As the business environment grows more challenging and competitive, finding good salespeople is a top priority. Unfortunately, this pivotal role has always been a challenging one to fill with the right person. You are not just competing against other companies for customers, you are also competing against them for top sales talent.
Many sales leaders continually feel the pressure to get a salesperson hired. While it is true you can offer training, coaching and development opportunities – there are some things that are more difficult to develop – more difficult to teach.
As you are evaluating candidates for sales positions, there are five key qualities to use as a checklist to gauge whether this person will be able to hit the ground running and thrive in your organization.
Willingness
- They are excited about the opportunity to work at your company
- They are committed to the hard, intelligent work it will take to become successful in growing their sales assignment
- They are willing to commit to the long term
- They are enthusiastic about learning all they can about your company’s products and/or services
Ability
- They have a demonstrated pattern of achievement
- They possess the appropriate level of intelligence to be a continual learner
- They have consistent growth in sales success, or they demonstrate they can learn how to continually improve their sales skills and associated processes
- They have good to exceptional interpersonal communication skills
- They exude warmth through their words and actions
Fit
- They are interested in your company and the opportunity for the “right” reasons
- They will work well with others in your company/department
- They will work well with your customer base
- Their words and behaviors indicate their values are aligned with the people and culture of your organization
- They are coachable
- They can add value to the diversity of your company and/or team
Business Acumen
- They express sound business judgment
- They either know or can learn how to assess a market and establish a direction
- They either know or can learn how to ascertain contingent outcomes from both the customer and competitor
- They either know or can learn how to understand, uncover, and sell solutions to the customer’s business objectives.
Interpersonal Communication Skills
- They show you they can successfully exchange information, feelings and meaning
- They exhibit good listening skills
- They communicate effectively verbally, non-verbally and in writing
- They instill a level of trust and confidence, so others believe them and want to work with them
- They have good to excellent EQ and the ability to continually learn to assess the non-verbal communication of others
- They not only hear what has been said, but what has not been stated
- They can problem solve in a collaborative manner
Filling the position with the position with the “right” person takes time and thoughtful planned interaction.