"George Humphries was excellent. Kept in touch through whole process and was very supportive to me as a candidate. Would recommend George any time"
Jain Goodall
Ten Essential Rules for Recruiting and Managing Salespeople
Introduction
Recruiting and managing salespeople is a critical part of any successful organisation. Finding the right people to join your sales team and turning them into successful sales professionals isn't easy. Recruiting and managing sales staff is fraught with pitfalls. Still, with a clear strategy, careful planning, and thoughtful execution, you can mitigate these risks. This article will discuss the essential rules for recruiting and managing salespeople and how to ensure that your sales team is successful.
Rule #1: Define Your Ideal Salesperson
The first step is to define your ideal salesperson. You may think this is obvious, but few sales managers dedicate the required time to truly think about the qualities, skills, sales style, values, and experience required. Make sure to consider both the hard and soft skills necessary for success in the role. Once you have a clear idea of what you're looking for, you can begin the process of sourcing and recruiting.
Handy Tip: Defining a Person Specification
Rule #2: Source Candidates Thoughtfully
When it comes to sourcing candidates for your sales team, it's essential to be thorough and deliberate. There are many different sourcing methods, and it's important to consider the pros and cons of each option. Job boards and social media can be cost-effective but time-consuming. Using a recruitment agency will yield results, save you time but will be more expensive than advertising yourself. Make sure to consider each option's cost, time, and effectiveness before deciding on the best method for your organisation.
Handy Tip: How to Choose a Recruitment Agency
Rule #3: Create a Comprehensive Recruiting Process
Once you've sourced potential candidates, it's time to create a comprehensive recruiting process. This process should include multiple stages, including initial screening, interviews, assessments, and background checks. The goal of the recruiting process is to identify the best candidates for the role and ensure they are a good fit for the organisation.
Handy Tip: Recruitment Process Checklist
Rule #4: Develop an Onboarding Strategy
Once you've identified the best candidate for the role, it's important to have an effective onboarding strategy in place. This strategy should include a comprehensive orientation program, training, and ongoing support. Onboarding should be thoughtfully designed to ensure that new salespeople are set up for success in their roles.
Handy Tip: Devising a Successful Onboarding Process
Rule #5: Set Clear Expectations
IMO, the essential rule for managing salespeople is to set clear expectations from the outset. So often, we hear from candidates baffled as to why they have been released from their employment as they thought they were meeting the firm's expectations. The goalposts simply weren't defined, and they were kicking the ball in a direction that differed to the expectations of their sales manager.
Setting clear expectations means that you must be very specific about what you expect from each salesperson and how they should perform. This includes setting Key Performance Indicators, Milestones and Measures for the first 30/60 and 90 days and after that.
Handy Tip: Motivating Your Sales Team
Rule #6: Hold Regular Meetings
Make sure that everyone on the team understands exactly what their role is, what their job duties are, and what their goals are. Ensure all expectations are communicated in detail, everyone is on the same page, and there is a mechanism to track and measure. With new starters have a formal review meeting at the end of each week for at last three months. Thereafter, once successful habits and patterns are in place, formal review meetings can be less frequent.
Team meetings should also be held to review progress, discuss any challenges, and motivate the team. Have an agenda for each meeting and ensure everyone is aware of it. These meetings should be held at least once a week and focus on both the progress of the team and each individual salesperson. While modern management wisdom is, quite correctly, to manage 'individuals as individuals', competition in a sales team can be a healthy and powerful force.
Handy Tip: The Importance of Key Performance Indicators
Rule #7: Actively Ask How You Can Support Your Team
Your sales team needs to know that they can count on you for support. Be available to answer questions, provide feedback, and help them solve problems. Encourage them to take the initiative to ask for specific support and perhaps make it part of the agenda for their weekly review meeting. Empower them to come up with creative solutions but be there for them and ensure they have the resources and tools they need to succeed.
Handy Tip: Managing Remote and Hybrid Sales Teams
Rule #8: Provide Continuous Training and Development
Continuous training and development is essential for any successful sales team. Invest in sales training and development programs that will help your salespeople stay up to date with the latest techniques and strategies. Provide them with learning and development opportunities so that they can grow and develop their skills. Buy them books and reward them for listening to sales audiobooks en route to visiting clients. At least once per year, appoint an external sales trainer to focus on improving a particular development area. Ensure you have a mechanism to track and measure the improvements you have made. Carefully choose a sales methodology that suits your style and slowly formally implement this into your team for the long-term. Get your sales team to sell in the same style for a consistent customer experience.
Handy Tip: Our Recommended Sales Books for all Levels of Sales Professionals
Rule #9: Recognise and Reward Performance
Recognising and rewarding sales performance will help motivate your team to do their best. Make sure that you are giving out rewards for a job well done, whether in the form of bonuses, promotions, or public recognition.
Handy Tip: How to Reward Sales Staff Without Breaking Your Budget
Rule #10: Monitor Performance
You need to be able to monitor the performance of your sales team in order to identify any areas that need improvement. Set up systems and processes to track individual and team performance. Use this data to identify problems and areas where additional training or support may be needed. Modern CRM systems' gamify' sales data which encourages healthy competition in your sales team and also makes it fun!
Conclusion
Recruiting salespeople is a critical part of any successful organisation. It requires careful planning, thoughtful sourcing, and a comprehensive recruiting process. Managing sales staff is even harder but by following the rules outlined above, you can ensure that your team is successful and motivated to do their best.
By following these essential rules for recruiting and managing salespeople, you can ensure that you find the best people for your team and set them up for success.
by Sam Childerley
Recruitment Consultant
About the author
Sam Childerley
Sam Childerley is a Business & Marketing professional who started his recruitment career in 2021. He is a specialist recruitment consultant, who operates across in the UK and is based out of our Milton Keynes Office. Sam is dedicated to helping job seekers and employers find the right fit for each other and believes that the best decisions within recruitment are made when both sides are happy. He is passionate about developing the best possible recruitment experience for everyone involved and is committed to providing the best advice and support to employers and job seekers alike.
Please call us to discuss your vacancy
From our blog
Our employers say...
Our candidates say...