Hiring the best sales people is a serious challenge for many business owners and managers, despite the fact that there are some 22 million sales professionals in North America. While there are lots of factors that make it difficult for employers to find and hire the right people, some of the most influential are mistakes made by executives and hiring managers during the hiring process. In order to avoid them, many business owners will turn to recruiting firms. They can help prevent some of the many costly hiring mistakes that are often made in every industry.
One of the biggest errors that businesses make when hiring sales people is failing to properly define the role that needs to be filled. Without proper sales job descriptions, it can be hard for employers to determine exactly what they are looking for. At times, it can be tough to define a job, especially if the individual who gets hired will be asked to do several different things, but determining the role before even beginning to accept resumes is always smart.
When a job is well-defined, hiring managers should look to find candidates who fit the position. Others, however, make the mistake of searching for negative information that prove why candidates will not be a good fit. While noticing red flags is always important, employers should be looking for the strengths of candidates first, rather than their flaws. When hiring sales people, this is important for making sure no talented individual slips through the cracks and gets overlooked completely.
Of course, there are also countless mistakes that are made during the actual interview process. One of the most destructive is talking too much and not letting candidates say enough about themselves. Interviewers need to say some things about the job and, of course, they have to ask questions, but talking too much will not only limit the amount of time a candidate has to sell themselves, but possibly even turn them off from the position entirely.
The list of hiring mistakes that businesses make is long and these three, though some of the most detrimental, are not the only ones. When hiring sales people, avoiding them is always wise, especially since sales teams are so vital to the success of every business. For many, the best option is simply hiring recruiters who can handle a majority of the workload and others will try to learn from their past errors. Either way, the proper hiring techniques are vital for building a successful business.
