Ben Browning’s Post

🔎 Identifying Junior Sales Talent: Mindset Over Experience 🔎 How do you spot promising junior talent during the hiring process, especially when they lack demonstrated experience? Here are some tips and tricks to help you identify top-notch junior sales talent: 🔎Focus on Soft Skills🔎 Look beyond their CV and have a conversation. For entry-level candidates, their soft skills are the biggest indicator for sales potential. Pay attention to resilience, adaptability, empathy, proactiveness and ability to ask meaningful questions and listen. Junior candidates with strong interpersonal aptitude and a natural ability to connect with others often make excellent salespeople. 🔎Assess Attitudes and Key Drivers🔎 During interviews, delve into candidates' attitudes and motivations. Do they demonstrate determination to learn and grow? Are they driven by goals, rewards, and targets? How do they react to or overcome obstacles? Seek candidates who display a positive attitude, a competitive spirit, and a willingness to go the extra mile to achieve results. 🔎Explore Life Habits and Past Successes🔎 While direct sales experience is valuable, don't discount candidates' past successes in other areas of their lives. Look for evidence of persistence, initiative, and achievement, whether it's in academics, sports, extracurricular activities, or volunteer work. Candidates who have overcome obstacles and achieved goals in the past are likely to bring the same drive and determination to their sales roles. 🔎Role Play and Scenario-Based Questions🔎 Use role-playing exercises and scenario-based questions during interviews to assess candidates' problem-solving skills and sales instincts. Present them with hypothetical sales situations and observe how they respond under pressure. Look for creativity, strategic thinking, and the ability to think on their feet. 🔎Seek Growth Potential🔎 While junior candidates may lack experience, they should demonstrate a willingness and ability to learn and grow. Inquire about their aspirations and how they wish to grow their career in sales. Look for candidates who are hungry to put in the work to develop their expertise and knowledge, to get to the next level. By focusing on mindset, soft skills, attitudes, and growth potential during the hiring process, you can identify junior sales talent with the potential to excel in your team. Consider that it’s not just about what candidates have done in the past, but about who they are and what they're capable of achieving in the future. If you find yourself in need of expert guidance in identifying and hiring sales talent, remember that the Hunter Campbell S & M team is here for you. With our extensive networks and deep expertise, we're primed and ready to assist with all your sales recruitment needs, no matter the level. Get in touch - Sindy Ward | Rose Buffalo-Snell | Bethany Taplin | Erin Donkin | Eloise Braithwaite | Daniel Pinto

Recruit like you're selling! it's essential to validate the notion that recruiting is, in fact, a mirrored process to sales. Let's dissect this comparison further to understand the intricate parallels that exist between the two. First off, think of your hiring process as a sales cycle. Why do we draw this parallel? Simply because recruiting is an art that involves selling, you're selling the company and the role to potential candidates, just as they sell their skills and experiences to you. In sales, the value of qualified leads is well-understood. It's the lifeblood of any robust sales funnel. The same sentiment applies to recruiting. It's vital not to get caught up in chasing unqualified candidates, no matter how many open vacancies you have or how urgently you need to fill them. Chasing unqualified candidates is as wasteful and fruitless as pitching to customers who are clearly not interested in or cannot afford your product or service. Moreover, nurturing your prospects is a crucial practice in sales. This concept holds equally true in recruiting. Building and maintaining candidate relationships is akin to fostering relationships with clients. A warm, engaging interaction can be the defining factor in closing a deal or filling a position. So, Recruit with a sales mindset—measure metrics, use data-driven approaches, and build nurturing candidate relationships as you would with clients. Just as salespeople are encouraged to 'Always Be Closing,' the same applies to recruiters. Constantly strive to edge your prospects closer to that job offer and remember that every interaction counts. In the startup ecosystem, where you're likely working, grasping this concept can truly be a game-changer. Startups often deal with limited resources and higher stakes. The right hire can make a monumental difference, so selling the vision and potential of the startup effectively becomes even more crucial. In conclusion, approaching recruiting with a sales mindset can revolutionize your process and yield more favorable outcomes. Happy selling (or should I say recruiting)!

⚠ RECRUITMENT IS NOT A SALES JOB ⚠️ This is an opinion that was casually thrown at me in a conversation this week. "Recruitment, full of salespeople seeking comms Dan. That's why you're different to the rest" Also, "It annoys me, as recruitment is Talent Acquisition, not sales" NOW, I agree that it needs a human touch and that more care needs to be taken by some. 🤝 It should 100% be based on relationships and not be transactional. (And the outdated phishing questions need to be dropped, people 🤚🏻🚫) HOWEVER... Recruitment IS A SALES JOB. 💯 Without the sales aspect of our role, we'd have no roles/jobs to talk to you about! Let me break down what I do, outside of speaking to you guys: ✅ Daily New Business Development: Every single day, I allocate specific hours for new business development. It's crucial to identify key decision-makers within organizations, learn about their challenges, and how our solutions (you guys!) can help address them. ✅ Regular follow-ups: Not every client is ready to engage right away, so maintaining a regular follow-up schedule ensures I'm at the forefront of the client's mind when they are. Whether it's bi-weekly or monthly, my follow-ups are always personalized and value-oriented, aiming to nurture the relationship further. ✅ Multichannel outreach: LinkedIn, Emails, you name it - I utilize all the channels at my disposal. For instance, LinkedIn has been particularly useful for networking, getting introductions, and sharing valuable content. Emails allow me to communicate more detailed information and keep the conversation going. ⚠️ AND THE BIG ONE ⚠️ 🙈 Cold calling: Of course! The power of a personal phone call is inevitable. I cold call... and actually enjoy it. It's been a fundamental pillar of my success. Each call has been an opportunity to learn more about a client, their business, their pain points, and most importantly, how I can provide a solution. So, it is sales... BUT, It's not just about selling, but building relationships and providing value. I hope this helps you guys to understand what we do behind the scenes! Does this help? 🤷🏻♂️

Information VS Inspiration in sales. As a recruitment consultant in professional sales environments, it's not only my job to consult with clients about their recruitment needs, but a larger part of my job is spent identifying and filtering through talent who are interested in various opportunities that come through our doors. Part of my sifting process involves roleplays. I've had a few roleplays recently where candidates have said all the right things. Almost verbatim to the latest and greatest sales techniques out there today. Word for word copies of common overturns, of common investigative questions, and even introductions. Although there is nothing wrong about this, there isn't much right about it either. When we are given all the right answers, we lose the ability to ask the right questions. We end up listening for what we want to hear and deafen ourselves to what the person we're talking to wants to say. Whatever is important to you, is not what is important to them. Whatever is important to them is what is important to the sale. People need authenticity. They don't need the "7 pillars to effectively overturning financial smokescreens" or whatever. If you're somebody that has spent thousands on sales mentorships but nothing on personal development, there will a disconnect between what you know and who you are, and you can't be anybody except yourself in sales. "Once conform, once do what other people do because they do it, and a lethargy steals over all the finer nerves and faculties of the soul. She becomes all outer show and inward emptiness; dull, callous, and indifferent." - Virgina Woolf We've been building connections with some of the most authentic sales professionals you could ever come across. If you've got something worth selling, we've got people worth hiring. Let's chat!

Don’t Approach Recruiting Like Sales – It’s a Consultative Process. Sales focuses on closing deals, recruitment is about aligning a candidate’s potential with an organization’s needs to support growth on both sides. Recruitment requires empathy, humility, and a greater sense of responsibility. Here’s why: ❌ Approach: Setting hiring targets like sales quotas Rushing candidates to accept offers Focusing on quantity over quality Making unrealistic promises about growth Lacking transparency about work culture This Results In: High turnover, unhappy employees, and a damaged company reputation. ✅ Approach: Clear discussions on job expectations Multiple interviews to ensure cultural fit Transparency about both pros and challenges involved in the role. Focus on long-term career growth Emphasis on work-life balance This Results In: Better retention and satisfied employees. Recruiters act as consultants for both employers and candidates. For employers, they assess organizational needs, culture, and role requirements. For candidates, they evaluate skills, career aspirations, and compatibility with job opportunities. This dual consultative role is unique to recruitment. Sales deals with Products and services that have fixed specifications, features, and pricing. Look into this example: Mobile Phone Sale vs. Software Developer Job Sale: A customer buys a phone for Rs 1,00,000. If unhappy, they can return it. At worst, they lose money or time. Job: A developer relocates their family from Delhi to Bangalore. Kids change schools mid-year. The spouse quits their job to move. If someone buys the wrong phone, it can be returned. But if someone takes the wrong job, it can mean: Relocating family unnecessarily Missing better opportunities Financial stress Career setbacks Mental health issues This is why recruitment requires a higher level of responsibility and care than traditional sales. Lets look into these communication approaches: ❌ Sales-Style: "We need to close this position by Friday. The offered package is really great. It shows a great increment—don’t think much, just accept it!." ✅ Career-Focused: "I understand you need to discuss this with your family. The role sometimes involves weekend shifts—please consider this. I’d be happy to connect you with team members if you’d like to learn more about the culture. I hope this helps you make a conscious decision." Sales tactics often push candidates to make quick decisions, emphasizing benefits without addressing challenges, with little regard for candidates' personal circumstances. This approach risks creating a negative culture within the company. Recruitment has only a few overlaps with sales such as Branding Market research. Storytelling But fundamentally, it is different, it is a "consultative process" for both candidates and hiring managers that defines company’s culture and values. "People" are partners in creating a lasting, positive impact within the organization. #hiringculture

Potential clients with IT Sales roles in the last 2 weeks: 'Sorry, we want someone with sales recruitment experience and a network of top sales candidates'.. ..Well shut the front door!!! Have I been missing something in the world of sales recruitment for the last 13 odd years?? Their approach must be so magical it's impossible to replicate as a mere IT Recruiter. So, I did some research (like 20 seconds max to find the image because I already knew the answer) and what did I find? Much like the flow chart, it's exactly the same. I'm glad they titled the process as sales recruitment, because I wouldn't of had a clue what that was otherwise 🙃 We can all put up an ad on LinkedIn and connect with "top" candidates. The difference?..techies need to feel valued / assured in their skills and sales folk want their egos stroked while you try to suss if they're full of s*** or not. The good ones most likely have strong pipelines and decent commission en-route to their bank accounts, so why leave? For a GOOD opportunity! If you're struggling to find the impressive people, it's because the message going out to potential employees is not an enticing one. Also, if a recruiter tells you they have a talent pool flooded with relevant talent, it's most likely a lie 🤥 A smart man said to me last week, if you're an expert in the IT recruitment field, you can hire for any role, but it's hard to get IT right if you're not familiar with it. This was also extremely frustrating when applying to roles during redundancy, knowing it doesn't make a blind bit of difference. The trust should be in the recruiter as a person. What are their values? Do they treat the candidates well etc. And guess what, let's say you give them a chance and they start working your role, but find no candidates, how much have you spent doing this? £0. Choose your recruiter wisely! Happy Friday 😂

Why Recruiters Should Possess Sales Skills: The Key to Successful Talent Acquisition 😎 In today’s competitive job market, the role of a recruiter has evolved far beyond simply filling vacancies. To excel in the dynamic field of talent acquisition, recruiters need to adopt a sales-oriented mindset. The ability to sell not just a job, but an entire career opportunity, is now crucial for attracting and retaining top talent. Here’s why sales skills are vital for recruiters and how they can elevate the recruitment process. 🎯 Understanding Candidate Needs 🤝 A successful salesperson knows that understanding the customer’s needs is the first step toward making a sale. Similarly, recruiters must deeply understand what candidates are looking for in a role—whether it's career growth, work-life balance, or a positive company culture. By adopting this approach, recruiters can tailor their pitch to align with the candidate’s aspirations, making the job offer more attractive and relevant. 🎯 Building Relationships and Trust 🌐 Sales is all about building relationships, and the same holds true for recruitment. Candidates are more likely to engage with recruiters they trust and feel comfortable with. By leveraging sales techniques such as active listening and empathy, recruiters can establish strong relationships, turning passive candidates into active job seekers. Trust-building is especially important in today’s market, where candidates often have multiple offers to choose from. 💬 Persuasion and Influence💡 Recruiters, like salespeople, need to be persuasive. Convincing a top-tier candidate to consider a new opportunity, especially if they are currently employed or content in their current role, requires strong persuasive skills. Recruiters must be able to effectively communicate the benefits of the position, the company’s vision, and how the role aligns with the candidate’s career goals. This level of influence can make all the difference in securing the right talent. 🌟 Overcoming Objections 💬 In sales, overcoming objections is a critical skill. Recruiters face similar challenges when candidates express concerns about a job offer, such as salary, location, or company culture. A recruiter with sales skills will know how to address these objections, offer solutions, and keep the conversation moving forward, ultimately increasing the likelihood of a successful hire. 🚀 Closing the Deal 🏆 The final step in sales is closing the deal, and the same applies to recruitment. Securing a candidate’s commitment requires a strategic approach, ensuring that all their needs and concerns have been addressed. A recruiter with a sales background will be adept at closing, ensuring that the candidate accepts the offer and is excited about the new opportunity. 🎉 #Recruitment #TalentAcquisition #SalesSkills #Hiring #HR #CareerDevelopment #RecruitingTips #EmployeeEngagement #NegotiationSkills #JobMarket

At first glance, sales and agency recruitment might seem like completely different worlds. But dig a little deeper, and you'll find they share a ton of similarities and require many of the same skills. Here are the top 7 ways sales and recruitment are alike: 1. Building Relationships: Both sales professionals and recruiters excel in relationship-building. Whether it's nurturing leads or connecting with potential candidates, success in both fields hinges on developing and maintaining strong, trust-based relationships. 2. Understanding Needs: Salespeople must understand their clients' needs to offer tailored solutions. Similarly, recruiters need to grasp the specific requirements of a role and the cultural fit within the company to find the perfect candidate. 3. Communication Skills: Clear, persuasive, and effective communication is vital in both sales and recruitment. Articulating the value proposition of a product or a job opportunity requires the ability to convey information engagingly. 4. Networking: Both roles thrive on robust networks. Sales professionals leverage their networks to find leads and close deals, while recruiters use theirs to source top talent and gather referrals. 5. Negotiation: Whether it's closing a sale or finalizing a job offer, strong negotiation skills are essential. Both salespeople and recruiters must find a balance that satisfies all parties involved. 6. Persistence: Both fields require a high degree of persistence. Overcoming objections, handling rejections, and staying motivated are daily challenges faced by sales professionals and recruiters alike. 7. Market Research: Understanding market trends and the competitive landscape is crucial. Sales teams need this information to position their products effectively, while recruiters need it to attract and retain top talent. When it comes down to it, sales and recruitment are all about connecting the right people with the right opportunities. They both need a deep understanding of human behaviour, excellent communication, a knack for closing deals, and the ability to handle rejection and objections with grace. If you're good at one, you've got a great foundation to be good at the other. IT/IQ Tech Recruiters is still hiring recruiters for our Vancouver office and we'd love to hear from you!

To hire outstanding Sales Development Representatives (SDRs), look for these seven traits: **Creativity** Modern SDRs must be creative and able to think independently. The sales landscape has changed, and now requires more personalization and adaptation. **Grit** Great SDRs are driven and resilient. They push through challenges and handle failure well. Ask candidates how they’ve dealt with failure to gauge their grit. **Passion** SDRs face a lot of rejection, so they need to be passionate about the product and sales. Ask candidates why they want to sell your product to ensure they have the necessary enthusiasm. **Coachability** SDRs often need to refine their skills, so they must be open to feedback and willing to learn. Test this by giving them feedback during the interview process and seeing how they respond. **Competitiveness** Successful SDRs are competitive. Look for candidates with backgrounds in sports, the military, or high-pressure jobs, as they tend to thrive in sales roles. **Articulation** SDRs need to communicate clearly. Assess their speaking skills by asking them to explain something they know well. Clear, concise explanations are a good sign. **Listening Skills** Good SDRs listen more than they talk. Observe if candidates ask insightful questions and avoid interrupting during interviews, as these are signs of good listening skills. Incorporate these traits into your interview process to find the best candidates. If managing this seems too much, consider outsourcing SDR positions to experts. This can save you time and ensure you get skilled professionals.

Candidate situation -Done lead generation. -Smashed it got promoted to a closing role very quickly. -Less than 2 years into their Sales Career, didn't get coaching and mentoring for the 360 sales position. -Got reallocated to Operations, then got let go. Screen call positives. -Superb communicator no mincing of words spoke very clearly no waffle. -Came across Humble, E.G. he said "SDRing or Lead Gen is something I would do again to prove my value but I'm more motivated for a closing role where I can build long relationships with customers" so appreciates the importance of either area of a business. -Definitely a natural prior to me asking anything said look I know my CV isn't great because of the shorter stint in sales, but here's why I want a career in that industry and then proceeded to list out points backed up with research. Accountability and presented arguments to get a career opportunity in a professional manner backed with stats. Us commercial folk love numbers! Screen call negatives. -Not much sales experience. -Due to shorter tenure can't demonstrate results over a longer period of time. Way more +'s than -'s, I then called the client explained the situation. Client adjusted their IV process to include hiring managers from both teams. I then jumped on a google meet call to give the Candidate pointers and tips to cover in the interview based on their CV and what the client is looking for. Candidate feels appreciated because I recognised their situation and listened. Cupid but for the workplace. I do this because of my own experiences dealing with Recruiters and Companies alike, it's a more time consuming process for recruitment but I think the investment is worth it. If you think this approach will improve your brand when trying to get the best people in your business, please get in touch with me. I'd love to help! #recruitment #talentacquisition #candidateexperience #norfolkandsuffolkbusiness