5 Effective Ways to Fight for Top Sales Talent: Part 1
There’s no getting around it—any way you slice it, talented salespeople are the “popular kids” at the corporate dance. And the most frustrating part? Everybody seems to want a slow song with them. Seeing as how they’re in a position to directly drive revenue for your company, you can’t afford to hire less than the best.
So, how exactly do you go about landing these top-notch sales gurus? Sure, an impressive meal at the top restaurant in town, a round of golf and a signing bonus might be somewhat persuasive, but there’s much more to it than that. In short, if you want to attract and keep real sales savvy, you’ve got to fight for them with weapons that’ll get the job done—here’s how:
1) Competitive Wages—You Get What You Pay for
As is the case with everything in life, you get what you pay for. Fortunately, due to a heavy confidence in their own abilities, the salespeople you’re fighting for are looking for incentive-based compensation plans and profit-sharing opportunities. Without bending over backwards, reward them handsomely. Also, once you’ve go them, continue to compensate them well. The kiss of death is the ever changing compensation plan that reduces or caps income potential.
On the flip side of things, those who don’t consistently deliver will always be on the hunt for higher fixed salaries. That said, don’t be afraid to get creative with your compensation strategies, offering stake in your company or other, more exciting benefits. Needless to say, this is especially important for startups.
2) Leadership That Inspires
Yes, “money talks,” but believe it or not, even top-performing sales mavens aren’t only interested in cold hard cash. In fact, as far as they’re concerned, you might actually be the deciding factor in whether or not they become a part of the team and more importantly thrive and stay. Feel the pressure?
Here’s the deal—result-driven salespeople want to work closely with a boss who can quickly and effectively integrate them and start realizing success. The sooner they can start closing deals, the better for all parties involved. Additionally, they’re vision is long-term. Simply put, they want a manger who can help them further their respective careers by taking the time to understand what that looks like.
3) A World-Class Culture
This is big. Think about it—who wouldn’t want to work for Apple, Salesforce or Airbnb? Your company might not yet be at that level, but it by no means indicates that you shouldn’t be anxiously engaged in developing a wold-class culture for your sales staff.
More than anything, this tactic is about proving that yours is a winning team. With 97 percent of sales professionals reading online reviews about a company before accepting a job, clearly company culture and brand reputation are critical factors for high-achieving sales reps.
4) Delivering Stellar Products and Services
Not every salesperson has a shady sales history with the used car dealership down the road. Honestly, most of them are wholeheartedly set on a mutually beneficial sale. As such, it’s imperative that your company push nothing but the finest products and services to attract talent that is passionate about what you do to evangelize why you’re the best game in town.
Obviously, you can verbally build up what you do, but deep down, you know if you’re doing things the right way or not. The most prized salespeople care about their compensation, but they also take a great deal of pride in what they do and won’t settle for less.
5) A Winning Territory
Recent research has shown that 68 percent of sales professionals plan to look for a new job in the next year. With that in mind, let the following be known—of the select few brought in for interviews, 100 percent of them will ask specific questions about the territories they’ll be working in.
Nobody in their right mind willingly walks into a situation in which they’re doomed to fail. Incredible salespeople are no different. During the hiring process, you need to be able to effectively prove to your sales recruits why the territory you’re tossing their way is ripe for the picking.
Parting Thoughts
It’s interesting to note the considerable amount of time and effort many of the world’s largest companies will put into maintaining their equipment. There’s nothing wrong with this—after all, it’s expensive stuff.
But even the biggest and brightest of global brands often make the same mistake—they forget to maintain the very salespeople who keep the money regularly coming in. You need to be different. Whatever you do, don’t make the same mistake.
Because of this, when it comes time to fight for top sales talent, do your absolute best to show how you plan to take care of your sales staff. Be genuine. Be personable. Be real. When done correctly, though you might not land every punch throughout the fight, the results you’re looking for will soon arrive.
Avenue TalentPartners is here to provide relief. Together, we create and achieve triumphant recruiting strategies to conquer crucial hurdles to expansion. We bridge the gap between strong relationships and results, not easily found in our industry.
We welcome the chance to collaborate, exploring ways our expertise can solve the challenges you face when recruiting top sales talent in the most effective manner. Let’s connect soon!
*Note: This will be the first of a six-part series on recruiting great salespeople. Stay tuned for more!
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