Successful Sales Recruitment Strategies Claudia St

Successful Sales Recruitment Strategies Claudia St. John President, Affinity HR Group, LLC

Objective Today • Discuss The Key to Successful Recruiting ― Deliberate planning ― A clear understanding of what you are looking for ― A transparent articulation of how you will assess candidates

Because….

1 …bad candidates aren’t this easy to spot…

…and the choice between two candidates isn’t always this clear…

2 …and some people that seem great in theory….

….can be terrifying in practice

There ARE ways to lessen the chances of hiring a Dwight Schrute or a Meredith Palmer

3 But first…your options (and costs)

Recruiting Firm ‐ % first year salary plus expenses Consultant –$ per hour plus expenses In‐house –staff time plus expenses (politics, process, prosecution)

No kidding about “prosecution”

• Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 (15 employees). • Civil Rights Act of 1991 (15 employees). • Equal Pay Act of 1963 (all employers). • Employee Polygraph Protection Act of 1988 (all employers). • Executive Order 11246 (federal government contractors/subcontractors). • Americans With Disabilities Act (ADA) (15 employees). • Fair Credit Reporting Act (all employers). • Immigration Reform and Control Act (all employers). • Uniform Services Employment and Re‐employment Rights Act (USERRA) (all employers). • Vietnam Era Veterans Readjustment Assistance Act (federal contractors/subcontractors, contracts of $25,000 or more). • Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) (all employers). • National Labor Relations Act (all employers with a union and some requirements without a union).

4 Keys to Successful In‐house Recruiting

1. Determine what you truly need today & tomorrow and craft a thorough job posting 2. Establish a solid recruitment & interview process 3. Be explicit about how you will evaluate your candidates 4. Be mindful of legal compliance

All the rest will follow!

Your Posting

5 What are the qualities of a top‐notch Sales Executive?

Today? Tomorrow?

Some qualities of top‐notch sales exec: • High level of confidence • Thrive on human interaction • Heat‐seeking missiles • Look at adversity as opportunity • Excellent communicators • Ability to listen AND ask great questions • Problem solvers • Self‐starters and well organized

6 Some qualities of top‐notch sales exec (Cont.)

• Always seeking new ways to sell (Web 2.0) • Naturally persuasive • High degree of integrity

Components of Successful Selling:

• Prospecting • Creating First Impression/Introduction • Qualifying Opportunities • Demonstrating Product/Service • Influencing Decision • Closing Sale • Understanding of Overall Sales Process

7 Capture these skills and requirements in your Job Posting

Think ahead of how you will assess these skills and requirements • Making first impression • Revenue seeking missile • Naturally persuasive • High degree of integrity • Understanding of sales process

Keys to job posting:

• Make sure all information is essential • Try to make it quantifiable • Take the time NOW to think strategically about what you will need in 5 years • Plan to use it to evaluate your candidates

8 Successful Job Posting ‐ Sections About the company • Make it stand out • Market yourself! • Confidential or not?

Responsibilities • What are the key accountabilities of the position • Think about what the position needs, not what the current person is doing

Successful Job Posting Requirements • Make them quantifiable if possible • Remember –if it’s not here, is it really important? • Use this to screen/cull/evaluate your candidates

Contact • How do you want to manage the flow of candidates? • Think ahead about how you will manage the flow of resumes (automatic replies, applicant database, etc)

9 Posting is easy (although not always cheap)

• Monster.com $210 • Career Builder $419 • LinkedIn $195 • Specialty Sites like PSDA Job Board • Craig’s List – $25 • LinkedIn Groups ‐ Free • Twitter –Free • Your Networks/Contacts – Free!

Remember – it’s not just a job posting…

…it’s your scorecard going forward!

10 Your Process

Your Process: Why Have It? Why Stick to It?

• Establishing an approach that everyone buys into ensures you will have a candidate everyone supports • Avoids common pitfalls ― Politics ― Popularity contests ― Sidetracks/distractions

11 The Major Steps • Post the position for a specified duration • Create your “piles” • Create your first cut pool • Phone screen • Create your second cut pool • Personality test • Conduct interview(s) • Select finalist • Call references • Submit the offer & negotiate • Background check • Keep file of all applicants for 1 year

Who should be on your search committee?

• The hiring manager • The “ultimate decider” • Peers • The person who is good at interviewing people

12 What about head hunting? • Who would you love to have? • How do you find them? • Who calls them? • Who do they know?

The Culling Process • Cull resumes based on criteria laid out in job posting • Agree to how many candidates will be presented after each cull • Consider Olympic Voting for search committee

Always be honest with candidates about your process, where they are and why

Treat all candidates with respect

13 Consider Style Assessments

• General Personality Assessments • Sales Skills Indexes

You will know more about what motivates and influences your candidates. You will have more data to consider.

As professional recruiters, we won’t hire without conducting an assessment

The Interview

14 The Interview

• The most crucial part of the process • The more strategically planned, the better • The biggest risk for legal mistakes & bias

Structure your interview in advance to catch Michael or Andy

15 Watch for bias

Bias (+/‐)

Halo Effect

Behavioral Interview –the Gold Standard • Ask the candidate to give examples of how they have acted in the past • It is the best predictor of future performance

“Tell me about a time when you had difficulty closing a sale and how did you handle it?” “Have you ever had to grow a book of business? Tell me about it and how you did it.”

16 My Preference

• Behavioral Interview Technique • Team interview • Structured • Some situational questions • Group debrief with moderator • Keep posting on hand • Don’t hesitate to follow up with questions • Make the experience as positive for all candidates as possible. ― Remember, those you don’t hire will likely end up somewhere in your industry.

Try to Avoid Bias

• Just because someone interviews well doesn’t make them the best candidate & vice versa! • Prepare questions in advance and ask consistently of all candidates • Consider team interviewing with defined roles • Be creative in your questioning and get examples to your questions • Avoid legal quicksand! (Race, religion, age, gender, sexual orientation, marital and family status)

17 Examples of “Legal Quicksand”

• “Ahmed is an unusual name, what type of name is that?” • “Oh, you went to Parkway High? What year did you graduate?” • “Are you married? Do you have kids? Think you’ll have any more children?” • “So Steve, you described Bob as your ‘partner’, what did you mean by that?”

Partial list of questions you can’t ask: Q Original name of an applicant. Q Questions about physical characteristics Q Maiden name. (i.e., weight, height, color of hair, etc.). Q How long have you lived at your current Q Marital status. address? Q Presence of children or intention of having Q Do you own your home? children. Q Where were you born? Q Gender. Q Birthplace of parents or spouse. Q Any medical information or questions about Q Require birth certificate, naturalization or use of workers’ compensation benefits. baptismal records. Q Citizenship (may ask about legal right to Q When were you born? work in the United States but this will be addressed later). Q How old are you? Q Lineage, ancestry or national origin. Q Date of high school graduation. Q Dates of military service or if receiving Q Questions about religion. veteran disability pension. Q Race, complexion of skin or attitude about Q Listing of clubs, societies or lodges where working with co-workers of different race. applicants have membership. Q Requirement of a photograph. Q Do you belong to a labor union? Q Do you own a car?

18 Evaluating Your Candidate

• Include full participation of the selection committee • Ask yourself, is the issue we’re debating on the job posting? If not, move on • How will you weigh strengths and weaknesses? • Use your reference checking to fill in gaps left by the interview process

If you don’t feel great about the candidate at the end of the process, MOVE ON ― It’s easier to start the process again than it is to deal with a mis‐hire

Successful Recruiting “Take‐Aways”

• You can and will find a wonderful sales professional • Be strategic in thinking about what and how you will need to sell tomorrow • Having a solid process will ensure your candidate has been appropriately selected • Steer clear of legal quicksand

19 Questions? Claudia St. John Affinity HR Group LLC 877‐660‐6400 [email protected]