Oakstone International are experts in hiring salespeople for top SaaS and technology companies globally – we’ve been doing it for 24 years, and there are key steps in being successful when hiring strong sales people.

These simple steps are key to developing a process that will increase your consistency when hiring strong sales people.

1.       Always recruit

Stay ahead of your recruitment – the worst time to hire a sales person is when you need them.  Having an open headcount is very expensive!  Focus on constantly meeting new people and interviewing people – expand your network and you’ll find the right people before you need them.

2.       Ignore the job description

Don’t use a job description as a tick list for skills, experience and qualifications.  Identify the challenges a salesperson in your company needs to overcome and qualify them on this instead. Great sales people will want to overcome challenges and use their skills and experience to their advantage. 

3.       Sourcing

Don’t rely on job sites and active candidates.  Be proactive and work along side a great recruitment company to assist your search.  Experienced recruiters will work hard to source the right people for you.

Finding the right recruitment company can be difficult so qualify them as much as you would a potential employee – they are after all an extension of your company.

4.       Filtering

Don’t be so quick to judge people’s CVs/ resumes.  These are just a snapshot of someone’s skills and experience. 

5.       Initial phone call

Scheduling in a short, initial phone call will provide you a snapshot of someone on a more personal level. The phone call doesn’t need to last long but will give you a better idea of how the candidate will fit into your organisation compared to what’s on their CV.

6.       Face to Face interview

A face to face interview is your chance to get to know the candidate on a personal level.  Don’t make this too formal – use it as a chance to ask them questions and allow them to ask you questions.

7.       Final Interview

This is your chance to make sure you’re making the right decision.  Only present a final interview to those who you feel could thrive in the position you are hiring for.  At this point you can test your candidates with presentations or role play.

8.       90 day on boarding

This is where you teach, introduce and make welcome your new sales person. Make sure you take the time to ingrate the person into the company and the position.