Increase the Quality of Your Sales
The sales department significantly contributes to your company’s growth and brand image, so it’s important to hire the right people. When adding new members to the sales team, consider measuring the quality of hire, tracked over time through metrics like job performance, productivity, employee engagement, and retention. According to LinkedIn’s 2019 Future of Recruiting report, it’s one of the most important stats to track, and among the recruitment professionals surveyed, 88 percent say that quality of hire will be imperative over the next five years.
To increase the quality of your sales department hires, consider using the following methods.
Improve the Applicant’s Experience
A qualified candidate is unlikely to deal with a frustrating application process. Some of your best candidates may drop out mid-process if their experience with your company is time-consuming and inefficient. They may feel that your company doesn’t value its people, resulting in a loss of interest in the application.
Improve the quality of hiring by prioritizing the applicant’s experience. Don’t require applicants to fill out their entire resume on a web form if they must submit the resume with the application. Speed up the interview process by starting with a video interview. Every step to improve your applicant’s experience will motivate qualified professionals to apply for the vacant position.
Create Business-Wide Accountability
Improving the quality of hire shouldn’t solely be the hiring manager’s responsibility. Getting other executives or employees involved can speed up the process and allow you to filter out the best applicants.
Creating business-wide accountability may help you access better-quality candidates through a referral process. According to research by Dr. John Sullivan, an internationally known HR thought leader, 88 percent of corporate employers say that referrals are the best source for top-quality hires. In addition, a robust referral program also reduces hiring costs and lowers staff turnover.
Work with a Sales Recruiter
Sales recruiters work with businesses to help them find the best salespeople. Recruiters have access to an extensive database with a list of qualified candidates. Individuals typically interview with the recruitment agency to add their names to the database. When companies seek sales employees, the recruiters pull out names and resumes to match the employer with the best candidate. Businesses can also hire recruitment agencies to advertise job postings to find a wider pool of applicants.
A recruitment agency like Sales Talent Agency will streamline the hiring process and increase the quality of your sales department hire by thoroughly screening candidates before presenting them to you. They will sort applicants based on their experience, education, personality, and skills to find you a candidate suited to your specific business needs. This eliminates the guesswork and ensures you have a team full of qualified and driven sales professionals.
Implement Effective Onboarding
A top-tier candidate can be inefficient if your company delivers an unpleasant onboarding experience. They’re unlikely to be productive if they don’t have the right resources to navigate business operations.
Set your employees up for success by implementing an effective onboarding process. Some of the best onboarding practices involve encouraging hiring managers to take ownership of the new hire’s experience, providing employees with opportunities to build relationships, and providing the right tools to perform tasks effectively. Some tools that improve the user onboarding process include course management that allows new employees to educate themselves about your company’s practices. You could also implement a survey tool to gather new hire feedback on the onboarding process and make necessary improvements.
Providing new employees opportunities to build relationships is also vital to effective onboarding. Consider pairing the new employee with a mentor that can guide them through the onboarding process and help them feel comfortable in their new position. You could also send a welcome email introducing the new hire to the team, allowing them to communicate with each other.
Improving the quality of sales department hires can significantly boost your company’s performance. Implement the above methods to attract top talent to your company!
