Recruitment experts weigh in on hiring salespeople in today’s market

Whether you’re hiring your first salesperson or your 30^th, it can be a struggle to find qualified applicants.  And once you do find and interview a few good candidates, you need to rise above the crowd in the eyes of the salesperson who is probably interviewing for several different positions.

Given today’s tight labour market, we looked to two experienced recruiters for some insight into what you need to successfully hire a salesperson.  How should you prepare for hiring a salesperson and how important is your company brand?  Read on to find out.

About the experts

Steve Peddie is an Executive Search Consultant and Agriculture Talent Scout with AgNetwork in Calgary.  Steve has been focused on recruitment in the agriculture sector for over 20 years.  He has a Bachelors Degree in Human Resources, a Bachelors Degree in Psychology, and a Diploma in Business Administration.  Steve’s taught workshops on how to assess candidates and been a speaker on employee recruitment and retention at agriculture conferences.  Connect with Steve on LinkedIn.

Tracy Arno is Founder and CEO of Essence Recruitment in Saskatoon.  Founded in 2011, Essence Recruitment offers professional and executive requirement services for small and mid-sized companies and non-profits.  She has a vast network in western Canada and works with her team to create customized recruitment plans for their clients.  Essence Recruitment expanded into a Calgary office in 2019.  Connect with Tracy on LinkedIn.

Q: How difficult it is to recruit experienced salespeople today?

Steve: The answer is, “It depends”. There are more agricultural jobs than there are agricultural employees in the talent pool. Therefore, good ag employees can be selective when deciding who to work for. Usually, the first factor potential applicants consider is location. If the job is in an undesirable location, it’s a non-starter regardless of the other factors.  Those other factors include employer reputation, product or company brand, job flexibility and compensation. For example, if an employer has a reputation of treating, and paying their people well, and they are selling a well-known high-quality product or service, they should have no problem hiring staff if the location is desirable or flexible. On the other hand, poor location, poor reputation, unknown products, or poor pay will all make the recruitment process more much difficult.

Tracy: The labor shortage is making it difficult to find quality employees in general and it really depends on what you are requiring the salesperson to do. We are finding it difficult to find strong business development and salespeople who can “hunt”, meaning someone who has the ability and drive to seek business rather than service salespeople, where they have an established book of business and can continue to build relationships with existing clients

Q: How much do sales candidates want to know about the company, its sales processes, and marketing support systems before they consider the role?

Steve: Any candidate will want to make an informed decision and will be open to learning more about their potential new employer. That said, while some candidates do a great deal of homework and ask lots of questions, others are willing to go forward without doing much homework at all.

Tracy: Sales candidates want to know all the specific details. They want to ensure the expectations are viable therefore they want to understand the current state of the organization and the opportunity for growth.  That includes revenues, current customer base, methodologies, systems, etc.

Q: In your experience, how big is the impact of the company image or brand on the ability to successfully recruit salespeople?

Steve: Company image or brand makes a huge impact on the number of high-quality people who will apply.  If you consider an employee is “selling” their time and expertise to an employer, (i.e. the buyer).  Then, right now the agricultural talent pool in Canada is a “sellers’ market”.

Tracy: A positive employer brand communicates that the organization is a good employer and a great place to work. Employer brand affects recruitment of new employees, retention, and engagement of current employees, and the overall perception of the organization in the market.

The market for recruiting and retaining top talent is very competitive. To be the employer of choice, you need to pay attention to what people are saying about you! In fact, most people would not apply for a job (or stay with a company) that has a bad reputation among former employees or the public. The way you tell your corporate story (your marketing) and how you treat your employees must be one and the same — if you are going to talk the talk, then you must walk the walk. With so many communication mediums available, it is easy for an employee to tell the world about their experience working with you. If the employee experience doesn’t live up to what you are saying about being the employer of choice, it won’t matter how much you are investing in marketing.

Q: What’s different for companies hiring for an existing role vs hiring their first salesperson?

Steve: When a company hires for an existing role, that position is often already well defined. The employer will likely have a good understanding of the job that has to be done and the type of person who has succeeded, (or failed) in that role in the past.  When an employer is hiring for a new role, there may be more flexibility as to how the job will be done and what skills to recruit for. That said, there will likely be more risk because of these unknowns.

Tracy: The first salesperson generally has no company history to compare. There are probably no processes, systems/databases, etc. Therefore, they generally have to create a sales plan, targets, KPI, build a database, etc.  Someone who comes into a new role vs. an existing role will have to be more agile as they are the one who is generating the data that will be able to project future projections.

Q: How would you encourage companies to prepare for hiring their first salesperson?

Steve: Be brutally honest with potential candidates.  Be really clear about what you know, what you don’t know, and the challenges the new person might face.

If you are hiring a junior person, be prepared to give clear direction of your expectations, (both duties and results).  If you are hiring an experienced person, set clear expectations regarding the results you expect, but do not micro-manage the specific things they do to get there.

Tracy: First of all, I would recommend that they do their market research.  They need to ensure the objective and the targeted outcomes are viable. Secondly, they should have a sales plan including targets and metrics to ensure the salesperson has viable goals to work towards.  Lastly, they have to have a competitive yet simple compensation plan that will reflect their work and success. Do not over complicate it.