Three Tools for Hiring Better Salespeople

by | Aug 5, 2020 | Blog

Your sales team is the foundation of revenue generation for your business. Their talent, skills, and aptitude are the primary determinant of your overall sales performance. 

The best sales strategies, leads, and products are of no value to you without the right team to bring in new business. Hiring people with the right skills and, more importantly, the right attitude, is critical. 

Here are three tools you NEED for successful hiring courtesy of the Sales Arbiter experts.

1- A detailed job description with specific expectations 

Start by establishing a comprehensive set of needs and expectations for the new position. These expectations should be clear to you and to any prospective applicants. 

It is a good idea to include a “day in the life” description of the job. This gives potential applicants a precise picture of what the work entails, preventing misunderstandings or dissonance about expectations.

Starting the search process with a clear picture of your ideal applicant makes the task of hiring more efficient and effective. This strategy allows you to search only for the skills, experience, and personality traits that match the position. 

Good potential fits for the position make a quick rise to the top while those who are not sort themselves out of your applicant pool. 

Sometimes an applicant might be “good on paper” but in practice, the job isn’t a good fit for them. You save time for both you and the applicant by making the job description as detailed as possible. 

2 – A comprehensive compensation system 

Compensation isn’t everything when it comes to job satisfaction, but it’s an important part. 

There are two key reasons it’s important to be straightforward about compensation. 

One, you want applicants to see a direct link between compensation and their job performance. An effective compensation system incentivizes quality work from your team. Keep the structure simple so applicants and current team members are clear about their priorities. 

The second reason is to prevent disappointment down the road. It’s tempting to play up the benefits of a position, but don’t make any promises you don’t intend to keep. 

The last thing you want is to have a high-performing team member burn out a few months in because their expectations of success weren’t realized. 

Keep your compensation system simple and directly tied to business objectives. You want it to be something a 12-year-old could understand. 

3 – A process for them to assume their new duties with ease 

Before you put up job postings, start thinking about how to onboard your new hire. 

Once you’ve found the right fit, you want them on the team and at full capacity as soon as possible. 

You want your new hire to know what to do from day one. Confusion leads to frustration.  Make sure you’ve considered the details of the training and positioning the new hire. 

In short, build the ideal position for the ideal applicant. 

Put these tools into practice to ensure you find the right applicant and bring them onto your team without any slowdowns or issues. 

Remember:
People, not processes, create sales success.

How a 30K Salesperson Becomes a 300K Salesperson

How a 30K Salesperson Becomes a 300K Salesperson

Sales is a lucrative career if you work it right; in fact, it’s perfectly attainable to scale your earnings up to six-figures through commission alone. Whether you’re looking to grow your pay on a commission-only basis or atop a base salary, it’s not a matter of pure...

How to Interview and Hire Top Producing Salespeople

How to Interview and Hire Top Producing Salespeople

When you're in sales, attracting top talent is tough. It may seem like everyone out there thinks they have what it takes to be a good salesperson, and working in sales would be a convenient career change. However, what you want is to find someone with the potential to...

Three Magic Words Every Salesperson Should Know

Three Magic Words Every Salesperson Should Know

We live in a world where the sales landscape changes at light speed every day. Being an effective salesperson in this environment is tricky and requires knowing how to approach both potential and existing clients to create and maintain all-important relationships....

Why Your Sales Incentive Program Doesn’t Work

Why Your Sales Incentive Program Doesn’t Work

Businesses are always looking for ways to improve performance and increase sales, especially in the wake of low-performing years such as 2020. Many try staff incentive programs to accomplish goals; the problem is … many of these plans fail. Avoiding some common sales...

What’s Your Deal: Production or Reduction?

What’s Your Deal: Production or Reduction?

Production and reduction both carry the benefit of potential increased profitability and risks of reduced profit. Learn how to decide between production and reduction, and how a sales consulting business like Sales Arbiter can help you make the right choice. An...

4 Steps to Landing Your Dream Client

4 Steps to Landing Your Dream Client

Whether you're a sales manager working for a huge conglomerate or you're a brand new entrepreneur just launching your business, you probably have a client you dream of landing.  You can land that dream client if you think strategically and implement the right...

How to Sell in a Down Market

How to Sell in a Down Market

Selling is tough in a down market, and the wrong approach could have serious consequences for your bottom line. Economic troubles can cause hardship for everyone, but salespeople are hit especially hard since they're dealing with an environment that makes it much...

3 Ways to Maximize Sales Territory Efficiency

3 Ways to Maximize Sales Territory Efficiency

Optimizing efficiency should be one of your priorities throughout your entire sales strategy, but it's especially important when it comes to sales territories. Sales territory management is one of the most important factors in any business's success. Even if your...

4 Tools You Need to Hire the Right Salesperson

4 Tools You Need to Hire the Right Salesperson

Hiring the right salesperson for your team can be tricky. You not only need someone with the right experience and talents, but the right personality and flare for selling what your business offers. Additionally, the chance of hiring the wrong person is a bit higher in...

10 Words Salespeople Should Avoid Using

10 Words Salespeople Should Avoid Using

When talking with prospects, most people know they should focus on the other person’s needs and attempt to provide solutions. But, did you know there are certain words you shouldn’t use or should avoid overusing? Statistically, many of these words actually reduce a...