When sales managers are working to build their talent bank with qualified candidates, it's not easy. Couple that with your desire to have the very best sales talent in there, it gets quite a bit harder.
10 Tips to Help You Find the Best Superstar Sales Talent
1. Advertising the Job Opening
Choosing a job platform or job site that's a good fit for you and the candidates you're looking for is important. When you're selecting this platform or site, ensure it has job upload software that is compatible with most formats of resumes. Resumés no longer just come in Word docs anymore. There's a lot of creativity out there, and we want to foster and embrace that creativity, ensuring that candidates that use creative resources for their resumés can easily upload their resume, and you can easily download and read it.
2. LinkedIn
Utilize LinkedIn for both paid and free promotion of your job openings. Typically, this is a go-to source for a lot of hiring managers, whether they are seeking candidates to engage with or looking to be thought leaders to attract quality candidates through an inbound approach.
If you use LinkedIn:
- Ensure that if you're posting thought leadership-type content from your company, and share about your company culture, which will resonate well with job seekers. It's less about us seeking them, but them seeking and looking for the best company to work for.
- Tell a story about the person you're looking to hire to paint a picture - who's the right fit for your company?
- If you're using LinkedIn as a paid resource, consider all the main things you'd consider for advertising on any hiring platform.
3. Client Referrals
Take it a step beyond just, "Who do you know that would be a good fit for this company?" or "Who do you know that's a really good salesperson?" Ask for referrals similar to this:
- "Who do you know that has a dedication to delivering client results?
- "Who do you know that doesn't take 'No' for an answer and will continue to come back and present a solution until it makes sense?"
Talk through the behaviors you're looking for and paint a picture with those behaviors so that your client referral will be more directed to someone who would be a good fit.
4. Employee Referrals
Similar to client referrals is employee referrals. You might even consider a bonus if a current employee refers a new hire and they stick around for a certain amount of time. It's a great incentive, and a great way to increase employee engagement.
5. College Connections
If you're located in a city or area where there are colleges or universities, take advantage of the networking opportunities! Find a way to incorporate yourself into their career placement path, and participate in events like job fairs. This allows you to be front-and-center and have conversations with potential candidates. Even though these candidates may not have experience, remember that you're looking for sales talent! We know that sales talent, with the right coaching and development, can lead to sales superstars!
6. Hire a Recruiter
Incorporate an internal recruiter into your HR department who focuses on finding your next superstar sales talent. Having them in your company and in your company culture, might help them resonate with potential candidates.
7. Internship Program
There's an opportunity to foster the growth of sales talent through creating an internship program. Again, don't get stuck on the experience they have, but think more along the lines of if they would be a good for the organization. An internship program allows you to see if they would benefit from working for you by giving them tasks and related responsibilities where you can see their talents develop and grow.
8. Internal Candidates from Other Departments
You might be surprised, but there might be an employee at your company that gets excited when he/she sees your team cheering for the successes and wins that your team has. Invite internal candidates to talk with you to talk about the sales culture that you have to see if they might be a good fit.
9. Competitors
There are a lot of people who are dissatisfied with their jobs. So if you're promoting what a great place your company is to work at, it gives you all the more might to possibly recruit some superstar sales talent from your competitors.
10. Former Employees
Employees that left in the past on good terms might have ideas and recommendations on superstar talent that could be a good fit. They know what it's like to work at your company and work for you, and they could be a wealth of knowledge with some great recommendations to finding superstar sales talent.
These are 10 simple tips and ways to identify and recruit superstar sales talent for your organization. Try multiple ideas to cast your net as wide as possible to attract, engage with, and recruit your next superstar sales talent.
