Want to Improve Sales Recruiting ROI? Eliminate These Five Ineffective Recruiting Methods
Stop These Recruiting Tactics Now
Tired of spinning your wheels? When your success depends on finding the right sales candidates for your sales team, it’s important to invest your time in tools, strategies, and resources that can help you win the war for sales talent.
There are a variety of recruiting methods available today.
Because recruiting eats up large chunks of time, it’s important to evaluate what’s working and what’s not, and prioritize methods that produce high-quality candidates.
Avoid These Five Sales Recruiting Mistakes That Cost You Top Talent
#1. Sending Mass InMails about “Great Sales Jobs”
Recruiting sales candidates through mass email started in the late ‘90s. LinekdIn’s InMail feature certainly has value, and it makes it easier to send, track, and reach potential candidates.
But it’s not the only game in town. Today’s employers are sending truckloads of “me too” emails, with the hopes of attracting quality sales candidates. More often than not, high achievers ignore these emails.
Sending the same tired InMail about your “great sales job” isn’t going to get your opening noticed by key sales talent. Recruiting is personal, tailor communication to the specific person, and you’re likely to find more success.
#2. Recruiting the Mildly Curious
Unlike other functions, top salespeople know when they’re ready to move on. They don’t leave jobs for minor salary increases. When they want to make more, they sell more.
When circumstances surface that can’t be resolved with sales skills, they start looking for other opportunities.
They aren’t mildly curious. They aren’t casually interested.
They leave when they are ready. If you don’t get this, you’ll be wasting your time with the wrong people.
#3. Interviewing Low-Quality Employee Referrals
Recruiting top sales talent requires referrals. Exceptional recruiters know every person they meet has the potential to lead them to someone new.
Use this recruiting strategy to make your next top sales hire, but don’t let it eat up all your time.
Reach out to referrals who are most likely to be a strong match for your organization. Don’t waste time interviewing candidates who aren’t a good fit just because your top salesperson referred them.
#4. Relying on Last Year’s Methods
Like market conditions, recruiting is constantly changing. What worked last year might be less compelling this year.
Getting the word out, driving interest, and expanding the applicant pool are key parts of an effective recruitment process.
Put the right strategy in place and use several modes to reach your target audience. The main point is not to limit your efforts to a few sources, keep the recruiting channels open, constantly test different methods, and track results.
#5. Treating All Recruiting the Same
Not knowing your market, job function, level of position, or geographical region can be a colossal time waster.
For example, when recruiting a Vice President of Sales, think twice before posting the position.
You’re likely to create a tsunami of applicants who don’t meet your specific requirements. Consider the target audience and where they congregate before you blanket the market with your hiring message.
“Hiring good people is hard. Hiring great people is brutally hard. And yet nothing matters more in winning than getting the right people on the field. ”
Don’t Let Time Wasters Derail Your Sales Recruitment Success
Recruiting for your sales team is an enormous job. Putting a solid recruitment plan in place is imperative because it can determine a considerable part of your career success.
Reduce wasted time by knowing your audience, positions, and recruitment channel options in advance.
Simply stated, tactics will only take you so far, without a strategy; you can spend an inordinate amount of time on the wrong things with too few results.
Build your sales team and hire top-notch sales professionals by investing in methods that yield substantial results.
Hiring top salespeople is never easy, but it’s worth the extra effort.
