subject: Recruiting The Right Sales Staff [print this page] Recruiting The Right Sales Staff Recruiting The Right Sales Staff
A high staff turnover rate is one of the main problems facing many sales organisations. The high personnel costs incurred by constantly needing to provide sales training to new staff and high turnover shortfalls as a result of abandoned sales areas are the results of this phenomenon.The key to lowering your staff turnover rate is early success!The reason most sales people give in their notice is because they have not achieved the success they had hoped to, they have not accomplished their financial targets and occasionally they sometimes do not feel suited to a sales career.Are you able to help your new sales people accomplish these significant early successes?Federal Express has incorporated early success into its basic training programme for new salespeople. During the three-week training course, the new salespeople have the opportunity of working with real clients in the area which in future will be theirs. Appointments are made over the telephone during training sessions and even telesales with the future clients is an integral part of one of the training units. There should already be a handful of appointments lined up so the sales person can begin working once they are released into their sales area.Sales is a particular career: in practically no other profession are mistakes or lack of aptitude punished so mercilessly as in sales. A deal is either concluded or not - there is no such thing as partial success.You therefore need to be extremely careful when selecting new salespeople. Watch out for the four most necessary basic skills, which all successful sales people must possess:Willingness to be of service: nowadays most products are interchangeable and it is very rare for a company not to have any competitors. People who are successful in sales are those ones who will put in the effort to offer that extra little bit for the same product offered by their competitor.Empathy: an empathetic salesperson understands what the client really wants, even if the client has not expressed their wishes very clearly. This salesperson is on the same wave length as the client and can uncover needs which the client themselves were perhaps not yet aware of.Drive and motivation: just like a successful race-horse, a successful salesperson has to possess drive and motivation: they must enjoy tackling new clients, approaching them and convincing them of the merits of their offer. They must have the will to reach the finishing line in front of their competitors. Whilst sales training can help with drive and motivation, this is one quality that really comes from within the person.Hardiness: it is impossible to avoid failure in sales. Clients say "no" because they cannot afford the order, they prefer to buy from one of your competitors, they simply do not like the product, they happen to be in a bad mood or simply because of the day of the week.All successful sales people must be able to accept no and not act as if this is a major problem! They should never take a no as a personal defeat, but accept it as a natural occurrence in sales with which they know how to deal.Various different personalities are needed for different branches and products!Sales jobs vary and different characteristics are sometimes more important than others depending on the branch and product:The quick conclusion of businessA typical area where salespeople need to be able to conclude business quickly is car sales. The right type of sales person makes a lot of spontaneous customer visits, as well as having a great deal of drive and enthusiasm and good powers of persuasion. They are absolutely immune to failure. It would be a mistake to recruit highly sensitive salespeople.Long-term successRelevant branches include office equipment and furniture, pharmaceutical products, computer software, advertising and industrial property. The ideal sales person for this job needs to posses a high degree of eagerness to provide a service, a love of long-term business relationships as well as the desire to continue to build up friendly relationships with customers. Their strengths do not lie so much in client acquisition, they do not possess a huge amount of drive and motivation and are not necessarily as immune to failure as others.Problem solvingYou might find this formulation in high tech and telephone sales, as well as medical supplies. A successful salesperson in these fields does not only understand about selling in general, but knows everything there is to know about selling their particular product. They also understand their clients, listen to them and recognise their needs. Top salespeople are absolute experts in their field and are accepted by their clients as competent advisers.If you try and push a new salesperson into a position which does not suit their personality or temperament, you will fail: both early success, which is so crucial for motivation and long-term success will fail to materialise and the salesperson will turn their back on their company. Another excellent way to avoid failures in the early stages is to provide good sales training.
