I routinely speak to both sales leaders and talent managers, and the companies that perform the best are the ones that have an integrated recruiting strategy. Their processes facilitate the communication and interaction of the sales team throughout the recruiting process.
Here are five reasons why it’s important for sales managers to be directly involved in sales recruiting:
Many recruiters aren’t aligned with sales managers on the attributes they’re looking for.
Not all sales roles are created equal, and sales leaders know which attributes typically lead to success for the various roles they manage.
Often, these details are not clearly communicated to the sourcing professionals. The talent managers who are recruiting for this position and vetting the first round (or more) of candidates. Because of this, sales leaders could miss out on potentially valuable contributors, or move forward with those who are not a fit. This process wastes valuable time and energy for everyone. Every employee who doesn’t work out costs a company money; according to Gallup, the cost of employee turnover ranges from one-half to two times the employee’s annual salary.
It’s your responsibility to manage a rep up (or out) if they can’t produce.
According to Harvard Business Review, most sales managers spend 30-55% of their time with people management. Coaching or managing a rep who is not productive takes a tremendous amount of time and energy and a greater percentage of the sales leaders’ management time.
You owe it to the rep to try and make it work. If it’s not working, however, eventually you will have to let the rep go. The time and effort that goes into that process is much better spent on revenue-producing activities, like working on deals, meeting clients, etc. By getting involved in the recruiting process early on, sales leaders reduce the chance of a bad hire who distracts the team from driving revenue.
You are responsible for driving team morale.
Whenever there is turnover on a sales team, it impacts team morale. Even if the rep was a low performer, whenever there is high turnover on a team, it reflects on the team leader. And the time it takes to hire a new rep means higher work volume for the rest of the team. Winning and success, on the other hand, are contagious. You want to give your team the best chance of being successful by ensuring the new reps on your team are A-players!
Direct engagement from sales managers demonstrates to the candidate that the company is hands-on and serious about hiring.
At the same time a company is interviewing a candidate, that candidate is interviewing the company. It’s much easier to recruit top-tier reps when sales leadership is involved. Potential reps would much rather talk to sales leaders than someone from HR. Not only will sales managers be better able to answer their questions and give them a sense of team culture, but it shows the rep you are committed to all aspects of the business. You’re willing to go the extra mile to win. How you approach recruiting is often a reflection of how you approach sales.
Ultimately, you are responsible for the revenue number.
At the end of the day, sales leaders own the number (quota) for their team and the ‘buck’ stops with you. CROs, CEOs and the Board don’t care that you had multiple candidates turn over, or that it took your reps 50% longer to ramp to full production. They care about the results. You owe it to yourself and the business to be directly involved in all aspects of the hiring process to ensure your team has the highest likelihood of being successful.
TitanHouse was built by sales managers for sales managers. We provide the details sales managers know and care about when it comes to recruiting. We also make it easy and seamless for sales managers to be a part of the recruiting process. When you’re thinking about your leadership role, always remember that leadership starts even before someone is hired.
Want to know more about the never ending process of building sales teams? Read This Is Why Great Sales Leaders Never Stop Recruiting
