‘I'm going to hire three salespeople. I hope one of them will work out.’

‘I'm going to hire three salespeople. I hope one of them will work out.’

‘Have you given up on the idea of hiring a good one... and making sure they work out?’

I've had this conversation (with variations) an indecent number of times. And often, it comes after the following sentence, spoken with a mixture of fatigue and resignation:

‘We need a new salesperson; the one we hired six months ago isn't working out.’

Facepalm, obviously.

Not because the intention is bad. On the contrary. The sales leader or leader is usually clear-headed, courageous, and wants to move forward. But because the sentence betrays a deeper problem: the company treats sales recruitment as a gamble.

A kind of rational lottery:

• We recruit.

• We hope.

• We wait.

• We start again.

And when it fails, we conclude that ‘good salespeople no longer exist’, that ‘young people don't want to work anymore’, or that ‘our sector is special’.

Spoiler alert: no.

Recruiting a good salesperson is possible. It's just not easy. And above all, it's not an ‘HR’ issue.

It's a systemic issue.

The real problem: you're not recruiting a CV, you're recruiting a driving force

A salesperson is not a resource that you plug into a job description.

A salesperson is an engine that has to run in a very specific environment: pressure, rejection, uncertainty, competition, long cycles, ego, targets, internal tensions, trade-offs, changing priorities, painful CRM, changing products, marketing doing what it can, and leadership that wants ‘results’.

This job is unique. And that's precisely why sales recruitment so often fails: because we apply the same reflexes to sales that we apply to other functions.

But sales is not ‘just a job’. It's a discipline. A combat sport. A noble profession, yes, but not always treated as such.

And when the organisation doesn't treat it as a profession, it recruits as if it weren't one.

The killer phrase: ‘He or she comes from the sector.’

I know it by heart. ‘We want someone who comes from the sector.’

Translation: ‘We want someone who reassures us.’

The problem is that the sector doesn't sell. The sector can help you understand acronyms, political games and budget cycles. Fine.

But the sector is no substitute for:

• the ability to create value in a conversation,

• the ability to diagnose,

• the ability to maintain healthy tension,

• the ability to navigate ambiguity,

• the ability to prospect when it's uncomfortable,

• the ability to remain stable after 12 rejections.

And the worst thing is that ‘coming from the sector’ can even become a handicap: too many certainties, too many beliefs, too many habits, too much ‘that's how we did it at our place’.

You don't need a market clone. You need a sales professional who can learn your market quickly.

The nuance changes everything.

Why it fails: it's never just one reason

When sales recruitment fails, it's rarely because of a ‘bad salesperson’. It's almost always because the system hasn't done its job.

Here are the classic causes, in diagnostic mode.

1) Leadership that does not consider sales to be a profession

You can sense it immediately in phrases such as:

• ‘We don't need salespeople. Our product sells itself.’

• ‘Sales is just common sense.’

• etc…

If your culture is ‘technical,’ ‘product-oriented,’ ‘expertise-driven,’ and sales is seen as a necessary evil, your salespeople will sense it.

And in this context, even a very good salesperson will fight against the system: no access to leadership, no internal respect, no priority, no clarity on strategy, no support, and often a form of implicit contempt.

Again. Sales is tough. It's your revenue engine. Salespeople don't like contempt. It translates into lost revenue.

2) Recruitment that starts with a CV

This one is fascinating.

We receive 200 CVs. We sort through them. We take the ones that ‘have already done this’. We call them. We ‘interview them’.

A CV is a marketing document. A CV does not measure the ability to sell in your context. It measures the ability to write a CV. End of.

Sales is a profession of behaviour and decisions under pressure.

A CV will never tell you:

• how the person handles rejection,

• if they know how to create tension without being aggressive,

• if they know how to ask difficult questions,

• if they can stick to a process,

• if they have the energy and resilience to repeat the fundamentals.

And yet, we often decide ‘who deserves an interview’ on this basis.

3) Recruitment based on ‘gut feeling’

‘I liked them.’ ‘Good fit.’ ‘Good energy.’ ‘I have a good feeling about them.’

Yes, you have a good feeling about them. And that's precisely the problem.

Because ‘feel’ is very good for detecting likeability.

Not performance.

And in sales, likeability can even be a trap: someone who is very pleasant may be unable to confront, unable to hold a price, unable to say no, unable to challenge. Sales is not about ‘who I would enjoy having drinks with after work’.

It's about ‘who can perform in the reality of this job’. So you need a process. Scorecards. Criteria. Talent analytics. Proof.

Not a vibe.

4) ‘Assuming that a salesperson knows how to do their job’

This is one of the big misunderstandings. You recruit someone who has already been a salesperson, so you assume they know how to sell.

But ‘knowing how to sell’ is not a single skill. It's a combination of:

• beliefs (about value, money, conflict),

• discipline (prospecting, follow-up, rigour),

• methods (diagnosis, qualification, closing),

• posture (tension, leadership in conversation),

• and above all, adaptation to the specific motion of your company.

Selling a SaaS inbound at £15k and selling a complex solution at £150k to multiple stakeholders are not the same thing.

It's like saying: he knows how to write, so he can draft a contract.

5) Non-existent onboarding, or worse: generic HR onboarding

Flash news: you don't onboard a salesperson the same way you onboard a developer, finance manager or ops person.

Why?

Because in sales, the person has to be operational in uncertain circumstances, under pressure to deliver results, and in a changing environment. Sales onboarding must answer very specific questions:

• What exactly are we selling, and to whom?

• Why do customers really buy?

• What are the red flags in discovery?

• How do we qualify?

• How do we estimate an opportunity?

• What is our methodology?

• What is our process, with what criteria for exiting each stage?

• What constitutes a good pipeline here?

• What kind of sales pitch is prohibited? What kind of sales pitch is encouraged?

• How do we manage pricing, concessions, and purchases?

If onboarding boils down to:

‘Here's the deck, here's the demo, here's the CRM’...

you've just turned your salesperson into a product brochure. And then you're surprised when they give demos too early, talk too much, get led on, don't make progress, and ‘don't work’ ?

6) A manager who doesn't know how to manage

I know, it stings. But it's common: we promote a good performer, give them a team, and hope that magic happens.

Management is already a difficult task and not widely known skill. Managing salespeople is even more difficult, because you have to manage:

• egos,

• emotions,

• motivation cycles,

• limiting beliefs,

• avoidance behaviours,

• and a culture of excuses that quickly takes hold if you don't maintain the framework.

And if the manager has no coaching method, no rhythm, no structure, and no healthy expectations, they are not leading a team. They are just riding the waves.

7) Lack of clear methodology, lack of robust processes

Most companies think they have a process. In reality, they have:

• a CRM with columns,

• vague internships,

• and salespeople who write ‘Proposal sent’ to say ‘I sent a PDF’.

A methodology is a way of conducting a conversation. A process is a way of conducting an opportunity. Don't mix them. Without both, you cannot:

• recruit properly (since you don't know what you're looking for),

• onboard properly (since you don't know what you're teaching),

• manage properly (since you don't know what you're inspecting),

• coach properly (since you don't know what you're correcting).

And so you ‘hope’.

The false solution: recruit more

This is where the opening sentence comes back: ‘I'm going to recruit three, and I hope one will work out.’ It's understandable emotionally. You're hurting. You want to reduce the risk. You diversify.

But if the problem is systemic, recruiting more does not reduce the risk. It multiplies the cost. You're just going to burn more time:

• more interviews based on gut feeling,

• more decks sent,

• more ‘you have to give them time’,

• more churn,

• more cultural damage (because the team sees the failures coming one after another),

• more fatigue on the leadership side.

It's not a volume problem. It's a system problem.

What to do instead: recruit a salesperson like you build a cockpit

Let me give you a simple analogy. Recruiting a salesperson is like putting a pilot in a cockpit.

If the cockpit is poorly designed, if the instruments are wrong, if the procedures are unclear, if the pilot hasn't been trained on the aircraft, and if the chief pilot doesn't know how to coach, you can recruit the best pilot in the world...

You're still going to crash. So here's a healthier approach. Not ‘magical’. Just serious.

Step 1: clarify your sales context

Before recruiting, ask yourself some basic but rarely asked questions:

• Who is our real ICP? Not the one in the pitch deck. The real one.

• What pain points justify a decision now?

• What is our average cycle? What are our sticking points?

• What are we really selling: a product or a change?

• What type of sale is it: transactional, consultative, complex?

• What level of hunting vs. nurturing?

• What level of autonomy is expected?

Without this, you're recruiting a ‘salesperson’ the same way you recruit an ‘athlete.’ OK, but what sport? Or a footballer. Ok but what? A goal keeper? A winger? A striker? A defender?

Step 2: Define a scorecard, not a job description

A job description outlines tasks. A scorecard describes results and observable behaviours.

Examples of scorecard questions:

• In 90 days, what needs to be true?

• What does a successful week look like?

• What behaviours are non-negotiable?

• What technical and people skills are required?

• What beliefs are necessary? (about prospecting, value, money, conflict)

• What are the warning signs?

The scorecard is not an HR document. It is a leadership document.

Step 3: Structure the recruitment process like a sales process

A clear process is your first culture test. You don't need 12 bureaucratic steps. But you do need proof.

For example

• A short, structured initial screening

• A behaviour-oriented interview (not ‘tell me about your career’)

• A simulation: cold call, discovery, objection pricing, etc.

• Targeted references (not ‘he's nice’). Beware regulations here.

• And a decision based on criteria, not intuition.

Feeling can be a factor. It cannot be the judge.

Step 4: Stop confusing ‘experience’ with ‘ability’

Someone can have 10 years of experience and zero ability. Because they repeated the same year 10 times. What you're looking for is:

• the ability to learn,

• the ability to maintain discipline,

• the ability to look at themselves in the mirror,

• the ability to execute a process,

• the ability to handle rejection,

• the ability to challenge without being aggressive.

This can be observed. If you test it.

Step 5: Build a sales onboarding programme worthy of the name

Sales onboarding is not a drive with 42 decks. It is a programme.

With:

• a 30-60-90 day course,

• mastery objectives (product, market, messaging, process),

• role-playing,

• listening, debriefings,

• and weekly checkpoints.

And above all: a clear definition of ‘what it means to sell well for us’. Because otherwise, the person will sell the way they've always sold.

And if your organisation wants a new way of selling, you have to make it possible and repeatable.

Step 6: Manage and coach based on a method, not opinions

The manager must be able to answer:

• What are you doing?

• Why are you doing it?

• What are you learning?

• What is the next step in the process, and why?

Without a process, the manager becomes a firefighter. With a process, they become a coach. And a coach changes performance.

Step 7: Accept a simple truth: good recruitment is not enough

Even with excellent recruitment, if you don't have:

• a culture that respects sales,

• a clear methodology,

• a robust process,

• serious onboarding,

• solid management,...

Your salesperson will fight against the system. And if you sometimes win, it will be in spite of you.

Not because of you.

Conclusion: stop playing the lottery, build your system

If you're fed up with recruiting salespeople who ‘don't work out’, I understand. But the question isn't ‘where to find the right ones’.

The question is:

Does our organisation know how to make a good salesperson work?

Because yes, recruiting a good salesperson is possible. But making them successful is a matter of sales excellence. And that requires stopping believing in magic.

If you're ready to challenge some preconceived ideas and treat this subject as a system (culture, process, methodology, management, onboarding), let me know.