A Sales Compass – A Blog by B2B Sales Connections

Ever wonder if you could get inside a sales candidate’s head to find out what they actually think about themselves? It truly would be one of the best reference checks you could do before hiring them.

There are a few things you can do to get a glimpse of how a candidate thinks. The first is to enter the candidate’s name into a few search engines like Google. In this case, no news is good news. You can also search the online social networks like LinkedIn, Twitter, and Facebook. If your potential sales candidate is registered, their online profiles can be very revealing.

The bottom line is, although you may not find anything online about your potential sales candidate, it can be well worth the few minutes it took you to check.

For more proven candidate pre-screening techniques including more interview questions to assess past performance, download Action Plan For Sales Management Success. As a business associate recently said, “Your content, delivery and practical examples provided the students an excellent foundation to understand the complex topic of sales recruitment and socialization”.

By popular demand, Action Plan For Sales Management Success is now available in a print version as well as these fine retailers: Amazon.com, Amazon International, Barnes & Noble, Apple iStore, Kobo, Diesel, Sony, and Smashwords.com

To download a free copy of our white paper How To Recruit The Best Sales Professionals which includes “11 Telephone Interview Questions to Find Top Performers”, visit our Sales Download Centre.

I am often asked, by both employer and employee alike, what is an average salary for a sales position.  Monster appraised all kinds of sales jobs, and recently released their report on the national averages for sales compensation.  You can review their findings on the average salaries for sales jobs here.
 
To find the average salaries in your specific geographic area for all types of positions, including sales, visit Salary.com.
 
Using tools such as these will give you an idea as to what you should be asking for in an interview in regards to salary expectations, or if you are an employer, what you should be offering to potential candidates.
 
Remember, to find the best sales jobs or to attract the best sales talent, you must be competitive in today’s job market.
 
Aim Higher!

Susan A. Enns, B2B Sales Coach from B2B Sales Connections

www.linkedin.com/in/susanenns, www.facebook.com/B2BSalesConnections, or www.twitter.com/SusanEnns

I was recently asked, “Should you hire men or women for sales?”  It’s not the first time I have been asked this, and it’s probably not the last. 

Even speaking as a woman who was definitely in the minority in the companies I have worked for, yet was still recognized many times as a top performer in various sales capacities, I am always cautious about making generalized statements about whether women or men are better suited for sales.  (more…)

Is sales recruiting easy?  No!  In fact, a recent study published in Profit Magazine reported; “Finding the right sales talent was one of the biggest concerns facing sales organizations today.”   In a similar study conducted annually by Manpower Inc. reporting on the most difficult job to fill, sales representative topped the 2006 and 2007 list and slid to second place in 2008. (more…)

There is no question that you need to advertise your available sales positions on the internet.  After all, that is most job seekers look these days. However if you are only advertsing on social media websites, you are not reaching all the potential sales candidates you should be.

A study conducted 2009 by AfterCollege™, an employment site for Millennials also known as GEN-Y kids, reported some astounding findings. (more…)

Any potential sales representative can say they are a “quota buster” or a ”top performer” in an interview.  In reality however, descriptive phrases such as these don’t mean much to you as a sales recruiter unless there is some quantitative proof behind it.  (more…)

Even if you think you have just interviewed your perfect sales candidate and are ready to make an offer of employment, you still should make every effort, by whatever means possible, to ensure that they are who they say they are by conducting thorough reference check.

Just like your candidate interviews, you need to ask the same questions on each of your reference interviews, and those questions must be scripted a head of time.  As you will be asking the same questions to all, not only will it be very easy to compare the answers given by each reference on the same candidate, but across candidates as well.

 To download a free copy of our white paper How To Recruit The Best Sales Professionals which includes “11 Telephone Interview Questions to Find Top Performers”, visit our Sales Download Centre.

Aim Higher!

Susan A. Enns, B2B Sales Connections
www.b2bsalesconnections.com, www.linkedin.com/in/susanenns, or www.twitter.com/SusanEnns

Looking for some ideas for your sales meetings? Join our free webinar where we share quick and easy ways to make your sales meetings more interesting and productive. Webinar doesn’t fit your schedule? View the presentation video here.

Do you want to make more money in sales? Do you need help with a sales situation? Do you need some sales career advice? Are you a sales manager wondering how to improve your team’s sales results? For less than an average dinner out, you could ask your B2B Sales Coach! in our Daily Conference Calls!

Here is an excellent blog post on what you should consider before implementing a 100% commission plan for your sales staff.

http://peaksalesrecruiting.com/question-100-commission-plans/

To download a free copy of our white paper How To Recruit The Best Sales Professionals which includes “11 Telephone Interview Questions to Find Top Performers”, visit our Sales Download Centre.

Aim Higher!

Susan A. Enns, B2B Sales Connections
www.b2bsalesconnections.com, www.linkedin.com/in/susanenns, or www.twitter.com/SusanEnns

Looking for some ideas for your sales meetings? Join our free webinar where we share quick and easy ways to make your sales meetings more interesting and productive. Webinar doesn’t fit your schedule? View the presentation video here.

Do you want to make more money in sales? Do you need help with a sales situation? Do you need some sales career advice? Are you a sales manager wondering how to improve your team’s sales results? For less than an average dinner out, you could ask your B2B Sales Coach! in our Daily Conference Calls!

The concept of having a virtual sales bench has been around for many years. It has been popularized by the authors of Top Grading for Sales. The concept promotes the need for sales management to always be recruiting because you never know when you will need to fill a vacant territory.

  (more…)

Before you place a job ad and start to interview candidates, ask yourself if you know exactly what you are looking for.  What are the sales skills required to be successful at selling your product?  What are the personality traits of your top performers?    Take the time to clearly define your perfect sales professionals so that you will recognize it when you see them.  There is not one definition of the ideal sales candidate that fits everyone, but there is one definition that fits you! 

To download a free copy of our white paper How To Recruit The Best Sales Professionals which includes “11 Telephone Interview Questions to Find Top Performers”, visit our Sales Download Centre.

Aim Higher!

Susan A. Enns, B2B Sales Connections
www.b2bsalesconnections.com, www.linkedin.com/in/susanenns, or www.twitter.com/SusanEnns

Looking for some ideas for your sales meetings? Join our free webinar where we share quick and easy ways to make your sales meetings more interesting and productive. Webinar doesn’t fit your schedule? View the presentation video here.

For automated tools to help you with your sales recruiting, check out our Recruiting, Hiring & Human Resources Tool Kit at http://www.b2bsalesconnections.com/automated_tools.php