10 Things You Need to Know to Recruit, Ramp and Retain Sales Pros

Hiring, onboarding and holding on to this notoriously mercurial talent in an age of organizational transparency and career communities like Glassdoor has become mission critical for talent acquisition departments. Fortunately, experts from Salesforce, HireVue and Boston Beer shared their keys to success during our recent webinar Always Be Closing: How to Recruit, Ramp and Retain Sales People. Recruit To recruit sales professionals, know what you’re looking for and have an “ideal candidate” in mind. First, you should care about two things: competency and potential. Go beyond what’s in a résumé and learn about who the person really is. Have they stepped up and taken leadership roles? Do they work well in groups? Look for those who have a motivation and a will to win. Let’s be honest – sales reps are motivated by money. Plus, it’s a fact that great hires come from referrals, so create a Referral Program worthy of your employees’ time! Reward employees generously for tapping into their network of sales pros – it’s a win-win for everyone. Consider hosting a meet up or social event. Sales folks are social beings, so play to their strengths. Happy hours put sales pros at ease. Make these events invite-only to ensure you’re attracting only top-notch prospects. Don’t have the budget? No problem! Hosting the event at your office is a great option, too. Social gatherings don’t have to be expensive, but even if you only hire two to five candidates, the ROI is in the green. Lastly, when recruiting sales pros, focus on assessments. They are great predictors for high quality hires and will really help you when interviewing. They also help you dig into how a person thinks or uncover any red flags. Ramp Enablement Programs significantly reduce time spent ramping new employees. Since the initial rollout of our Sales Onboarding Program at Glassdoor in 2013, we have reduced the ramp of new hires by 50%. Additionally, our new hire sales reps are collectively tracking to over 100% of quota, month over month. These are results you can sell to execs to gain buy-in and necessary resources. Using technology can help ramp new employees quicker. Salesforce.com, HireVue and Chatter, for example, can house tips and tricks, guidelines and lessons from reps so that you don’t have to re-create the wheel every time a new hire faces an issue or needs resource help. Work smarter, not harder. Developing buddy/mentor programs within your sales organization can also help. At Glassdoor, our Onboarding Program pairs up new hires with seasoned buddies or mentors. This gives new hires a pro to lean on, bounce ideas off of and frees up some of the training responsibility off of the manager. This process also helps cultivate emerging leaders in your organization. Retain Culture is possibly the biggest influencer in retaining your employees. Leah Pettinari from Boston Beer Company said, “Boston Beer isn’t just a job, it’s truly a lifestyle.” I love this quote because it hits at the core of what culture is. Employees don’t just want a job anymore -- they want to work somewhere that is an extension of their passions and personal brand. Competition should also be at the top of your priority list. By hiring overachievers and reps who are not satisfied with the status quo, you’ll develop a healthy competitive atmosphere within your sales team. At Glassdoor, we’ve created a culture where hitting your quota is fantastic, but that’s just the beginning – most reps aim to surpass their goals, even double them. We foster an environment where new ideas are celebrated and mistakes turn into learning experiences. At Glassdoor, we take transparency to heart. That means defining clear career paths for sales reps—so they know what the next two or three promotions look like. That means managers knowing what motivates each rep. That means everyone knowing what everyone else makes. In short, don’t be afraid of adopting similar organizational transparency. Its importance and allure—not just for sales professionals—will only increase as more and more Millennials, a generation which already enthusiastically embraces the concept in their personal and professional lives , join the workforce. Yours included. Want to learn more? Check out this recording of last week’s webinar, Always Be Closing, How to Recruit, Ramp and Retain Sales People. Happy hunting!