Time-Tested Strategies for Hiring Sales Performers

Four keys to better sales hiring

Are you still dealing with high turnover, underperformers, and missed quotas? The greatest challenge of any sales manager is recruiting. Getting the right people on time, with the right skills, and a fit for the corporate culture is rarely simple.

So how do you pick the best sales talent?

As a contingency sales recruiter with fifteen years in the recruitment business, I’ve worked with hundreds of hiring managers across software, SaaS, and enterprise tech. 

I never make the ultimate hiring decision, but I do select the candidates who get serious consideration from the hiring teams. That role gives me the advantage of comparing sales candidates across markets, solutions, and skill levels around the country.

Here’s what I look for before presenting a sales candidate to one of my clients.

1. Always, always, always look for tenure

This isn’t a popular view, though I’ve found it consistently accurate.

Most salespeople move every year or two and want it to be normalized. They don’t want to be considered “job-hoppers.” They want to be considered brilliant, though I tend to see it differently.

If someone has stayed with a company for four or more years, that tenure tells me two specific things. First, they have experienced the success of hitting quota, and have most likely surpassed it. If they hadn’t, there is a high probability they would have been fired or “laid off.” Second, they have staying power.

I recently presented a candidate who had been with the same enterprise software company for six years through two acquisitions and three comp-plan changes. 

That kind of track record almost always outperforms a polished resume full of two-year stints. If a candidate is already looking for a job the second they get into a new one, I can’t take a risk on that pattern, no matter how impressive they look on paper. I need salespeople with staying power.

2. Sales experience at one large software organization

Candidates who’ve handled an Oracle, IBM, or SAP role for a few years have shown they can manage themselves inside large, bureaucratic environments. 

They know how to follow process, manage frustration, and work with many different types of managers. They tend to adapt well when territories shift, comp plans change, or leadership turns over, all of which happen often in growth-stage companies.

3. Compensation rather than quota attainment

Quotas change frequently, and their complexity makes them unreliable predictors of success. Two reps with “110% of quota” on their resume can have wildly different actual production, depending on territory, accelerators, and how the number was set.

W2 income, by contrast, reflects what a candidate actually produced and what their previous employer was willing to pay for that production. It’s very rare to find a poor performer with a W2 of $200K or more.

4. Watch behavior and look for interest

A candidate’s behavior during the process usually reflects their actual interest. 

If calls aren’t returned, emails are ignored, or interview feedback isn’t given, the candidate likely isn’t engaged. I once had a candidate go silent for four days after a strong second interview, then reappear asking to “pick things back up.” 

The client passed, and they were right to. Even strong candidates aren’t useful if they don’t engage with the hiring process. I focus my time on the ones actively pursuing the role.

Closing thoughts

I have worked with salespeople throughout their careers. The attributes I look for were developed over years of practice, careful study, observation, and trench-level experience.

If you’re hiring sales talent, these four filters, tenure, large-organization experience, W2 history, and engagement during the process, will reduce mis-hires considerably.