Everything in your life is a reflection of a choice you have made. If you want a different result, make a different choice.” – Unknown
If this statement is true, your sales team’s attitude and output are a product of the decisions you make as a leader and hiring manager. It also means that if you wish to alter these things, you need to make different choices in terms of the who, why and how you hire sales talent, which all boils down to improving your sales hiring process.
“You need to approach the hiring process with the same degree of fierce professionalism as you would the development of a strategic plan or the design of a new product or service.”This is valuable advice from Les McKeown, the founder of an organizational growth and leadership development model called Predictable Success.
Once you’ve made the decision to improve your sales hiring process, these four tips will help you do it.
1. Know what you’re looking for
What are the top five skills and behaviour traits you believe a candidate needs to possess in order to excel in the role you’re looking to fill?
By creating a clear snapshot of what experience, knowledge, skills, attitudes, and behaviours you really need in the ideal candidate, you’ll be better equipped to attract, identify and retain top talent.
2. Clearly define the role
Generic job descriptions aren’t effective in any hiring scenario. Toss your template and start fresh.
Define what you will be expecting from your ideal candidate right off the bat, what mission they will be tasked with accomplishing and how the role will benefit them.
It’s much more cost-effective and time-efficient to set expectations upfront starting with the job description than it is to have a conversation about “performance,” or worse, let a “bad hire” go and start the hiring process all over again.
3. Get another set of eyes involved
Think of a time when you’ve been buried in writing a report or completing a project. When it comes time to review it, everything seems fine to you. It’s only when you get someone else to take a look that mistakes or areas for improvement are identified.
The same thing can happen during your hiring process. That’s why it’s a good idea to invite key members of your team to get involved and meet your top candidates. This can help reveal any red flags that you may miss or provide clarity and confirmation that a candidate is the right fit.
4. Turn to the experts
Recruiters have hiring processes in place that have been tried, tested and validated and can alleviate an enormous amount of hiring stress by identifying and presenting top contenders based on the skills and experience you’re looking for, their potential business impact and overall fit.