Eight Steps to Recruit High-Tech Sales Professionals
Failing is not an option
by Steven Morgan, SalesRecruits
Back in the mid-1980's as the founder of a niche company focused on implementing large-scale document management systems — and then later in my career as a VP for Sales at two of the world's largest software companies — my greatest challenges were recruiting effective sales people and sales managers. After working as a consultant to mid-market and larger software companies for several years, I concluded that most software companies were failing at recruiting sales professionals…and they didn't know what to do about it.
1 - DO-IT-YOURSELF
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PriceWaterHouseCoopers and Unifi Network issued a report on IT companies that revealed some startling statistics around the business of recruiting: 86.8% of the companies surveyed were using newspapers as a recruiting method, but only 6.4% of those companies said that was a "very effective" method. 64.6% of the companies surveyed were using search firms as a recruiting method, but only 20.4% of those companies said that was a "very effective" method.
72.2% of the companies surveyed were using recruiting websites as a recruiting method, but only 25% of those companies said that was a "very effective" method.
In summary, the most popular recruiting methods were not working very effectively for these companies. The first step towards an effective recruiting process is a resolve to internalize the recruitment process and Do-It-Yourself.
2 - THE RIGHT RECRUITER
Don't trivialize the recruitment process or consider the candidate identification and initial pre-screen process to be an administrative task. Finding the right candidates is mission-critical. It takes a good salesperson or a savvy researcher to develop your candidate pool (ideally passive job seekers who are successful and happy in their current position).
I know the CEO of a small software company who recently sourced candidates himself, did the initial interviews, and ultimately hired a top performer. This hire could mean millions of dollars to his business. He could have easily said that he didn't have time for this and handed it off to an administrative assistant or HR person with no sales recruiting experience. He never would have gotten the same result.
3 - DEVELOP A HIRING TEMPLATE
Too many software executives and hiring managers rely on their gut instinct when it comes to interviewing and ranking sales candidates. Avoid this trap by developing a hiring template with important criteria likely to have an impact on performance. The criteria should include vertical market experience, technology experience, sales performance history, and more (perhaps how far does the candidate live from your office?).
Each person involved in the hiring process should rate the candidate on a scale of 0-10 in each of these categories. Then produce a combined weighted score for the candidate. This process will bring down your margin of error for hiring the wrong person.
4 - ROLE-PLAYING
My philosophy when it comes to interviewing sales people is 'show me', don't 'tell me'. When I let them tell me, it's always the same thing - "I was instrumental in doubling our revenue…", "I left because my boss was difficult and didn't…", "Our CEO was a visionary but he wasn't able to…" - etc. Tell the candidate that you'd like to role play with them (be fair and keep it to their current and previous selling situations). You play the CIO, and the candidate plays the salesperson. Then walk through a sample telephone or in-person sales call with the candidate. The alternative is to wait until the salesperson visits a prospect with you - only to learn the ugly truth a month after hiring the person.
5 - VERIFY INCOME
Experience tells us that salespeople will often make outlandish claims about their sales performance and their income. Don't be duped. If you are interested in a candidate, then ask for their most recent W-2, and for the two years priors. This is a legal, professional, and best practice for smart hiring companies. Banks do it to make sure they have credible borrowers. You should do it to make sure you have a credible candidate. If the candidate lies to you, then they will lie to your customers. Don't hire candidates when comments from their interview don't line up with their W-2s.
6 - CHECK REFERENCES
The most appropriate reference is a customer. If during the course of the interview the salesperson says they've successfully sold to CIOs, then ask for at least a couple of CIO references. If the salesperson legitimately sold to them, and conducted themselves in a professional manner, then providing those references should be no problem.
7 - CUSTOMER INTERVIEW
If you have a close relationship with a few customers, then ask one or more of them to meet with your finalist candidate(s). Find out what a real customer thinks of the candidate's personality, demeanor, market knowledge, and ability to solve complex business problems with software/IT solutions.
8 - COMP PLAN REVIEW
Show candidates a spreadsheet that reflects data about commissions, sales projections, and other sales metrics. Reverse engineer the numbers down to their most basic level - for instance, how many cold calls per day a rep will have to make to generate a million dollars in sales per year. The purpose of this exercise is to gain consensus between hiring manager and candidate as to what the job really entails, and to set proper expectations. Recruiting sales professionals is an art and a science. By internalizing the process, treating each hire as a strategic project, and implementing the steps outlined above, you are more likely to hire top sales performers who can make a positive impact on your business.
