Deliverable 7- Strategics Sales Plan

Hiring and Recruiting Practices

A sales job can be defined as any job that is selling goods or services as the main job responsibility. With such a simple description, one would incorrectly assume that the hiring process would be easy. There are some key decisions that need to be made before hiring someone for a sales job.

The first step in the hiring process is to assess the need to hire. Like any great strategy or plan, a needs assessment should take place and data should be collected about the needs of the sales force that are not currently being met. The difficulty of this process varies. This assessment may be very simple if you are part of a start-up organization or a small, family business. This assessment may be more complex if you are part of the team leading a new product category for an international office products company.

Once the need is established, one can also look at what specific skills would be needed to succeed in the position. This could also be defined as creating the job description. Again, you can pull data from your assessment discussed in the prior step. Is this position one that requires technical skills such that an advanced degree in the sciences or engineering is needed? Does the position require certain communication skills such as a fluency in a foreign language? Creating a list and table of requirements and preferences is a great tool to be used through the recruiting and hiring process. Think about skills, knowledge, abilities and behaviors; how these are integrated in a job description will help identify top candidates and, ultimately, will help hire the most successful sales professionals.

Once you have identified the need to hire sales professionals and created job descriptions, the last step before the formal search is to assign the job title you are seeking to fill. Understanding the various titles commonly used in sales organizations will help you determine the title you will use.

Let’s take a closer look at three common types of titles in sales: Sales Representative or Account Executive, New Business Development Manager and the General Sales Manager.

Sales Representative / Account Executive

This title is the most general, catch-all title. It can refer to an entry-level sales position as well as one with a decade of experience. It is not uncommon to see this title with an additional "explanatory" word, such as "Senior" or "Territory." Descriptive words such as "Junior" or "Senior" help identify the hierarchy or seniority of an employee within the organization. Likewise, words such as "Territory," "Regional" and "Technical" indicate specificity within a sales organization.

New Business Development Manager

The sales professional in this role is tasked with generating new business. This task is not just a "go-out-and-knock-on-some-doors," search for new buyers, but involves the ability to create and executive effective growth strategies. This sales professional may work closely with senior management or with other departments of the organization, such as marketing or product development.

Sales Manager

A sales manager is the person in an organization that helps manage the sales staff who may or may not have direct sales responsibilities. This position usually involves familiarity with the sales process and selling, but also requires the ability to manage and motivate others.

Finding the Best Employees

Once the need is established, and the job descriptions and titles are finalized, the next step is to go out and find qualified candidates. Organizations can use professional outside recruiters, use traditional online job websites, place advertisements in industry publications, use employment agencies, recruit at colleges or use current employees and promote from within their own organization.

The vetting process for candidates can include a series of interviews with key employees at the organization, a formal personality and/or skills testing, research of references, etc. Each organization will have an unique process; the process will be driven by the way the candidates were found. For example, if a professional recruiter is used, the paid recruiter may do initial interviews, follow up with professional references and then only present the top candidates.

Once a candidate is found, is offered the position and has accepted the position, the hiring process does not end. In order to improve the likelihood for the new employee success, a formal plan to orient and train the new employee is highly encouraged.