Recruiting the best sales people for your company can make all the difference in terms of increased sales. Recruiting the wrong people too, can make a difference, but in a bad way. There are 22 million salespersons in the U.S. How can you tell which ones are right for your company? The answer is, it can be very difficult from a sales recruitment point of view, to match new hires to a particular company. Professional sales staffing agencies have years of experience doing exactly that, and as outsiders, they have a different and wider point of view.

What makes a good salesperson?
For sales jobs, like any other, sales recruitment processes have to take into account relevant skills, knowledge, aptitude, qualifications and experience. Marketing is at its core a social skill and that can mean looking for intangible qualities like charisma, adaptability, confidence and enthusiasm. A warm smile and handshake can affect sale decisions as much as more tangible and quantifiable factors.

• Social skills and positive attitude
  Along with a friendly and reliable persona, a salesperson should have patience and perseverance. A “never give up” attitude goes a long way for those seeking a career in sales. A very large number of salespeople, around 44% of them, will give up on a sale after just one “No”. A more successful strategy is to work with client expectations and to try and meet them.
• Self confidence
  Confidence is an essential foundation of selling ability. It means confidence in the product being offered. A thorough knowledge of the product, the competition, and effective sales techniques can help transform an average sales rep into a star performer.
• Communication
  Verbal and written communication skills are the foundation of marketing and essential for a sales career.
• Technology and online marketing skills
  For most contemporary marketing projects, technical skills are necessary. Sales personnel need to be able to use contact management software and make high-level presentations. If they have knowledge or experience in the growing field of online marketing, so much the better. Social media are the new battleground and sales people who used these in their marketing strategies outsold their who didn’t.
• Strategy
  In marketing more than anything else, it helps to have a plan. In fact having a strategy in place is what distinguishes really successful salespeople. More than half or 60% of all sales people approach a sale with a plan in mind, and they are 33% more likely to close a sale. A sales strategy should also have a consistent pipeline in place, in order to meet targets.

Can recruiters help you find the right salesperson?
As the saying goes, the onlooker sees most of the game. More than the players, certainly, even though they’re right in the heart of things. It’s the same story with recruitment as well. A sales recruitment agency can see both job candidates and the company from the outside, and will have a more objective view of the company’s needs. Being relatively objective allows recruitment firms to better match candidates to company requirements.
Further, staffing professionals generally have a wide network of personal contacts in the industry or field of specialty, and can draw upon these to identify the best candidates for the job. Recruitment firms can handle the entire process, from screening to onboarding. Many offer post-recruitment services like sales management and training.

With experience, networks and follow up support, sales recruitment firms offer many advantages when it comes to searching for the best salespeople for your company.