Sales recruiting is a unique profession because of the wide array of innate traits and learned skills required to be successful. It can be a difficult field to get into, and even more difficult to excel and last at, because of certain requirements that simply cannot be taught. This also makes it a very competitive field, which means you have a lot of options when choosing a sales management recruiter.

However, if you’re not used to working directly in the recruitment field in can be difficult to know what to look for when shopping around for different firms. Recruiting sales people can take time, and you don’t want a recruiter to rush a potential hire, but you don’t want to waste time either. When you start looking at upper level positions and need a sales management recruiter, the stakes are higher and the process can quickly become more complicated.

Recruiting sales people for entry or mid-level positions is different than recruiting for sales management; a recruiter looking for senior positions needs to put a lot more time and effort into finding the right candidate(s) because of the nature of the position. This is true in every industry; the higher up the position, the more skills and experience are required, which means fewer applicants meet the necessary requirements. It can also take more to entice an upper level executive or manager to consider leaving their comfort zone to move to a new company.

Because of the importance of a management position, and the differences between recruiting sales people and recruiting sales managers, you need to be especially careful when choosing a sales management recruiter. There are a few things you should look for when comparing sales management recruiter or firm:


Track Record
Overall, how are they at recruiting sales people and placing employees at all levels? This is a good first indicator of work ethic and will give you an idea of how the recruiter or firm will work for you.


Management Placement History
Do the employees that they find stick around? A good sales management recruiter should know how their recent placements are doing and hopefully has a proven record of how long previous placements lasted so you know what to expect.


Guarantee
Are you protected if the new hire doesn’t work out for some reason? Most agencies guarantee their placement for a certain amount of time in case the new hire doesn’t meet expectations.

These are just some basic guidelines to get you started, and they can be applied whether you are looking for someone to work on recruiting sales people or trying to find a sales management recruiter. Make sure you do your homework and don’t be afraid to ask questions. Happy hiring!