5 Steps to Finding Best-in-Class Salespeople for Your Business

Having a great sales team is easy if you hire great salespeople. You must pick people that understand that consumers don’t want anything to do with overly pushy salespeople. They don’t want products or services shoved down their throats. Today’s consumers want solutions to problems that your company provides and only when they need them. It is the job of best-in-class salespeople to understand this in their sales process. That means it is even more important that you know how to pick these best-in-class performers for your sales team.

Podcast Time Index for “Building a Best in Class Sales Team”

00:26 – Building a Best in Class Sales Team
01:39 – Sales People must fit the culture of the Company
04:05 – Screening
07:24 – Initial Face-to-Face Interview
09:41 – Role Play Skills
11:19 – Inspection of Sales Activities and Results
13:35 – Summary

5 Steps to Hiring Best-in-Class Salespeople for Your Business

So how in the world do you hire the “right” salespeople? How do you weed out the sour apples from among your batch of potential hires?

1. Understand the Type of Person You’re Looking to Hire

Well, right off the bat, you’re going to have to understand what you expect of your salespeople. What kind of work ethic do you want them to have? Are you going to demand excellence from them? How do you expect them to interact with potential customers, actual clients, and other team members? To whom will they be accountable? You must outline your expectations in detail before you look for new team members, so you know the type of person you’re looking for and the type of culture you’re creating.

2. Start the Screening Process

Once you know who you’re looking for, it’s time to start the employee screening process. As salespeople apply for your open position, have them take a personality assessment like the DISC assessment or 16 Personalities, and follow it up with a values assessment like Barrett’s Personal Values Assessment. Then, review the results of the assessments to see if any of the applicants’ personalities and values fit in with the culture of your company.

3. Have an Initial Face-to-Face Interview

Next comes an initial face-to-face interview with sales applicants who passed your screening process. Review the results of the assessments with them. What do they say? What do they leave unsaid? Lay out your expectations for your sales team members that you created in Step #1 to see how they respond. Do they have positive attitudes and team-oriented mentalities? Are they up-front and responsive to your behavioral contracts and compensation packages? Use this time to vet out candidates whose attitudes and values don’t align with your core values and your company’s ethos.

4. Meet Again for Sales Role-Playing

Typically, if applicants “pass” Step #3, you will ask them to return for a second face-to-face meeting. Yet, this time, you want to test their sales skills. You want them to “sell” you a product or service so that you can see how they interact with customers. Are they too pushy or too passive? Can they handle the pressure? Additionally, you want to see if they’re experts in this field. Do they know your products or services? Can they sell you something as simple as a pen?

5. Inspect Prior Sales Activities

Finally, before you offer sales applicants employment in your company, you want to inspect their prior sales activities. Ask for commission and income verification. Call their references. Look at their calendars and schedules. In other words, make sure your potential sales hires aren’t “selling” you false information.

ADDITIONAL READING: How to Hire the Right Employees for New Business Owners

Conclusion

You see, you must take your time and hire the right salespeople. Be slow about finding best-in-class salespeople because you can build a best-in-class sales team if you hire right. If you hire wrong, you better be quick on the fire. You don’t have any time to lose when you’re trying to increase the value of your business.  Be sure to listen to my podcast for more information, and join me for my next business growth article, where I’ll be discussing a best-in-class compensation plan!

For more information on this topic and other topics related to business owners, be sure to listen to the podcast! It is available on iTunes,  Stitcher, Spotify, and many other popular podcast providers.

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