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Hiring Good Salespeople and Retaining Them for Your Business

The employees you hire are invariably the “difference makers” that influence the future success of your business. Regardless of products or service features and benefits, without the right team, your growth will not be maximized. Hiring always presents a degree of risk. When the goal is hiring a sales representative, the stakes are especially high. Your sales team is crucial to the success of your business. Which makes hiring good salespeople a top priority.

Hiring Challenges

When it comes to hiring the right employees, especially hiring good salespeople, it can be exceptionally challenging. According to the Small Business Administration, they make up more than 99.5 percent of employer firms in the U.S. Since small businesses typically have fewer layers of management, all workers must carry their own weight and be able to do their job under restricted amounts of supervision.

There are numerous industries that both require and benefit from a strong sales team, including real estate broker agencies, advertising firms, and manufacturing companies. Salespeople are hired to help a business grow by increasing its sales and revenue. Unfortunately, hiring good employees is becoming increasingly challenging. According to business owners polled by CareerBuilder, the typical job opening in 2017 remained unfilled for 12 weeks or longer. The reason? They couldn’t find the right person.

Even when businesses can find and hire high-performing salespeople, there’s no guarantee they will stay on board. According to a recent report from the ADP Research Institute, an average of 5 percent of workers leave their jobs within a given month.re

So how can you hire the right salespeople and retain them? Consider the tips below:

Look for Must-Have Traits

Minimize turnover and increase productivity by hiring salespeople with the right qualities. Sales departments need employees who possess good oral and written communication skills. These skills will help them effectively handle meetings, phone calls, and emails with current and potential customers. The best salespeople truly believe in their company’s products and services and are passionate and persistent. A great salesperson can connect with a wide range of personalities and is aware of your customers’ existing needs and objectives. Look at the traits your current successful salespeople possess and try to mirror them in your new hires.

Do Your Research

Unless you are hiring someone with no prior sales experience, focus on their previous sales performance. Look for indications that the candidate truly excels at what he or she does. This can be evidenced by awards, certificates, or honorary titles. And don’t be afraid to push for further details in the interview. While previous experience is usually a requirement, you should determine what kind of experience is relevant to the role you are hiring for. Hiring good salespeople requires certainty that the person you are hiring can fulfill the requirements of the specific sales role in question. Seventy-five percent of hiring managers in a 2017 survey conducted by Harris Poll indicated they’ve discovered a lie on a resume on at least one occasion.

Establish If Candidates Will ‘Fit In’

Your company has a way of approaching businesses and operating that is unique. As the business owner, you a have a substantial influence on your company’s culture. But so do the people you hire. It is difficult to determine with certainty whether a potential hire will fit into your workplace culture. But by tapping into what you already know about your workers – like their personalities, strengths, and weaknesses – and trusting your judgment, you should be able to take the right course of action. Generally, you want to hire someone who excels in a cohesive work environment and will help to cultivate a positive work culture.

Keep Them Motivated

Once you have established your strategy for hiring good salespeople, plan to keep new employees motivated to increase retention. Whether it is higher pay, a shorter commute, or more flexibility, people leave their jobs for a variety of reasons. One of the leading causes of employee turnover is a lack of motivation. According to a poll by Robert Half, it is estimated that the average full-time employee disengages for roughly two hours during the typical workday. How can you keep your sales employees motivated? Benefits are big. Nearly 40 percent of respondents pointed to perks – such as food or on-site exercise amenities – as motivational sources. Other ways to motivate your staff include offering positive reinforcements and financial incentives.

Understand Their Goals

Clear and tangible goals allow your sales employees to strive for excellence and measure their progress along the way. You should set goals around productivity, revenue generation, and personal and professional development. Provide your salespeople with support and incentives as added encouragement. Keep in mind your idea of progress and that of your employees may not be the same. Take stock of what your employees do well, where they have shown growth, and what their end goals are. Which, might be to maintain their current positions. In other words, if they are content in their current roles and performing well, don’t assume they’d like to pursue a position that carries more responsibility, such as management.

Hiring good salespeople is just the first step. Retention efforts are just as crucial, so ensure you have the cash flow necessary to make payroll on time or select the company benefit packages your workers want. QuickBridge offers a working capital solution to help you make more generous employee incentives a reality.

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