Top 10 Christmas Sales Tips - Recruiting a Sales Team

Recruiting salesmen is hard.

They all interview like Tom Cruise, but once on payroll often turn into Mr Bean!

You've all been there. A salesman looks great on paper, interviews well and within a few months you realise he's useless. He doesn't seem to like prospecting, he spent 3 months "getting up to speed". Like your other mediocre salesmen he spends more time chasing people he's spoken too than looking for new opportunities.

You scratch your head.

Recruiting is a pretty annoying task, actually. I was speaking with one MD who had been struggling to recruit, but finally made the appointment. I was discussing why salesmen fail and asked him "I'm hoping, having seen 7 or so pretty crap candidates, you didn't just hire the first decent one and say something like 'Let's just give him a shot, he seems like he will do ok,"

He muttered and laughed and said that's exactly what happened.

When I ask them what habits and behaviours they recruited for, they often say things like; attitude, willingness, previous experience, knowledge etc.

Stop recruiting for things that don't predict success. Skills, Results from previous employers and experience are LAG indicators, they are not predictors of future success.

#makesalesmengreatagain