{"id":837,"date":"2016-01-22T07:30:08","date_gmt":"2016-01-22T12:30:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.peaksalesrecruiting.comblog\/10-reasons-your-sales-hiring-sucks\/"},"modified":"2018-01-31T19:41:00","modified_gmt":"2018-01-31T19:41:00","slug":"10-reasons-your-sales-hiring-sucks","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.peaksalesrecruiting.com\/blog\/10-reasons-your-sales-hiring-sucks\/","title":{"rendered":"10 Reasons Your Sales Hiring Sucks and How to Fix it"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"10<\/p>\n

Hiring poor and underperforming salespeople comes with a costly consequence. Mis-hires account for the vast majority of turnover rates (nearly 80%), have a lasting impact on sales team morale<\/a>, and can cost businesses >$690,000 per hire<\/a>, including wasted leads and lost customers. For sales executives with aggressive growth targets, failing to hire great salespeople will ultimately determine whether or not these targets are hit on a consistent basis.<\/p>\n

The unfortunate reality for business leaders alike is that the majority of managers suck at hiring salespeople. The Corporate Executive Board<\/a> found that managers think that one in five hires are \u201cbad\u201d or \u201cregrettable\u201d. In fact, a recent survey from DePaul University<\/a> revealed that 33% of new sales recruits didn\u2019t make it past their first year of employment with a new firm. So why are hiring managers having such a difficult time recruiting and hiring the elite salespeople?<\/p>\n

Here\u2019s the 10 reasons your sales hiring sucks and how to fix it:<\/h2>\n

1. You don\u2019t fully understand the role<\/strong>\u00a0<\/span><\/h3>\n

Many hiring managers mistakenly assume that every sales role is the same and that any sales person could be successful in that role. They fail to identify the behaviors and selling activities required for a new hire to be successful in the role.<\/span><\/p>\n

Solution: <\/strong>Map out and list the key selling activities and behaviors required to be successful in the role. For many hiring managers, this means determining whether the ideal candidate needs to be a farmer, someone who can manage and upsell to an existing client base, or a hunter, someone who can actively acquire net new business. Farmer and hunter roles require separate skills sets, experiences, and sales DNA to be successful. Using these 5 interviewing secrets to identify Sales Hunter DNA<\/a>, a hiring manager can effectively spot a hunter during the interview process.<\/p>\n

2. You\u2019re not looking in the right places <\/strong><\/h3>\n

Hiring managers and recruiters often begin their search for a new salesperson by posting job advertisements on popular job search websites such as Monster or LinkedIn. This approach is bound to fail since the best salespeople are those who are currently gainfully employed and not surfing job sites. With some exceptions, the vast majority of salespeople who are actively reviewing job boards are likely either poor performers who are not focused on hitting or exceeding their sales targets, or are unemployed because they consistently failed to reach quota. These are not the types of candidates world-class companies hire.<\/p>\n

Solution:<\/strong> Headhunt employed salespeople who have reached or exceeded sales targets for the past 5+ years in selling environments similar to yours. Hiring or assigning specialized sales recruiters to develop and execute a comprehensive search that only targets and delivers great salespeople will reduce time-to-hire, accelerate ramp-up time, and mitigate your hiring risk.<\/p>\n

3. You aren\u2019t listening in interviews \u00a0<\/strong><\/h3>\n

Since great salespeople only make up a small percentage of the 20 million candidate pool, hiring managers often make the fatal mistake of only selling job opportunities to \u201cA\u201d players, rather than questioning and evaluating the candidate\u2019s competencies and fit in the organization. Particularly with small businesses, hiring managers desperate to hire a salesperson often turn the interview into a sales pitch, where they do all the talking instead of listening and making an objective assessment on the candidate\u2019s skills, experience and DNA.<\/p>\n

Solution:<\/strong> Sell the job opportunity during the telephone interview to establish interest among candidates and entice them to continue with the interview process. By choosing to continue with the interview process, they are demonstrating a genuine interest in your company. During in-person interviews, sit back, listen and let the candidate do the talking.<\/p>\n

4. You\u2019re hiring who\u2019s available and not who you really need<\/strong><\/h3>\n

In a day and age where great salespeople only make up between 10-15% of the total sales population, many hiring leaders are realizing that attracting and hiring the best salespeople takes tremendous time, effort, and resources. Unfortunately, instead of taking time to hire the right sales person, they are exposing themselves and their company to risk by simply trying to fill a seat. When hiring managers are desperate to make a hire, they see what they want to see<\/a> in candidates and do not look at them objectively \u2013 virtually guarantying that they are going to hire the wrong person.<\/p>\n

Solution:<\/strong> Develop and implement a talent acquisition strategy that is built upon the principle of \u201calways be recruiting<\/a>\u201d.<\/p>\n

5. You\u2019re not conducting thorough reference checks \u00a0<\/strong><\/h3>\n

The majority of salespeople are expert interviewees since they have to sell themselves to prospects every day. As a result, inexperienced hiring managers are often tricked into thinking that that they are hiring a great salesperson, and that checking that candidate\u2019s references is a waste of time.<\/p>\n

Solution: <\/strong>World-class hiring managers know that a reference can, in many cases, be as important as the interview itself. Embrace a reference check process that is scripted and structured and allow for the questions to reveal information that can be put into quantifiable data for a better assessment. The best references an employer can contact are those who were in a management position, equipped with the ability to comment on a candidate\u2019s work habits and selling success, and those not necessarily provided by the candidate.<\/p>\n

6. You have too much trust in your gut\u00a0<\/strong><\/h3>\n

The saying \u201cgo with your gut\u201d shouldn\u2019t be embraced by hiring managers, but it frequently is. The gut is a non-objective, emotional response to external stimuli that often causes hiring managers to fall to the recruiting \u2018halo effect<\/a>\u2019.<\/p>\n

Solution:<\/strong> Use a structured and rigorous sales hiring process that includes a standardized interview process comprised of all the hiring stakeholders. A great sales interview process should contain, at a minimum, three stages:<\/p>\n