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Companies that have set ambitious targets for growth in the coming year often look to their sales department to make this happen. But simply asking your VP of sales to set higher goals isn’t going to be enough if the department itself lacks good fundamentals. To achieve sustained growth, you need to have a real strategy for putting a winning team together, and one of the best places to start is with the actual hiring process. To that end, here are four ways recruitment agencies can help you hire for lasting success.
1. Candidate Screening
One of the biggest challenges when hiring salespeople through online job boards and other public job search tools is that there is really no way to screen applicants. Anyone looking for a job can apply, and without a time-consuming interview and reference process, it can be hard to figure out who among the candidates actually have sales experience.
Many sales departments rely on a rolling stream of low-level salespeople who have little experience and who may not last more than a couple of weeks. While this strategy can keep a department going, the hidden costs of training time and poor performance are often extensive.
When you work with sales recruiters who keep large databases of salespeople who have been carefully screened, however, you can be sure that every candidate already knows how to deliver results.
2. Executive Hiring in Recruitment Agencies
Excellence begins at the top, and if you want a sales department that will consistently crush its targets and exceed expectations from quarter to quarter, putting the right executives in charge is crucial.
Sales recruitment agencies like SalesForce Search offer headhunting services specifically designed to help you fill positions from account executives and territory managers to VP of Sales and CSO/CRO.
3.Expertise in a Range of Industries
While the best practices for sales are the same across industries, the particular knowledge required to sell in the world of media may be quite different from what is needed to close in banking or real estate.
When you hire on your own, you may get applicants who have sales experience but don’t know much about your particular industry. Sales recruiters, on the other hand, have deep lists of sales professionals with experience in the worlds of:
- Banking
- Software
- Technology
- Pharmaceuticals
- Healthcare and Medical Devices
- Manufacturing
- Real Estate
- Advertising and Media
- Food and Beverage
- Financial Services
Growing your team of sales professionals by hiring on people who already know your industry is one of the best ways to get immediate results.
4. Faster Turnaround in Recruitment Agencies
Time is money, and when you have a vacancy on your team, you want to fill it as quickly as possible. Unfortunately, hiring experienced salespeople usually doesn’t happen overnight, especially if you have no mechanism for screening out unqualified individuals.
Because sales recruiters pre-screen candidates, they can quickly reach out to large numbers of individuals who have already been identified as having the right mix of skills and experience. In some cases, you may be able to fill a position within a few days, making turnover a much easier problem to solve.
In many industries, your business will live or die on the performance of your sales team, so it’s no wonder that experienced sales professionals can be hard to find.
If you are serious about transforming your sales department into a growth machine, get in touch with a recruitment agency that can help you expand your sales team and reach new heights today.
