10 Reasons You Fail to Hire Salespeople: Part 1

You’re trained to focus on “how to qualify out” instead of “selling in.”
 

You're growing your business and you're hiring. You need talented salespeople to join your team. Empty territories mean empty quotas, and that equates to lost revenue that cannot be recovered. You need top sales representatives to join your company and you need them now. However, you can't afford to make a bad hire, but you can't find the perfect fit either.

You’re not alone. Sales organizations all face the same challenge of identifying, recruiting, and hiring top sales talent. You’re posting on job boards, active on social media, and searching resume databases. You know how great your company and sales job is so why aren’t the A-Players jumping at the chance to seize an excellent opportunity?

One of the most common reasons why sales management and HR professionals fall down in the hiring process is because you’ve been trained on “how to qualify out” rather than “how to sell in.”         
                                                                                                                                          

Mistake #1: Assuming everyone wants your job
 

As a hiring manager, one of the biggest mistakes you can makes is assuming everyone wants your job and as a result:

• You forget to sell the opportunity and company to the candidates.
• You don’t sell the positives, but negative sell the opportunity to a fault.
• You project a negative sales culture and turn off qualified candidates.
• You lose touch with the sales market.

{Read about sales hiring mistake #2 here}

The Domino Effect

By focusing on qualifying out rather than selling in, companies face obstacles with even greater implications. As a result of negative selling:

• Companies lose touch with their target audience and what motivates them to join a company and accept an opportunity.
• Sales Managers cannot attract new talent with old techniques.
• New generations that enter the workforce are not attracted to your company because you are not adapting to the new market.
• Managers are blind without feedback and are deceived when trying to get candidates interested in their opportunity.
• Companies are out of touch with the reality of how sales representatives view their company as a whole.

{Find out what the top 3 reasons companies fail to hire salespeople in this video}
 

Remedy the Challenge…Quickly
 

Don’t worry though, you can address this hiring challenge and get back on track. First, you need to understand that it is a competitive market. Sales professionals are selectively searching for new opportunities and they have options. You need to get them excited about your company first, before you focus on possibly disqualifying a great candidate.

If the way you have always recruited top sales talent isn’t producing results, you need to change it no matter how challenging the new approach may be. Here are a few ways to remedy your negative selling approach:

• Adapt to market conditions.
• Learn how to sell to a new audience.
• Discover the selfish motivations that inspire the next generation and sell to them.
• Change is good, embrace it.

Want to uncover all 10 reasons companies fail to hire salespeople…and how to fix it?

Download our complimentary sales hiring guide here.