Recruiting elite sales performers

You may have a sales strategy, but do you have elite sale performers? Here’s how to get them.

I received yet another call today from a sales manager asking me where he could find a really good sales performer for his business.

He complained that most of the sales people in his industry had been around the block too many times, and that no new skills, ideas or talent where being brought into his industry: same old people, same old things, same old results.

He didn’t want to hire people from his industry because they just weren’t competitive in the current market. He wanted to refresh the gene pool and bring in fit sales people who were not tarnished by the industry and its way of doing things.

Here is what I told him.

Understand the types of sales people your business requires to match your customer landscape. Review your sales strategy and ask: “What qualities (skills, knowledge, competencies, attitudes) do we need now to translate our sales strategy into sales action and results?”

Work out what the qualities that separate high achievers from everyone else that you want and need. Then look for those qualities in other industries and professions.

Talk to head hunters, your personal contacts, read industry journals, and ask your clients and suppliers about sales people who are good.

If you are advertising, I suggest you write ads that attract and describe the style of person you want. Do not describe the role.

Assess potential recruits for their competencies. And build a proper sales induction training process, then make sure you have a sales management support system.

Defining and finding Elite Sales Performers for your business should be happening on a regular basis and be a part of any sales manager’s role, even if you don’t have a vacancy. You are always recruiting sales people.

That client who wanted to refresh the gene pool did look outside and found elite sales performers. Result: the Elite Sales Performers achieved a sales closing ratio of 4:3 within two months.