Why you can’t recruit salespeople like other roles (and what to do instead)

And why can't you recruit them in the same way as other roles in your organisation?

What's the problem?

Let's imagine. You are recruiting a salesperson (an SDR, an AE, a field salesperson, whatever!). And at the same time, you are recruiting, say, a marketing manager. What dynamics will your salesperson encounter? Here are a few:

1. Competition: Your sales representative will interact with a prospect who has a choice. Therefore, they will have to deal with competitive pressure. Other sales representatives will be fighting for a piece of the prospect's mindshare. And the worst competitor your sales representative will encounter is a certain complacency on the part of the prospect to do nothing and – between us – remain in a situation that is fundamentally mediocre.

2. Rejection: Selling means having to deal with rejection. And a new salesperson will have to deal with a fair amount of rejection. This is difficult on a daily basis and puts a lot of mental pressure on the salesperson and attacks their ego.

3. Hostility: Pick 10 people off the street, ask them "Salesperson" and what word comes to mind? Liar, carpet salesman, money, manipulator, etc... Correct? So how do prospects react to salespeople: they put up their defences and show hostility. Not easy to deal with emotionally.

4. Lack of control: Even if the salesperson does everything right, they do not have control over the final decision.

5. Timing: Salespeople are invited to participate in the sales cycle at an increasingly advanced stage of the purchasing process. And unless they are very skilled at asking questions, they find it difficult to take control of the sales cycle. As a result, they rush into presentations, proposals and unnecessary follow-ups.

(Editor's note: How do you manage these dynamics on a daily basis? How do you help your sales representatives?)

Now let's compare this to someone in marketing. Someone in engineering. Or any other role. Do they have these dynamics to manage?

Let me guess: No

So now, here's the difficult question: how do you recruit your salespeople, who have to manage completely unique dynamics and are the heart of your organisation's nuclear reactor?

Option 1: CV, a traditional job offer, traditional interviews, or even a case study?

Option 2: In a completely different way, in which you take into account the totally unique nature of the dynamics they will encounter?

What is the solution?

If you have made mistakes in recruitment, as Einstein said:

Keeping doing the same thing and expecting a different outcome is the definition of insanity...  

So here are three tips among many others:

1- Interview your role. If your role could speak and say, "I need a person with these unique skills," what would they be? No need for a long speech; your role will tell you.

2- Avoid cognitive biases. There are many of them. It's human nature. And your perspective on what you need, your view of the world, is limited to your experience. For example, ask an American or a European to draw you a map of the world. They will make two different drawings based on their biases. Get a comprehensive and scientific view of your candidates by using candidate assessments. You can request a free trial here.

3- Process: Replicate a recruitment process that has the same characteristics as the sales process. If your candidate is not able to sell themselves, will they be able to sell YOU (my opinion: no).

There are many other things to consider, but if you haven't completely given up on the idea of changing the way you recruit salespeople to avoid making costly recruitment mistakes, let me know. I'm happy to discuss it.