The New Key Challenges in Rep Recruitment
Because sales managers invest in human capital for the long-term benefit of their sales teams, they are increasingly hiring on the basis of principles used by other successful team organizations.
Sports teams, for example, use several proven recruitment principles to assemble a successful sports franchise. They continually recruit high-caliber graduates from the best schools. They emphazise balance, depth, and diversity in their plans to spot and sign talented athletes. They pay top dollar to acquire top talent. They scout extensively and keep detailed charts on an athlete`s performance, not only on averages but in varied game situations.
They sell the athlete on joining their organization rather than yielding to the attraction of money or a signing bonus. They look for personality characteristics that will blend with those of the other members of the teams and mesh with the objectives, beliefs, and values of their organization. They screen candidates with multiple interviews to get many different key opinions of the recruit before finally deciding on an offer.
Sales managers need to recruit continuously, rather than scramble each time turnover occurs or market growth opportunities present themselves and added staff is therefore needed. That means encouraging the personnel department to engange in continuous recruiting of rep candidates from a variety of sources, and then vetting these resumes through the sales managers.
The sales managers need to establish stringent hiring standards for sales reps. For instance, colleges graduates represent a higher caliber or rep with more intellectual capacity and long-term learning potential than do lesser-educated rep recruits.
The better educated rep has knowledge, which may or may not be exactly germane to the sales rep position. However, the intellectual horsepower of a more educated rep recruit proves that the rep has learned how to learn. In the long run, a front-line sales rep who knows how to continually reeducate him or herself will be best equipped to adapt to changing markets and customers needs. In addition, with so many industry specialists, a higher-level college degree may be an absolute prerequisite to do well.