ReillyScott Managing Partner Jo O’Reilly shares valuable insights on how sales leaders can engage and secure top sales talent – even in this challenging time.

Top sales professionals capable of making a meaningful impact, typically aren’t actively looking for new opportunities. 

They’re usually well looked after and not easily enticed. 

And it may surprise you to learn that from a recent evaluation by Objective Management Group (1) of over 2.2 million sales professionals globally, it revealed that just 29% of salespeople are categorised as being elite or strong – meaning that they ramp up quickly and consistently hit and over achieve sales targets. 

If your recruitment strategy is the same as what it was 12 months ago, it’s unlikely you’re going to be able to secure your preferred sales candidate.

However, there are things you can do regardless of company size and budget to engage and secure top sales talent. 

You need to evaluate every stage of the hiring process.

Starting with how you position the opportunity in the market, how you run the interview process, how you present and manage the offer and not dropping the ball in the post-offer, pre start date period.

And in a talent short market, where senior sales professionals are being contacted about job opportunities 7 – 10 times a month, you’ll want to adjust the overriding recruitment strategy so it’s specific to the sales positions you require. 

For example, to hire high performing BDMs, you’ll need to be able to clearly demonstrate the commission structure and earning potential, the lead sources and resources available to them, and what support they will get from the wider team and from their leaders.

When it comes to pitching to prospect candidates, instead of  posting a generic ad, use video and digital tools to make your company story and opportunity really stand and as compelling as possible to the top performing sales professionals you want to attract.

And while there are a number of other strategies we recommend, one not to be overlooked is timing; and the importance of being quick to hire.

Increase your chances of securing your preferred sales candidate by prioritising the recruitment process and:

• Be ready to go to market
• Be clear on what you’re looking for and ensure this is consistent for all hiring decision makers
• Reduce the number of interviews and move quickly 
• Communicate the stages of the interview process clearly and don’t add extra steps
• Allocate sufficient time for interviews – block-out diaries in advance
• Conduct interviews via videos, which hastens the process and is easier to manage in people’s diaries
• Prepare for new hires, including making sure tools, resources and support are available and ready

To engage and secure top sales talent, we’re seeing companies do a number of things really well that are quick and inexpensive to implement.

We’ve gathered these insights to share with leaders looking to secure effective sales talent.

Click here to request your copy.

Reference: Sales and Leadership Performance provided the said statistics from Objective Management Group