Hiring and retention

Hiring salespeople is different.

Most companies have more success filling non-sales roles, because salespeople are often better at selling themselves than they are at selling your product. This guide covers twelve changes to how you define the role, screen, interview and onboard, so the interview stops being the thing you are hiring on.

What is inside

Why sales hiring is its own problem

Competition, rejection, hostility, complexity and false positives are unique to the sales role. Many salespeople can hack an interview process even when they lack the skills for the job.

Defining the role before you post

Clarity on what the role is and is not fills your pipeline with more qualified candidates. A seller who excels at new business may struggle to renew existing clients, or the reverse.

Screening that predicts performance

Sales-specific assessments identify 72% of top performers, three times better than relying on a traditional interview. Structured interviews and a scorecard keep the team objective.

Moving at the speed of the market

Top candidates are off the market in 21 days, so a long interview process loses them regardless of how good your offer is.

The first 90 days

Orientation is not onboarding. A 90 day plan trains the new hire on your technology, products, customers and positioning, and sets a daily cadence for deal review and coaching.

Why year two goes wrong

Only 12% of employees feel their onboarding was good, B2B sales attrition averages 33% in year one, and replacing a rep costs 150 to 200% of their salary.

Written for: Sales leaders and hiring managers who have been burned by a candidate who interviewed well.

Published by Objective Management Group.

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12 Tips to Hire and Retain Top-Performing Salespeople

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