This chapter explores the sales force recruiting and hiring process. A sales force cannot be successful if it does not attract and retain the best people: People who meet customer expectations, sell well, become successful sales managers, establish and reinforce a successful culture, and make the best decisions for each sales force productivity driver.

The chapter is designed to help you:

Recruitment   Best Practices Advisory Do not rely on interviewing alone to identify the best candidates, but also use screening techniques that allow you to observe the behaviors critical to a candidate’s success. Develop success profiles to guide your search, and adapt those success profiles as products and markets evolve. Avoid “warm body” hiring. Recruit constantly. Assign your best people to recruiting.

• Know when it is best to hire an experienced salesperson and when to hire an inexperienced one
• Develop a recruiting process that attracts good people and at the same time is objective and thorough, fast and cost-effective, legally defensible, and consistent with organizational goals
• Execute the six steps of the recruiting process - job definition, candidate profile, applicant pool, selection, attraction, and evaluation/improvement - effectively, giving practical suggestions for each step
• Learn why interviewing alone is a poor predictor of sales success
• Develop a job profile by combining experience with job analysis and statistical profiling
• Identify and utilize the best sources of good candidates
• Increase the odds of success in recruiting by using referrals, behavioral interviews, tests, simulations, reference and background checks, and other proven techniques
• Use the Internet effectively to enhance the recruiting process