YourSalesManagementGuru by Ken Thoreson, Acumen Management Group

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Time To Ramp Up Your Recruiting

I have often stated that a sales manager should spend between 15 percent and 20 percent of their time recruiting and interviewing, but as you move through October into November, you'll need to increase your recruiting focus.

Around this time of the year, like it or not, every salesperson is assessing their current status, their organization, what they are selling and a pending new compensation plan in 2012.  By increasing your recruiting now, you will capture the attention of potential salespeople. And by adding them now or even at the first of the year, you will be in position to exceed your 2012 sales goals. What should you do?

  1. Place a display advertisement in the business section of your local paper -- not in the help-wanted section.

  2. Review your resume folder or competitive salesperson list. Check your won/lost reports and find out who the salespeople were that won orders during the past year. Call them.

  3. Contact your vendor account managers and let them know you are looking for additional salespeople. They may know quality salespeople to contact.

  4. Increase your networking activity. Attend a few extra events and let everyone know you are looking for quality salespeople.

  5. Make sure everyone in your company knows that you are recruiting. Set up a referral bonus plan.

Obviously, make sure you have a well-defined interviewing process to effectively select quality candidates. My book may be of value if you haven't been trained to hire salespeople. Recruiting High Performance Sales Teams includes additional recruiting ideas, interview questions, scorecards and a bonus section that describes a new salesperson on-boarding process.

Posted by Ken Thoreson on October 24, 2011


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