienced Sales people who already have work experience.

  10. This is more challenging than recruiting the fresh ones as they are experienced and knowledgeable and can easily fool the interviewer.
  11. So, the important point for them is to have a different set of standards to follow:
  12. Curriculum Vitae: The first step is to screen through their CV, and the first is stability. If the resume is unstable, one should not call for an interview. Whenever I made this mistake, I always got the same result: These people don’t stick anywhere, and they become so good in interviews that you get convinced to hire them.
  13. Background check through social media screening and reference is the most important criterion with the experienced people. If possible one can check the reference through the customers, he or she has dealt with so that we are doubly sure about his style of working.
  14. Sport is another common criterion.
  15. Job description and clarity for results are more important here as they know how to change the job profile once recruited. They understand the company politics much faster and can be part of it quickly, as recruits generally don’t fall prey to it.
  16. Training for experienced candidates is tough as they rely more on their earlier experience, and we need to adopt a separate method. So, assimilating them into the company culture without bringing their work culture into the organization can be tougher for any HR professional.
  17. For taking Interviews, I feel that people in HR should have a different set of experienced people when the experienced salespeople are being interviewed, and this serves a double purpose as these guys feel more confident to join the organization if senior management is sitting and taking their interview. It is easier for senior management to select the right candidate.
  18. Having an MBA as a qualification can be considered as it helps the company bring experienced guys with the degree.

How to select the salesperson for my company is a very interesting topic, and following these tips can increase your chances of selecting the right sales guy for your company.

Here are some additional tips:

  • Look for candidates who have a proven track record of success in sales and validate that by whatever means possible.
  • Consider candidates who are consistent in nature so that we don’t waste company resources on them.
  • Look for candidates who are sports people if possible and check his family background as well.
  • Choose candidates who are a good fit for your company culture.

The right sales guy can be a valuable asset to your company. By taking the time to select the right person, you can improve your chances of success. I hope this article, How to select the salesperson for my company, will help you select the sales candidate.