Chris Herbert’s Post

What is sales? Sales is hyped to be this scary thing but ultimately it’s about having a conversation with people who are there to do a job. I think some recruiters out there have given the industry a bad name and there are others who are there to genuinely support a solution. Believe in the way you speak to people rather than hard core selling and just have a kind, understanding chat. It might not happen straight away but harassing just isn’t the way. When I headed up internal recruitment I’d be so put off by pushy and sneaky sales tactics. Hiring isn’t always just experience it’s a culture offering and that’s what to think about when speaking to businesses. Take the time to understand and empathise in the right, human way and above all, offer a good service!

There is a robust business need for objective sales hiring. Creating strategies to hire salespeople who will hit quota and deliver revenue is critical. Simply put, you need to build a team that will help you reach your sales goals. The battle for perfect candidates isn’t ending anytime soon. Increase your odds of winning by using Peak’s 14 tips. With the right hiring strategies, you have all the tools you need to build a top performing sales force. https://lnkd.in/dvMkegq #hiringstrategies #saleshiring #salesgoals #topperforminghires #peaksalesrecruiting

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.

Hiring salespeople. How many of us (ME!) have hired the wrong salespeople only to be forced to change 6 months or a very expensive year later? Where does the budget for that bad hire and missed opportunity come from? Most average salespeople are brilliant at selling themselves and nothing else! Sales hiring isn't like hiring any other position, and we shouldn't approach it the same way. Here are some tips that can drive a more effective sales hiring process. 1 - It should be specific to sales (salespeople are a different breed, so does it make sense to hire them the same way you would a project manager or any other position?) 2 - It should force the candidate to demonstrate their sales skills. Punctuality, preparedness, an ability to gain control of the conversation in an engaging way, curiosity, and a determination to gain clarity on the next steps. 3 - Your role should not be to seek a salesperson but to act as a sales leader observing a salesperson in action. 4 - It should allow you to observe how they sell, if they can be coached, and if they can be managed. Treat the process like a cold call. It's what they will face in the real world, and it's much better to see how a candidate handles it before you start paying them.

There is a robust business need for objective sales hiring. Creating strategies to hire salespeople who will hit quota and deliver revenue is critical. Simply put, you need to build a team that will help you reach your sales goals. The battle for perfect candidates isn’t ending anytime soon. Increase your odds of winning by using Peak’s 14 tips. With the right hiring strategies, you have all the tools you need to build a top performing sales force. https://lnkd.in/dvMkegq #hiringstrategies #saleshiring #salesgoals #topperforminghires #peaksalesrecruiting

Hiring sales people is hard. Even harder when trying to delivering revenue too. I remember as a sales leader deciding to hire myself and save the £10k recruitment fee. The leadership team was very happy. But I then spent lots of time on activity that didn’t directly help me achieve my immediate revenue target. The LT no longer cared about that £10k saving... The unit economics just don’t stack up. I really think growth companies undervalue their time. Last week I spoke to a new VP Sales for a Series A company. They posted an AE role on LinkedIn for 7 days and stopped it after receiving hundreds of applications. After spending hours reviewing these, they cut down too: - 32 qualification calls - 18 candidates to a 45 min first stage interview - 4 candidates to 60 min 2n stage - 2 candidates to 90 min final stage (including the 2 co-founders) And they’re now unsure if they have the right person and might need to start the process again. Because reviewing a couple of hundred profiles is a tiny segment of the market. A market of people that are applying, saw the job posting and that happened to be looking in those few days that the role was live. That isn't a hiring strategy. There’s no headhunting. No outbound activity at all. They said it had taken them about 80 hours of work so far. The sales leaders has a £300k OTE. Their fully loaded salary for the time they spent alone is higher than getting external help. But... The bigger cost is the hours and hours of not building and not selling. They are the only person selling and have an active pipeline worth millions. The opportunity cost is huge! When I think about my senior sales roles it always strikes me how much time I wasted on hiring. How much time I misspent by not working towards those revenue targets. In the same way you use tools to help with efficiency. That’s exactly what service businesses do. Give you time back so you’re more efficient. The right service providers help with growth too. My message is simple. Sales Leaders: Value your time. Founders: Encourage using expert service providers.

Looking for a sales role? Treat the hiring process like a sales process. It’s a competitive market - you need to stand out. If you're reaching out to a recruiter or an employer, use your sales outreach skills. Treat them like a prospect. Be specific. Be clear. Have a strong CTA. Messages that are just “Hi, how are you?” are unlikely to get responded to!

What has happened to sales professionals? Recently, the team and I at xrecruiter have gone to market for various services within our ecosystem. As part of this process we released RFIs to market. For one particular product we identified a range of suitable providers (12 in total) and we reached out to their sales teams. Only 1 person had a phone number listed on their profile.....1! This blows my mind. You are a sales professional but don't provide your number for people to contact you. I had to reach out to them individually via LinkedIn message or email to make an enquiry. In my initial enquiry I shared with them why we were going to market and an overview of why. I shared my phone number for them to make contact. Of the 12 providers, only 2 made contact on the phone to ask appropriate follow up questions and qualify the opportunity before responding. 1 of the providers wanted to go back and forth over LinkedIn message to qualify the opportunity and didn't want to do a phone call. As a career sales professional and sales coach the above amazes me. What has happened to our profession? What has happened to the ability to influence? Why are sales professionals scared of the phone? It's not hard to stand out in our profession. This is your opportunity! Engage with your customers over the phone, (better yet in person) be available, have your contact details visible and don't be afraid to reach out on the phone. Build a relationship. While your competition hides behind their keyboard, you can go and close their sale! 🚀 #morningswithMC #xrecruiter #bettertogether #sales #results #closing #closethedeal

The Highest ROI You'll Ever Get in the Hiring Process In 1976 I hired my first salesperson after he completed an assessment that helped me better understand just who I was hiring. Nearly fifty years later I'm still using assessments to help my clients improve their hiring outcomes. That's why Michelle Richardson's article on using assessments to hire salespeople caught my eye, as she explains five ways to use assessments to hire better and six advantages they deliver. #sales #salesandmarketing #selling #slesmanager #salesassessment #b2b #b2c #retail #d2c #hiring #emotionalintelligence #behavioralassessent #eqassessment #motivationalassessment #bestpractices https://lnkd.in/eAxyxqtG

How to know if someone is a sales 'Hunter' When hiring sales people for their SaaS businesses, the majority of CEO's and Sales Leaders are looking to hire true 'hunters'. Here are a few tips when considering candidates to help identify their 'hunter level' Firstly let's look at their online profile, or CV. 💰 Don't put put off by the title, there are so many different titles in the SaaS sales space - Even Account Manager could be a new business role and Sales Director could be an individual contributor 💰 There should be lots of focus on numbers on the CV, top sales performers like to share detail on specific deals rather than just percentages against target. 💰 Lots of 'I did this' rather than 'we did this', with a real sense of achievement and purpose, often combined with details of specific client wins 💰 Don't always be put off by short tenures, top performers don't hang about if something isn't right, but clear progression is pretty key. Now let's look at the interview process 💰 Talking through their sales process is obviously very important to understand exactly 'how' and also 'how much' they sell. 💰 They should know their numbers well, so question them on specifics around deals and targets. 💰 Any top performer should want to see the product and will likely ask for a demo, they may also want to chat to the SDR's if you have them, or other members of the sales team 💰 They should be asking lots of questions to get a complete picture and they will ask for feedback at the end. 💰 If it feels like you are selling to them, then don't worry because the top performers are continually being offered 'great' opportunities. I have worked with many early stage and scale up SaaS businesses, advising on sales hiring and retention strategy, not just on sales recruitment. So, if you are after some advice or guidance then please get in touch.