22 As with marketing and sales, strong recruit- ment involves understanding your ideal tar- get and intersecting with them at the right opportunity. Of course, that requires being able to see things from their point of view. We surveyed some of the best sales talent on the market to do exactly that, and based on their responses, we’ve developed a four- part series of articles to help sales manag- ers understand them better. To get the ball rolling, we start with where it all begins – re- cruitment. Finding Recruits If you’re only recruiting when you have a job opening, then you’re missing out on a lot of great opportunities to keep talent on tap. You can rest assured that someone is always go- ing to leave their position eventually, wheth- er it’s promotion, retirement, or leaving the company due to illness or to pursue new life goals, not to mention when your competi- tion poaches your top sellers. You should al- ways be ready to fill a gap on your team to maintain a workflow that’s as consistent as possible. THE SELLER’S PERSPECTIVE ON RECRUITMENT How Salespeople with the “Right Stuff” Find the Right Fit But where should you look for them? That depends a little on who you’re trying to hire, but we found some consistent “hot spots” that attracted the top sellers we talked to. Referrals, for instance, is a top choice for why our respondents applied to their company, as is LinkedIn and, to a lesser degree, other job posting sites like Indeed. In one notable case, it was actually a radio advertisement for the sales position that caught the seller’s attention. Make sure to check out our 2017 Recruitment Study in this section to get a bet- ter handle on exactly where our client com- panies found their sales superstars last year. How Are THEY Finding YOU? Top salespeople have a competitive, proac- tive approach to their work, and sometimes that extends to how they approach getting a job with a company. While many of your best candidates are passive candidates, currently employed elsewhere, some may have their radar up for strong opportunities. Rather than waiting to be discovered, these active candidates may reach out and make their interest known. If you do not have an open position, it will be important that you nurture these relationships in your talent bank until the time you can finally bring them aboard.