Resilience For Revenue Generating Teams

4 months ago I placed a salesperson (who is a former elite athlete) from one industry into a completely different industry and today that person is already one of the top performers in the business!

In this slower market, there’s a huge focus on hiring “relevant industry experience,” or “similar experience to what we do.”

Experience, experience, experience!! Same, same, same as us!!!

That’s most job briefs right now.

I get it, the market is slow, so you need them to hit the ground running. With sales people (and recruiters) being excellent at job interviews, you’re putting your business at massive risk of hiring an average or below performer.

If you’re ok with an average performer who has “same experience,” that’s fine, you can stop reading here.

But if you only wanna hire A players, here are the red flags to look for when interviewing sales people with experience in your industry:

- They’re OK with taking the same base or less than they’re on now. There’s exceptions to this rule, but most high performers when bouncing from one company to another in same/similar industry are getting $20-40k more on base. So be aware of this and dig deeper into their performance.

- They can’t illustrate their numbers/KPIs/revenue attainment clearly and concisely.

- They have a network but fail to clearly communicate how they will bring that network over to you.

- They give poor examples or vague answers on how they generate new business from scratch and have mostly been account managers in last 2+ years (will they go after their network/new business?)

- They blame others and use “others” as excuses for lack of performance and have minimal self awareness. I know it’s hard to see this in the current market, but hiring someone from your industry could be a higher risk than hiring a high performer from another industry! If you want a proven high performer from your industry you will have to do proactive headhunting and pay more on base!

Passive Talent Is The Best, Here’s How To Find Them

As a business owner or hiring manager, you understand that the success of your company relies on having a strong sales team. But finding top-performing sales professionals can be a challenge. Often, the best salespeople are not actively seeking new job opportunities, and they are likely already successful in their current positions. So, how do you go about headhunting the best sales professionals for your business?

Here are three key strategies to consider:

1. The best sales professionals are not applying for job ads.

The most successful salespeople are likely already employed and performing at a high level for their current company. They are not actively searching for new job opportunities, but they may be open to new opportunities if they are approached with the right offer. This means that in order to find the best of the best, you need to actively seek them out and headhunt them.

2. Get active on LinkedIn and in-person networking events.

One effective way to find top sales professionals is to use LinkedIn to identify and reach out to candidates who meet your criteria. You can use LinkedIn's search functionality to filter by location, industry, and job title to find potential candidates who are a good fit for your business. Additionally, attending industry conferences, trade shows, and other networking events can be an effective way to meet high-performing sales professionals in person.

3. Interview candidates three times.

Once you have identified potential candidates, it's important to conduct a thorough interview process to ensure that they are a good fit for your company. This process should include at least three interviews. During the first interview, focus on getting to know the candidate on a personal level to assess whether they would be a good cultural fit for your business. During the second interview, delve into the candidate's sales process and numbers to gain a deeper understanding of their skills and experience. Finally, during the third interview, conduct a role-play pitch to see how the candidate performs in a real-world scenario.

Hiring the best sales professionals for your business requires a proactive approach. By actively seeking out top-performing candidates, networking in person and online, and conducting a thorough interview process, you can increase your chances of finding the right sales professional for your company. Remember, finding the right candidate takes time, but the investment will pay off in the long run with a strong and successful sales team.

Prefer a Visual explanation

NRL Star Ready For Corporate

Who Am I?

My name is Alex Opacic and I’m the founder of Athlete2Business. I’ve dedicated my career to finding former elite athletes who have transferred that elite athlete mentality into success in business.

I’ve obsessed about headhunting these individuals, building relationships with them and placing them into revenue generating teams.