Many companies have a undisciplined approach to sales hiring: the approach changes depending on the urgency of the hire, the availability of candidates and the mood of the hiring team. It is no surprise that no more 50% of sales people meet targets in most sectors.
Look around and you will see a direct correlation between the amount of structure in a company’s hiring process and the percentage of reps at target. Structure leads to results.
As an example, one of our customers is a national-level company that invested in Peak’s structured sales recruiting system last year after having gone through several years of mediocre sales results. The problem could be traced back to an odd mixture of different types of sales people in the sales function – many of which didn’t have the traits required to successfully sell for our customer. Despite best intentions, there were no hiring systems in place, so across the company sales people were selected by hiring managers with no training and no clear or consistent approach to hiring winners.
Here is why a structured sales hiring process works:
1. Better Hire – having a clear picture of skills and DNA that are required as well as a standard set of screening and interviewing techniques will radically enhance the chances of consistently hiring the right person and this alone might be the only reason to structure your hiring process.
2. Saves Time – with structure, there is less time spent interviewing the wrong people, or second guessing assumptions and having more meetings than are necessary to make a hiring decision.
3. Stay on Plan – if the hiring process is ad-hoc, hiring managers are likely to modify the hiring criteria on the fly, which leads to hiring a person that doesn’t support the sales plan. Documented requirements and evaluation techniques act as a communication tool and keep everyone involved in the hiring process focused on making the right hire.
Even a little structure in the sales hiring process will have a positive impact on sales hiring results and a highly structured approach will virtually guarantee that a company makes the right sales hire every time.
To learn more about this see our guide Make the Right Sales Hire Every Time.
To your success!
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Eliot Burdett
Eliot received his B. Comm. from Carleton University and has been honored as a Top 40 Under 40 Award winner.
He co-authored Sales Recruiting 2.0, How to Find Top Performing Sales People, Fast and provides regular insights on sales team management and hiring on the Peak Sales Recruiting Blog.
Latest posts by Eliot Burdett (see all)
- 20 Of Our Favorite Books About Sales Management and Sales Leadership – October 20, 2023
- How To Make Progress On Your Sales Goal Without A Sales Leader – September 15, 2021
- Augment Your Recruiting Strategy During “The Great Resignation” – July 26, 2021
