After 32 year in education, the elementary principal was retiring. She spent the first 19 years in her career teaching in various grades in elementary schools throughout her district. Once she became a principal, she served that position in two different buildings in the same district. Knowing that it was time to leave full time classroom and school building work, she was not quite ready to be finished working, but she was not yet ready to be completely retired.
About eight weeks before she reached the end of her last school year, an excellent solution presented itself. A national textbook company was in need of a local sales representative. A sales recruitment specialist contacted the soon to be retired principal about the textbook sales position. It was a perfect match. Although the principal had never thought about sales as a career before, she knew the product, understood the needs of the schools she would be visiting, and she understood the timing and the process of the school budget process.
Hiring Sales People Is the Secret to Business Success
The success of a company obviously depends upon many things. First, of all the product or service that a company offers must be something that customers want or need. Secondly, knowledgable staff who are willing to support the company mission make employee to customer exchanges positive and memorable. In many industries and services, however, the reliability of the product or service and the knowledge of the staff will not make any money if a qualified sales team is not doing its job.
Sales recruitment specialists can make sure that a company is staffed with the most qualified sales people available. In fact, a the best sales recruitment specialists can quickly determine the needs of a business and provide a nearly perfect staffing match. Whether a textbook company is looking for new product sales people, or whether an investment firm is looking for a sales person to find new retirement plan investors, sales recruitment specialists can make sure that the best people are trained and available for every job.
Consider the following statistics about the sales industry:
- 22 million sales professionals are in North America.
- 32% of the sales people in America have only been with their company less than 12 months.
- 40% of the sales people in North America will miss quota.
- 22% of the sales people in North America are untrainable.
- 10% of the sales people in North America will actually provide a return on investment (ROI).
- 44% of sales people will give up after the first “no.”
- The cost of a sales hiring mistake can be as high as six to ten times the cost of that person’s salary.
Working with recruitment agencies can help any business increase their chance of getting a ROI from the staff that they hire. In fact, failing to work with an agency and a staff of sales recruitment specialists can lead to costly hiring errors and practices. So costly, in fact, that these mishires can actually be detrimental to the long range success of a company.
The best sales staffing agency matches successful candidates with very specific job openings. Finding a retired school teacher and principal for a national textbook company, for example, is an indicator that the agency understands the market, understands the product, and understands the customer. In a specific setting like the school environment, for instance, the recruiting sales staff understands that teachers and principals may not want to make seven year long textbook purchases from an unknown, and the them unreliable, sales person. Instead, these school employees are more likely to purchase from a reputable and knowledgable former educator.
Don’t Let Costly Hiring Mistakes Damage the Future of Your Company
You may have an excellent product or service and you may have well trained and informed employees, but without the best sales staff your company may not achieve the success that you want. Many businesses find that they very best way for them to connect with the very best sales people in their specific industries is to work through a recruiting agency. These agencies have a wealth of resources they use to help you find the perfect sales person or people you need.
