Be it big or small, a sales team is crucial for the growth of your business. It’s responsible for promoting your product or service, advocating for your brand, and building client relationships—all of which helps drive revenue. Still, to reap these benefits, you must build your sales team carefully.
Your chosen hires must have a unique blend of experience, charisma, and dedication to thrive in the competitive sales environment. Finding such candidates is easier said than done, though.
To help you navigate the process of recruiting sales professionals, we’ve devised a simple guide that shows you:
- What types of sales professionals exist
- What they do
- How to hire them
We’ll also introduce you to MarketerHire, a platform that connects you with top-notch sales professionals and marketers.
Understanding Sales Professionals
Sales professional is a broad term that encompasses various roles, from junior ones such as sales reps to executive ones like sales directors. These professionals are responsible for increasing the number of sales of your product or service. Depending on the role, they may interact with clients, prepare pitches, devise sales strategies, or manage other sales team members.
Each role requires a distinct set of skills, but all sales professionals need to have a deep understanding of the product or service they’re selling. That way, they can identify prospective customers and make targeted and convincing pitches.
For the same reason, they need to be observant and personable. A tailored pitch and an amicable relationship with the client can make or break their buying decision.
Sales professionals are also familiar with different sales techniques and strategies. Regardless of their level in the organization, they must network and keep up with industry trends to ensure the team’s sales efforts are current and effective.
What Do Sales Professionals Do?
Learn about the duties of typical sales roles within a sales team:
Many sales professionals work on a freelance or fractional basis. You can hire them for temporary work when the budget is tight or you need interim help. Fractional workers also have adjustable hours, so you can adapt them to your current needs, timeline, and budget.
When and Why Should You Hire Sales Professionals?
If you run a startup, experts recommend handling the sales process yourself at first. That way, you can get direct feedback from customers and figure out your preferred sales approach. Doing so will help you recruit and train your sales professionals later on.
After you’ve closed at least ten sales, you can start hiring sales reps. It’s advisable to hire two reps at once so you can test different methods and see what works. When the reps start hitting quotas, you can hire a head of sales or sales manager to help you maintain the process, improve it, and expand the sales team.
With an effective sales team fitting for your business, you can expect the following benefits:
- Smooth collaboration within the team and with other departments
- Personalized selling and excellent customer service
- Trust and stronger relationships with clients
- Higher chances of upselling and referrals
- Insight into customers’ preferences and opinions of the product
- Increased leads and higher conversion rates
- Higher revenue and competitive advantage
How To Choose the Best Sales Professionals
The traits you’ll screen for depend on the specific sales role you’re hiring for, skills gaps, and your personal preferences. That’s why you need to think long and hard about these factors before hiring. Here are some general qualities to look for in all sales professionals:
How To Recruit Sales Professionals
Follow the steps below when recruiting for sales positions:
- Write the job description: Craft a compelling description that accurately represents the duties your new hire will perform. Outline your expectations clearly to prevent misunderstandings
- Advertise the vacancy: Post a job ad on job boards, freelancing sites like Upwork, and social media, especially LinkedIn. One of the most foolproof methods is word-of-mouth, though, so make sure to also ask for recommendations and referrals from your professional circle
- Screen applications: Select candidates who have relevant and sufficient experience and a portfolio to back it up
- Interview candidates: Meet with the candidate via video or in person to assess their communication skills and get a glimpse of their personality. This is also an opportunity for you to showcase the company’s benefits and secure top talent
- Ask for a sales pitch: To get a more realistic image of their sales abilities, you can ask the candidate to give a sample sales presentation
- Check references: Contact the candidates’ references to verify their past achievements
- Hire, onboard, and train: Make the offer once you’ve decided on the best candidate. Before they start working, agree on all the details related to their job. Offer resources and training to help them learn about your company and adapt to your existing processes
Pitfalls of the Traditional Approach to Recruiting Sales Professionals
If you want to recruit sales staff yourself, prepare to face the following challenges:
- Long time-to-hire: Without a proven strategy and expert guidance, recruiting can take months. During this period, you may have a hard time meeting sales quotas, which can delay your business growth. You might also need to handle sales and accounts yourself, neglecting your primary work
- Potential risks: As sales professionals play a crucial role in the success of your business, hiring the wrong person can have serious consequences. An incompetent individual could miss crucial sales opportunities and even cause reputational damage. You’d also need to repeat the resource-intensive hiring cycle
The good news is that you can avoid these roadblocks by partnering with MarketerHire. As a platform that matches you with pre-vetted experts and offers free rematching, MarketerHire removes all the hassle, wait, and risk associated with traditional hiring.
Why Is MarketerHire the Best Choice for Recruiting Sales Professionals?
Although primarily marketing-focused, MarketerHire can help you hire other roles crucial to the growth of your business, including sales professionals. So far, the platform has made over 30,000 successful matches. It’s trusted by thousands of companies, including Fortune 500 businesses and well-known names like:
- Forbes
- Netflix
- HelloFresh
- Unilever
Before recommending candidates to you, MarketerHire’s experts pre-vet them. The vetting process is extensive and includes in-depth skills tests and live interviews. Only the top 1% end up joining the network. The candidates are all highly experienced, with some working for household brands like Uber and Postmates.
An equally elaborate matching system will pinpoint the most suitable candidate for your specific needs. It’s called MarketerMatch, and it combines AI and human insight to match you quickly and accurately.
The MarketerHire team makes sure your involvement in the process is minimal with its white-glove approach. You only need to share your needs and make the final decision—the platform’s experts will handle the rest.
You also get a free two-week trial with your match. If you’re not satisfied, MarketerHire will find a replacement for free. Scaling your sales team is also easy with MarketerHire’s short-term, obligation-free contract.
How MarketerHire Works
With MarketerHire, recruiting sales reps and other professionals is simple:
- Hop on a short call with your dedicated growth manager to let them know about your company and vacancy
- The MarketerHire team will match you with a sales professional within 48 hours
- Your new hire can start working for your company in only three days
You can use the platform to connect with various other professionals, including marketers like social media managers and fractional CMOs. MarketerHire can also recruit Expert Assistants to support your sales, marketing, or design team.
Reach out to MarketerHire and secure top-tier sales and marketing talent for your business!
Other Hiring Guides To Check Out
Take a look at our other guide and learn how to hire for other roles: