Recruiting sales positions is, now more than ever, the cornerstone of the growth and development of businesses in any sector and of any size. Since the health crisis and the rebound of the economy in 2022, the availability of the best salespeople has been declining in the face of renewed interest from companies in these professions.
To help you attract the best talent that creates value to your organization, we share our tips for optimizing the recruitment process for your business functions.
Understanding this tense market
Before embarking on a recruitment process, it is important to understand the workings and challenges of this tense market. In the line of sight since the decline of the epidemic, the number of ads posted on job boards increased by more than 43% in 2021 and currently represents 16% of active ads on platforms. Good news for candidates? This trend seems to continue in 2022.
This massive enthusiasm is justified by the importance of commercial functions for businesses. True ambassadors of the added value of companies once in office, salespeople present on the market sometimes lack skills in the fundamentals of sales.
The main reason for this phenomenon? A devaluation of these professions by higher schools and a pedagogy mainly focused on management, finance and team management.
Recruiting good salespeople has become a time-consuming and tedious process. Knowing how to perceive and feel human qualities, in addition to job skills, is an exercise that recruiters must master to identify the rare pearl that will meet your expectations.
Optimizing the recruitment process, the differentiating element for your business
The time is the difference! The market has become largely competitive, but especially in favor of candidates. A reversal of steam that pushes companies to review their methods and question their attractiveness more widely. La employer brand is therefore on the verge of becoming an essential element of business strategy to attract value-creating talent.
In this article, we are going to look at the recruitment process from reflection to onboarding. A comprehensive guide to best support you in your search for strategic business functions.
Preparation, the first step towards the ideal candidate
Before you start distributing your job offer, it is essential to ask yourself the question: is my offer in line with the market?
So it's interesting to think about:
- at the required level of experience
- to the required knowledge of the sector
- to the type of commercial profile and to human qualities
- to missions and to the perimeter of the post
- to the expected objectives
- to remuneration and benefits
- to the recruitment process.
To optimize this stage, it is important to highlight the challenges of this recruitment. This can be the launch of a new offer, the opening up to a new region, but also developing business in a complicated sector. The “why” will be your guideline for setting up your research brief.
Once the thinking about the position is over, it is now possible to start writing the offer that will be broadcast. During this stage, it is important to keep in mind that sales representatives represent 30% of executive recruitments in France and are in the 2nd position of the most volatile and scarce function. You must therefore make your offer attractive without falling into false promises.
Broadcast, broadcast and broadcast
The job market for salespeople is facing numerous difficulties, including an overabundance of offers and the reluctance to change jobs on the part of employees already in place. This observation highlights a reality: it is necessary to maximize distribution to find the ideal candidate. If the Job boards are the most common way to broadcast a job offer, it is no longer enough.
It is important to multiply the actions put in place and to combine traditional dissemination with a direct approach, hunting and profile search in candidate databases.
Chez Job2bedone, it is by combining these different levers that our teams manage to identify talent that creates value for each of the missions entrusted. To find the best profile, hunting remains the preferred way for our recruiters who use the same tools as those of salespeople.
Prequalify for an optimized process
This sometimes repetitive and time-consuming step is nevertheless one of the most important in your recruitment. A good prequalification will allow you not to miss out on the rare pearl while avoiding unnecessary interviews. Here are some tips to make this step a success for sure:
- precisely define the points to be checked (remuneration, availability, geographical mobility, motivation, managed portfolio, current objectives, etc.)
- establish a matrix of keywords to search for in applications and profiles concerning the sector, missions or human skills
- prepare the pitch of the position and the specificities to arouse the interest of the candidate and ensure a good understanding of the issues
- convey the values and vision of the company to ensure a fit culture and the good integration of the future employee.
After this stage, you should get a qualified and qualitative shortlist of candidates who are suitable to continue your recruitment process.
Interviews: job skills and the aspiration to meet
As mentioned above, job skills are not always the strong point of salespeople looking for a new job. To ensure that you recruit the talent that meets your needs, it is important to ensure your expertise during the interview phases.
To do this, it is time to let the candidate talk about his previous experiences in order to highlight his mode of operation and the techniques used. To make the time more enjoyable for you and the candidate, consider using open-ended questions. It will also allow you to analyze his ability to argue and synthesize information while moving away from the interview format that is sometimes a bit anxiety-provoking.
For a successful interview, it is also important to remember to mention the aspirations of the candidate. This will make it possible to understand how it is planned in your company, on the position and the missions.
Candidate follow-up, the key to success
By using a specialized recruitment firm, you will be able to discover a fundamental step before integration: monitoring the candidate throughout their career.
Thanks to the points made after each interview, this will allow the recruiter to detect during the conversation the weak signals of questions or doubts that the candidate or the company may still have. In the same way, it can also probe the level of motivation and culture fit on both sides. A key step that makes it possible to highlight the ideal candidate among all the talents offered.
Integration: the springboard for performance
Often overlooked in the recruitment process, integration is a fundamental step in ensuring the future performance of your new employee. The time between the promise of employment and integration should be a moment of exchange and to begin the transmission of your corporate culture.
Physical or virtual coffee with the team to break the ice, lunch, office visits, the possibilities are diverse and varied. It's the start of a new adventure for your new collaborator, give them a memorable first impression.
Here is a small summary from more than 15 years of experience in the recruitment of sales, marketing and digital middle top management profiles. We hope this will help you find the perfect candidate to grow your business.
