Additionally, paste this code immediately after the opening tag:

How To Hire The Best Salespeople For Your Sales Team

Posted on April 6, 2017

A great, in-demand product is only one part of a successful sales organization. Talented, motivated salespeople are more often than not the secret to sales success.

But finding that talent isn’t easy. Skilled applicants may get overlooked because of a resume with gaps or unconventional experiences, while all-talk no-walk interviewees can dazzle during an interview, only to disappoint on the job. Not everyone is cut out for the cold calls, the small talk, the pitching, the schmoozing, and the rejection. Frequently replacing employees is expensive and time-consuming.

Before you embark on your next round of hiring, consider the following tips to help you hire the best salespeople.

Don’t wait for applicants to come to you

The best salespeople for your organization might not be actively looking for a new role. So hunt for hires like you would for prospects. Use LinkedIn to find sales professionals who communicate the kind of experience, qualities and achievements you’re looking for, consult those in your professional and personal networks, and ask your top-performing employees for recommendations. Keep your eyes open for candidates in your day-to-day life, too. Blown away by the sales savvy and service of the car dealership employee? Ask for their card and give them a call.

Consider diverse backgrounds and experiences

It’s natural to want to seek out candidates who have experience selling in your industry. But that requirement narrows the candidate pool and may eliminate talented, versatile sales professionals who would otherwise be a perfect fit. Some sales managers may insist on candidates with nearly identical professional experience, but the quality of experience, rather than the specific type, is often a better indicator of future success. For example, a sales rep who had the highest numbers three years in a row selling branded apparel may be just the person to peddle your education software.

Some hiring managers are even getting rid of sales experience as a requirement all together, instead looking for a professional history that delivers the kinds of personal characteristics that a sales team needs, such as people skills, resourcefulness, positivity, proactiveness, organization and creativity. Qualifying candidates without sales experience requires much more legwork and poses a greater risk, but it could pay off by imbuing your team with a fresh perspective and approach.

Look beyond charisma and confidence

Strong salespeople are often characterized by their confident nature and charming, charismatic personalities. And while those are good qualities for any employee working directly with customers, they’re not the only qualities that matter. What’s more important than confidence and charisma? Coachability and resilience.

As many longtime sales managers can attest to, an overly confident sales rep often finds it difficult to accept and implement advice, making them difficult to work with and to position for success. Look for a candidate who expresses an interest in learning and adapting. Coachable salespeople make for better employees and more effective team members.

Resilience is equally important. Rejection is to be expected in sales jobs and reps who consistently react with anger, self-pity or resignation waste time and energy. Set out to discover how a candidate has dealt with challenges and defeat before. The ability to learn from lost sales and quickly rebound is key to sales success.

Ask these five questions

You don’t have to get rid of the sales rep-customer role play (“Sell me something”) but do consider asking these questions in your next interview with a prospective hire:

How do you research prospects and what information do you look for?

Why: to find out how resourceful your candidate is, and how they use research to tailor their sales approach.

When do you declare a deal lost? What do you do with lost deals?

Why: to get a sense of how persistent the candidate is, and if and how they analyze lost deals.

What tools, apps and platforms do you utilize in your sales career?

Why: to discover how digitally engaged an interviewee is, and how they’re making use of social media and other tools to help them sell.

Would you ever turn a prospect down, or walk away first?

Why: to make sure your candidate knows the value of walking away from a prospective client who won’t truly benefit from their product or service, or whose business isn’t the best fit for the organization.

What’s your own secret recipe for successful selling?

Why: to get an explanation of what personal or unique tactics an interviewee has come to rely on in their career.

Book a Free Discovery Session

Do you have a question? Do you want to start a project? Get in touch.

Name(Required)

Get In Touch With Us

Whether you need industry advice, a product demo or consultation on your next project, contact App Solve for all the resources you need to plan and grow your business.

Toronto Office
1050 King Street West
Toronto
M6K 0C7

"*" indicates required fields

Name*

What Our Customers Are Saying

Digitcom hired AppSolve to streamline Digitcom's processes from Quote to Cash. A digital service provider, Digitcom's requirements are challenging and AppSolve's thorough knowledge of Service Cloud and AccountingSeed ERP and Financial Suite made them uniquely qualified to help.
AppSolve delivered a comprehensive overview of Digitcom's processes. They simplified systems by eliminating half of the business tools currently in use, resulting in more cohesive work flows at a lower monthly spend.
AppSolve's team faced external challenges multiple times during their engagement with us, but managed to keep tightly to their deadlines and deliverables while maintaining a high-quality, professional service.

Digitcom Telecommunications Inc.

"A great long term partner. The team at App Solve has helped us implement several strategically valuable modules, custom design, and workflow processes to our org. We have been working with them for four years now. They understand our business needs and help us scope projects appropriately for our requirements and budget. Planning projects is always difficult when we don't understand the complexity of some challenges. They help us navigate appropriately and are reasonable to work with when original plans inevitably end up drifting into something different than first envisioned."

Craig MacAdam, CFO | Lift North America

"Great team to work with! App Solve knows their stuff. They helped to get Pardot integrated with Salesforce, and I am excited to see what we can do with it."

Dawn Jones, Director of Marketing | Kraun Electric Inc.

"Exceptional work and customer service! We contracted App Solve to help us with an implementation roadmap project and feasibility study. We were very pleased with the level of service they provided, the clarity of communication, and the attention we received. All our needs were addressed! I strongly recommend App Solve, their level of expertise, and customer service are unparalleled."

Asia Nebesnaia, IT Project Manager | Cox Automotive Canada Company

"The App Solve team was very knowledgeable, organized, and worked diligently to set up Salesforce and Pardot within a tight timeframe. We enjoyed working with everyone on the project and appreciated the guidance along the way."

Simon Dealy, CEO | HIRE Technologies

"Experienced partner with good staff. We did our first project with App Solve this past summer. It was implemented professionally and has had a positive impact on our business. The staff are responsive and know their stuff. We will definitely use them again."

Aaron Jones, CEO | Kraun Electric Inc.

"Highly skilled and easy to work with! I’ve been working with App Solve for several years as a Salesforce partner and a software implementor of our platform - Accounting Seed. In my experiences with App Solve, they've been spot on with respect to the Accounting Seed and Salesforce value proposition and I've had countless successful project roll-outs with our mutual customers! Cheers to many more, App Solve!"

Anthony Schermer, Senior Account Executive | Accounting Seed

"App Solve is great to work with, they take the time to understand our business and how best to implement Salesforce solutions to meet our objectives. Very knowledgeable team to work with our company as we rolled out Salesforce across North America to 12 cities, implementing our entire business. It was a pleasure doing business with App Solve. Thank you."

John Chiaramonte, Senior Business Development Executive | Enwave North America LP.

"Extremely pleased. David and his team have been a dream to work with. They are very responsive and complete projects in a timely manner. They also take the time to thoroughly explain things to a novice Salesforce user. I look forward to working with David in the future!"

Sierra Hayes, Operations Manager | Dream Local Digital

"Great Group to work with. We have used App Solve a few times and they have been great to work with. They were very knowledgeable and showed a willingness to work with or organization. I will use them for future consultation."

Chris Haase, President | Environmental Products Group

"We worked with the App Solve team to implement Salesforce for our organization, including the main system architecture and setting up the data model needed for our business. They have been a true partner in getting us rolling with Salesforce and have also been of great assistance in tackling smaller projects after the implementation was largely completed."

Gregory Kennedy, Controller | Generis

"Fantastic experience working with Pattie & David. Our company recently completed the transition to Lightning with the competent, guiding hand of Pattie. This transition provided us the perfect opportunity to fix an ongoing issue that was caused by a custom-built feature. Pattie & her team took the time to clearly understand the issue and to take the proper steps to fix it. I would highly recommend App Solve to anyone looking to integrate Salesforce into their business."

Lee-Anne Golden, Managing Director | Urban Flats Toronto

"A true partner. The team at App Solve is amazing. We have truly valued their expertise and consider them a partner, helping us maximize our Salesforce experience. They have been lifesavers on more projects than I can count. We look forward to a long and productive relationship. 5 stars all around!"

Kerrie LePage, Director of Marketing and Product Management | Edenred Commuter Benefit Solutions

"*" indicates required fields

Name*
Share This