No matter how innovative and desired your product or service may be, your business will never see the growth it deserves without the right sales team supporting it. A talented sales team is critical for meeting the needs of your customers, from connecting them with the products and services that best fit their needs to learning more about the actual needs of  customers. If you’re struggling to hire the perfect sales team to maximize growth for your company, make sure you’re following these five critical steps. 

Step 1: Build Clarity About What You Want in a Sales Team

Before you start hiring for your new sales team, you need to know exactly who you want and what you want them to accomplish. Without a clear description in place, you may find it much more difficult to determine whether you are connecting with candidates who fit your goals. 

Be crystal clear about your company’s mission and values.

When you know who you are, you can better determine what you need from your employees, including your sales team. Make sure your mission and values are clearly aligned with the job description you create for your sales team.

Clarify the role you want your sales team to play within your company’s organizational structure.

Make sure you know what you want your sales team to accomplish and how they fit within your greater vision for the company. How will your sales team integrate with the marketing team or even the product development team? What pieces of the puzzle do they need to accomplish?

Choose applicants that seem to embody that mission and vision.

Look for applicants who will fit well within the existing structure of the company and who will reflect those values, support your mission, and help build the company. If applicants aren’t a good cultural fit, they could prevent you from seeing the growth you’re hoping for.

Step 2: Screen Candidates for Specific Skills

Look at your “top” salesperson now and create a candidate profile that reflects the traits and competencies that makes them successful in your organization. You may even want to talk directly with that salesperson about what they feel makes them most successful or how a new team member could best connect with and succeed in the company. Sometimes, your sales team members will have a better idea of what that looks like than you do.

Ask the right questions during the interview process. Behavioral questions could include:

• Describe a situation when [X] happened and how you dealt with it.
• How have you handled constructive criticism in the past?
• Tell us about a time you dealt with a problem that wasn’t yours to deal with.
• Tell us about a time you took a risk and it didn’t pay off as you hoped. 

With these questions, you can get to know potential candidates better and develop a better feel for how they will ultimately fit within your organization. 

Step 3: Hire a Team of Collaborators

The modern salesperson cannot concentrate on closing the sale alone. They also need to work closely with the client to ensure personalization and that they are selling a customized solution to the client’s unique problem. Today’s customers are not looking for a one-size-fits-all solution. Rather, they want to know that your company understands their pain points and will work with them to accomplish their overall goals. 

Using a collaborative approach, with a view toward helping rather than taking the credit, is also vital for salesperson success within your organization as a whole. Salespeople may need to work with many departments at all different levels and in different stages of the product’s development. Your salespeople often get a unique view of what clients really need: what features, options, or solutions will help push a client over the edge and make that vital sale. By hiring salespeople with a strong leaning toward collaboration, you can better set your business up for success. 

Step 4: Offer Competitive Compensation and Benefits Packages

Before you start your hiring process, make sure you already have a compensation and benefits package in mind. You don’t want to just base those numbers off of what a candidate has asked for or what they may have earned previously. 

Do your research.

Your competitors are also out there trying to lure top salespeople to their businesses. Develop a solid idea of what compensation they are offering and how it compares to what you can provide.

Offer fair and competitive compensation.

If your business lags behind on what you’re offering, you will also lag behind on what talent you can attract–and that may make it more difficult for you to see that high level of performance you really want from your sales team.

Consider what incentives and bonuses you can add.

If you want to attract top salespeople–the ones who know they can hit the targets you’re putting in front of them–consider adding incentives and bonuses to your benefits package. These simple elements can increase what you’ll be able to offer and make it more likely that those top salespeople will choose to connect with you.

Step 5: Find Your Candidates With the Help of a Reliable Source

A profile of your ideal candidate doesn’t mean much unless you know how to find that candidate. A good hiring agency has a list of pre-vetted candidates who are looking for opportunities like the ones you’re offering. Placement agencies have candidates ready to go, which means your search could be much shorter and your candidates could be sitting down for onboarding much quicker. With a hiring agency, you may feel much more confident, overall in moving forward with your hiring process. 

The perfect candidate for your team and company is waiting for you. The best news is, you don’t have to find them all on your own. Epic Placements can help you with any hiring needs you have to free your time for more pressing matters within your company. If you’re someone looking for the perfect place to be part of a team, Epic Placements can help you find the right place. If you’re a company looking to hire new team members quickly and efficiently, Epic Placements can help you pre-vet your candidates and make the hiring process quick and easy. Connect with us today to learn more.