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Hiring and Retaining The Best Sales Reps

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In today`s competitive market companies need to have polished, high performance sales reps. Unfortunately, finding and retaining high quality sales professionals is one of the biggest challenges facing small businesses.

Often, companies end up taking the easy way out by hiring a friend or relative--or by compromising and hiring someone who only has some of the necessary skills. These decisions frequently end up in disaster. Loss of opportunities, lower revenues, and time wasted in training are only some of the problems brought on by such choices.

K.Coaching recognizes this challenge and has created an interview and training guide to make the process easier and more effective for business owners. The guide includes a sample job description, enlightening interview questions, an assessment process and tool to measure the applicant`s compatibility with the job requirements, and more. Best of all, the guide is designed to work with our 5-step approach to hiring The Best Sales Reps.

The 5-Step Approach to Hiring The Best Sales Reps

Detail the Position You Are Looking to Fill--including the required knowledge, responsibilities, skills and core competencies. Having clear expectations in these areas makes it easier to identify and attract candidates who are best suited to your organizations` needs and culture.

Create an Evaluation and Selection Process. A hiring process can help you avoid having to hire from a pool of one. Once you begin receiving responses, however, you also need a reliable system for narrowing the field. The first step is to eliminate any résumé that doesn`t put the candidate`s best foot forward. A lack of professionalism on paper will show up in their performance as well. Then, arrange telephone interviews to screen the remaining applicants. How do they present themselves by phone? Is this what you want your customers to hear?

Interview Around Core Competencies. Too often the interview becomes about likability and going with the gut, rather than finding out if the candidate truly possesses the traits to succeed in the position. To combat this we have determined 13 core competencies for successful sales reps. You`ll have much more hiring success if you define which ones you are looking for and create standard interview questions aimed at discovering how well the candidate meets them.

Share Your Expectations. Determine what the rep`s goals will be and how they will be measured, held accountable, and rewarded before the interview so you can share that information with the candidate. After all, how can an applicant know whether they want the job and if they`ll be able to succeed without knowing what will be required of them? Remember-they are interviewing you as much as you are them.

Provide a Quality Training and Orientation Program. The first day on the job should be motivating and exciting for the new representative. I remember showing up for my first day at work once where I was given a dusty desk with coffee stains in a hallway. This did not make a good first impression and I didn`t head home feeling like I was a valued or anticipated member of the company. Take you new rep out for lunch and make them feel welcome. Share the company vision and how they will be an integral part of both the team and the company`s success. Communicate your expectations clearly and review the sales training as well as the company orientation training with them so they get off to a strong start.

Finally, don`t wait until you have an opening to start looking for new sales reps. Finding and retaining great people should be an ongoing process and a commitment to excellence for your organization.

Source:
http://www.eyesonsales.com/content/article/hiring_and_retaining_the_best_sales_r
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