Many companies struggle to hire great sales talent. While there are many reasons for this, the primary reason is that the top 10% candidates aren’t looking at job postings. Unless there is an internal recruiter working to seek out these top candidates, the pitch is limited to the job posting and the people who see it. You want the best talent, but if the best talent out there isn’t looking for a job and applying for your job, you end up with mediocre candidates that likely won’t drive the business forward as quickly or effectively as you would like. Enter sales recruiters.
Working with a recruiter to staff your sales team has many benefits that are backed by executives who rely on their recruiters to get them the top talent they need.
1. Better candidates
Reputable sales recruiters already know who the top 10% sales candidates are and how to reach them. They often already have relationships with these candidates. Ivan Lagace, VP Sales and Marketing at Logibec enlisted a recruiter to find a Sales Director that could win business while writing a playbook for a future sales force to follow. He raves about the candidate, saying, “She’s one of the best candidates I’ve hired in my career and I’ve been at this for 25 years.”
2. Higher acceptance rates
Great recruiters are also great salespeople. Once they identify the right candidate for a role, they pitch the opportunity and the company with enthusiasm and emphasize the advantages and benefits throughout the hiring process. So when it comes time to sign on the dotted line, the candidate is less likely to hesitate. Keith Nealon, President of Adaptive Insights, explained that the right recruiter can successfully “convince experienced sales talent to take a chance on emerging companies.”
3. Quicker process
A slow moving hiring process costs you money, especially if you interview and interview and don’t find the right fit. You’re devoting your time and energy away from your own duties which hinders productivity and profitability. Recruiters take many of the tasks involved in the hiring process off your plate, which expedites the hiring process.
Acumetrics, a business intelligence and data warehousing company in Toronto, worked with a recruiter to find a candidate with a very particular skill set. The recruiter found the right candidate at a competing organization and the process went from interview to offer in less than a week. Now that’s fast!
Better candidates, higher acceptance rates and a quicker process are only three of the many benefits of working with a recruiter. If you’re not working with a recruiter, Nealon at Adaptive Insights suggests, “You can spend weeks, even months, in search of the right candidate. Or you can work with someone that knows where to look and save yourself the headache.”