Hiring the Right Inside Sales Representative

Buyers are waiting longer and longer to interact with your company’s sales representatives.

Are you hiring sales representatives that meet customer expectations?

When they finally fill out the request for a demo or contact form, you want top-notch talent on the phone and sending emails to these prospects.

But, how do you find the right people for the job?

Identify the ones with the potential to be great sales representatives for your organization.

The keyword is potential.

Table of Contents

Four Things Skilled Salespeople Have in Common

Hiring top sales talent can be tricky, especially when you have to shortlist all your candidates.

That’s why it’s crucial to know what to look for in your perfect hires.

Here are four non-negotiable characteristics they should have.

1. Resilience

Sales is a job where the number of rejections outweighs the number of wins. However, the quality of wins makes those losses bearable.

You must hire sales representatives who are resilient enough to handle every “no” and intelligent enough to understand that multiple small rejections are nothing compared to significant, quality wins.

2. An Inclination Toward Continuous Self-Improvement

While we may agree that sales is a job where you hear “no” quite often, the successful sales representative doesn’t just accept every rejection and move on to the next lead.

Great salespeople should occasionally examine and revisit those rejections.

While they should let the obvious “no’s” go, talented sales pros will review the questionable losses and find ways to improve their pitch or approach should they face a similar situation in the future.

People with a zest for learning and dedication to improvement are sales managers’ dream candidates.

3. Goal Orientation with a Focus on the Client

When hiring your next sales rep, don’t just think about how goal-oriented the individual is.

Consider how client goal-oriented they are. When hiring managers think of “goal-oriented” candidates, that often means the candidate is driven to achieve their own goals.

To build a successful sales organization, you start with people passionate about helping clients achieve their goals.

This type of sales organization is a win-win-win. Customers get great counsel and service.

Your company is more effective with consultative selling.

Your sales representatives make more sales when they care about the client.

4. A Naturally Inquisitive Personality

What makes a salesperson really successful?

Successful salespeople master the ability to ask questions and listen to the prospect’s answers.

Curiosity is a remarkable trait in salespeople.

The more thoughtful and intelligent questions they ask, the more opportunities they have to uncover pain points and help solve customers’ problems.

Hire a Sales Representative Based on Potential for Greatness

Great inside sales performers have the following two things in common.

Firstly, they possess the four traits listed in the section above.

Secondly, they have a committed sales leader focused on doing what it takes to ensure the salesperson is the right fit for the job and has the necessary support and solutions to excel.

That second commonality requires that sales managers do a little more homework before hiring.

Here are seven things to pay attention to, plus four bonus tips to help hiring managers identify and hire the best inside sales candidates.

1. Accurately Define the Performance Factors for the Sales Role

Even when your candidates possess the four non-negotiable skills, they may need additional competence in key areas.

Define what those are — phone sales skills, email writing, or anything else their role requires. You can use pre-employment testing software to determine what exactly those skills are.

2. Determine What Skills You Are Willing to Help a New Hire Learn

The odds are that you won’t find the ideal, dream candidate, so you must be ready to compromise.

Are there skills that you are willing to help the right candidate cultivate?

3. Conduct a Phone Interview With Top Candidates

This conversation isn’t just the typical HR interview.

You, the sales manager, should perform a phone interview to get a general feel for the person’s phone presence.

If they can’t deliver during a phone interview, how well will they perform in your inside sales job?

4. Get the Candidate to Interview Your Top Performers

This reverse interview allows the potential employee to understand the role they applied for and know whether they really want this job.

You’ll recognize a truly great candidate as they will ask the right questions that reflect their more profound understanding of an SDR role.

5. Test Drive a Candidate’s Skills Using Simulations

A crucial step in building your dream sales development team is to test their skills with a practical task.

What you want from your SDRs in this portion is a high level of clarity, persuasion, and great attention to detail.

Since emails and voicemail tend to be SDRs’ preferred forms of communication, use the following two tasks to narrow down your choice:

Prospecting email

Have your SDR candidates identify a company or person they think would be a good target for your product or service.

Instructions:

Have them research the company and find the decision-maker, draft a personalized email to them, use a simple and effective subject line, then add a clear CTA to book a phone call with this person.

Voicemail message

Say the person they emailed responded and left their number. But they call back and get the voicemail.

Use this as an opportunity to check out your candidate’s voicemail pitching skills.

Instructions: The voicemail should be 45 seconds or less. Make sure to mention the email you previously sent, have a clear next step in the voicemail, and remember to leave your phone number.

Don’t forget to take notes on their performance.

6. Check Whether a Candidate Can Follow Their Own Plan

Request a one-page plan from the candidate that outlines how they will prepare to succeed in the role.

Ask the individual to set the due date.

If a candidate can’t follow instructions (a one-page plan) and deliver on their own timetable, then that person probably isn’t right for the job.

7. Take Calculated Risks

You’ve heard the old adage, “Hire for attitude and train for aptitude.”

While you can go with the “safe bet” candidates who fit exactly what your inside sales talent needs in terms of skill and experience, you have to be willing to take calculated risks on potential hires who show tremendous potential.

At a minimum, though, make sure you’re hiring world-class listeners. If a potential hire listens and asks great questions during an interview, they have part of the foundation to become a top-notch inside sales rep.

The bottom line is to make your organization a place where serious talent blossoms.

Not everyone will be where they should be when you hire; the key is finding those on the verge of greatness.

8. Give Mental Promotions

See team members as being one role ahead of where they are today and treat them as such.

Give people some of the responsibilities you know they want to have but are technically designated for someone in a higher position.

Monitor how they perform and put your belief in them; you’ll be surprised how many people rise to the occasion to meet your standards for inside sales talent.

9. Offer Referral Incentives

Jim Rohn famously said that we are the average of the five people we spend the most time with.

If that’s true, we need to make sure our best employees are bringing in like-minded people.

Chances are if you’ve got someone who is excellent at what they do, they are also surrounded by lots of other people who are great at what they do.

Make sure to incentivize them to invite other high achievers to the company.

10. Define Your Brand Online

When someone becomes interested in working for your company, the first thing they’re going to do is Google your company and see if there’s any information about what it’s like to work there.

Do you have a dynamic company and call center culture?

Have employees at your company gone on to do great things elsewhere?

Write about it on your company blog or another platform. When people start looking for evidence that your company is a great place to work, make sure it shows up.

11. Hire in Groups If Possible

While it might not always be possible given the size of your company, hiring in groups has some significant advantages.

Having a group of new hires coming on at the same time can create an amazing environment for peer-to-peer learning.

New hires’ ability to share tips and even commiserate to a degree with fellow new hires can increase their success rate and help lay an early foundation for trust and teamwork.

Advertise to and Attract Passive Candidates

How and where you advertise a position can make a big difference in the candidates you attract.

Many of the most successful candidates are already working and not actively looking for a job.

They’re called passive candidates.

According to some stats, 70% of the global workforce are passive candidates, which means that you have one big pool of talent to tap into.

Use Social Media

You can attract passive candidates by letting them know that the grass is greener on your side. Stay in front of these sales reps in a positive light, and they will notice your company.

So maybe later, when you make an offer, they won’t refuse.

You can stay in front of passive candidates by putting ads in the places they frequent.

Placing an ad in industry-related groups or on LinkedIn usually produces more qualified candidates than generalized job sites like Monster and SimplyHired.

You can also use Facebook, Twitter, and YouTube. Share information about your company and the job opening. Candidates can get to know you and your company on a personal level.

Leverage Referrals

Don’t forget about current employees, as they can be active recruiters to spread the word about your company. Happy employees are an effective talent acquisition tool.

Their experience working for your company can be more impactful than any job ad you can craft.

The bottom line is to get creative and not just rely on standard job sites to attract the best candidates.

Come up with a Compelling Ad

After you’ve found the best places to advertise, you have to ensure that your ad is enticing.

How do you attract the best candidates?

Write the ad as if you are speaking directly to the candidate.

What would they be interested in?

Besides the key requirements for the position, ensure that you address sales reps’ main concerns:

opportunity,
earning potential,
training,
professional development,
business culture.

Offer Appropriate Compensation

There’s a reason high-growth companies are more successful — they invest in products and people that get them to where they need to be.

To reign in the right sales talent, let your benefits do the talking.

To get the best, you need to offer the best.

What benefits set your company apart from other sales employers?

Your potential SDRs will want to know about your compensation package, commission structure, bonuses, sick and PTO days, 401(k) options, health benefits, autonomy over their work, and more.

With the right approach, you can make talented SDRs eager to work at your company. And once you’ve hooked them, get ready for a bigger pipeline for a broader sales team.

Get Your New Hires Up to Speed

You’ve evaluated and found the perfect candidates for your sales team. The first 90 days and onboarding process are crucial.

Set Up a Mentoring Program

The first 30 days are about learning.

After the initial training session, set up a mentoring program.

Let new sales reps shadow the mentor for observation and to ask questions.

This should include practicing your company’s standard presentation, observing the mentor and other salespeople, and spending time with management and in sales meetings to review accounts.

Give Them the Right Tools

Before new reps can begin the onboarding process, they need the correct tools.

Having an easy-to-use and efficient sales CRM system available after training can shorten the sales floor’s transition.

It’s one less thing for the new trainee to worry about. This can make a difference in sales reps’ performance. Sales CRM software like VanillaSoft lets you save time and money on training new employees because it is easy to operate. Additionally, tools like a HR Portal can ease you up with tough recruitment, administrative, and training processes.

Sales reps will feel comfortable, and can be up and running in as little as 15 minutes when ready to sell.

So, instead of spending time learning the software, they can concentrate on selling.

Track Progress with Monitoring and Recording

After the training session and onboarding period, it is important to monitor new sales reps’ progress to ensure that they understand what was learned in training and how they’re progressing during each sales cycle stage.

Measuring overall performance will identify the strengths and weaknesses.

Gain New Insight with Real-Time Calling Statistics and Reporting

VanillaSoft offers a call-activity dashboard so you can quickly and easily monitor a sales rep’s performance.

See real-time calling statistics for each sales rep, broken down by lead source, call result, or result group.

You can directly impact new customer interactions as they happen with live monitoring and eavesdropping. Also, easily record calls for later review and to use in retraining sessions.

This is a valuable tool to teach sales reps about what happened during the call.

And when combined with the VanillaSoft Web reports feature, you can easily see historical data broken down by sales rep, last call information, and more.

Measure High-Performance Sales Indicators

Once new sales reps are ready for the sales floor, give them reasonable goals and sales quotas to achieve.

Measure their progress with indicators. An essential part of creating a high-performance sales team from new trainees is to measure the right indicators of sales success and progress.

It’s not just a numbers game – the number of calls, time on the phone, etc., that drives sales. Though these are important, it’s the quality of calls that make the sale.

Things like making sure that sales reps call qualified leads, know how to overcome objections, and engage in conversations are vital to your team’s success.

Coaching and measuring these key performance indicators without the right sales CRM software can be a daunting task.

Managers can spend more time collecting data than analyzing and reviewing information.

VanillaSoft offers a comprehensive suite of tools to streamline the evaluation process and make creating high-performance sales teams easier. Its dynamic reporting wizard gives managers visibility to let them know what’s going on at each stage of the sales cycle.

Wrapping Things Up

Hiring the right inside sales reps takes time and planning. But, most importantly, it takes creating a methodology that will allow you to identify those with the right skills and potential to transform your sales department and turn it into a revenue-generating machine. These tips will point you in the right direction and show you how to spot a great inside sales rep in an avalanche of applications.

Tips for Hiring the Right Inside Sales Representative