Recruitment Strategies For Sales Leaders (Part II)

Their hearts belong to you now

In Part I, I suggested that the number one recruitment tool that you have is to become so good that your people never want to leave you.

I appreciate that the reality is that people will inevitably leave and move on to their next step in the journey, but the goal is to create such a world-class sales environment that it’s attractive not only to your employees, but also to the industry/market.

Given that this is the benchmark that you are aiming for, it doesn’t mean it is achievable. It’s not a 'destination', it’s an ongoing journey.

What that means is that you have to constantly improve, refine and innovate the culture you are aspiring to.

Let’s move on to the next topic: Attractiveness.

When recruiting face-to-face with candidates, in the interview itself, my suggestion is that you are so “attractive”, so magnetic, that candidates want to work for you.

You want there to be a 'waiting list' of people wanting to work for you

They may not know whether the job is the right fit, whether the company is the right culture, if they like the industry and so on… but it doesn’t matter. You want people to want to work for you.

When a candidate leaves the interview, and whether they are successful or not, you want them talking to their peers, friends and colleagues about how much they want to work under you.

Why is this important?

I can think of several reasons:

• If this is the right candidate for you, then you don’t want them to join anyone else.
• When someone wants to work for you, they will work harder and produce more.
• People who are bought into you are easier to train, coach and steer towards success.
• They will refer other people to you (sourcing sales talent is hard!)
• Referrals are free. No recruitment fees. Reduces recruitment costs.
• Your reputation in the industry will spread and people will approach you for work (this is a good thing).
• Your talent pool/network grows enabling you to source the best talent in the market.
• Once they join, they won’t want to leave.
• When things get hard in their first few months, they will see it through (increased success rate of new hires).
• Their enthusiasm will spread within the organisation doing wonders for your personal brand.
• They become empowered and motivated because of the person that you are.
• Even if they are not the right fit for you, they will talk positively about you and your company to their network. Thus promoting your culture and elevating your personal brand in the market.
• You want to be able to attract peer and above candidates. Not just peer and below.

I am sure you can think of more benefits.

So Part I and Part II of this series hasn’t discussed interview technique, sourcing strategies, recruitment process, the candidate's experience, negotiating and so on. These are important steps of course but I believe that recruitment starts with the sales leader.

Create a world-class sales culture and be magnetic! You want there to be a 'waiting list' of people wanting to work for you and wanting to be in your sales organisation!

It all starts with you. People join people.

Make sure you don't miss out on Part One and Part Three.

Happy closing!

Reposted with permission.