Recently, I heard a frustrated CEO proclaim on a conference call, "We need to focus on laid off salespeople from the following companies..." He proceeded to name several of the top technology companies.
I saved the CEO from embarrassment and called him back to share the bad news. I told him that with rare exception, hiring someone else's laid off salespeople is not good sales hiring strategy.
While this strategy will get the occasional star performer, they will be few and far between.
Hiring another company's layoffs will mostly hire someone else's retreads and losers.
The best sales candidates already have jobs and are not applying.
Why the best salespeople are NOT applying.
The best salespeople already have jobs and they are well taken care of.
Smart Sales Managers and Sales VPs know precisely who their best salespeople are and they work tirelessly to retain them. They fully-realize that their best salespeople produce more than TWICE that of the average salesperson and more than TEN TIMES that of their bottom performers. They are going to to do everything possible to keep their best salespeople engaged and happy while seeking additional high potential salespeople.
The ONLY way you are going to identify and hire the best salespeople is if you hunt for them through an effective sales recruitment program.
Chance-based hiring is ineffective.
Ask any CEO about the importance of the hiring and retention of quality sales talent and they will tell you that it is essential to have the best sales talent possible. But of course.
Yet more often than not, when I look under the hood at the existing sales hiring practices of most companies, I find a sales hiring process inherently built to attract sales retreads and losers.
The result is way too many salespeople are hired based on an interview and reference checks alone.
The result is lost sales opportunities and a long-term competitive disadvantage.
A data-driven sales hiring approach incorporates sales personality testing that objectively measures Behaviors, Motivators, Acumen, and Skills in combination with a structured interview and reference check.
Get yourself a competent sales recruiter.
Interested people do what is convenient. Committed people do whatever it takes.
Which are you?
If you are committed to hiring only the best salespeople possible, then you must expect to hunt for them through a competent sales recruiter. You can certainly build your own sales recruitment team or you can outsource it.
If you currently do not have a solid sales recruitment team, I strongly recommend you hire the best sales recruiter if you want to reach the peak of your sales potential.
If you are going to seek outside sales recruitment services, keep in mind that not all sales recruiters are competent. Finding people to send your way is easy but finding the right salespeople is very difficult. I find that most sales recruiters fall in love with their candidates and do not benchmark the sales role effectively to truly know what is needed to do the job well. Few sales recruiters use a valid sales personality test with validity backed by brain-research.
If you would like to learn the name of the only recruiter we recommend, drop me a line.
