The economy added 916,000 jobs in March, the biggest gain since last August and way up from the 468,000 added in February. The unemployment rate also ticked down from 6.2% to 6%, its lowest level since before the pandemic.
(Source – https://www.morningbrew.com/daily)
If you are cheering in the corner office, “Here we GROW again! Yeah, that’s right! Here we GROW again. Yeah, that’s right…” Congratulations! We are with you!
Communities are opening up. The economy is growing, and so are you. But if you have that nagging voice inside your head saying, “I need to hire some salespeople” but you have had poor success in the past with high turnover, less than stellar production, lots of wasted money on bad hires, and you are a little hesitant, Read on…
The 916,000 added jobs in March and lower unemployment means the scale is tipping back to a candidate’s market – pre=pandemic style. You remember, one of the hardest things was getting salespeople to respond to your ad. You had to pay attention to the ‘Candidate Experience’. You wasted money on ads and attracted duds instead of studs and many of the candidates you pre-qualified didn’t even show up for the interview and some you made an offer to, didn’t show up the first day. We are not there yet, but right now we face a bit of a different problem.
How do you know the candidate you select Will Sell in your environment to your markets, against your competition, at your price points, under your leadership? While there are still a lot of great candidates in the employment market it is even more important to weed out the ones that look good, sound good, act good, then cannot sell a Hershey Bar to a 3-year-old 90 days after you hire them. So, what’s one to do while you are cheering for the new growth in the economy?
You can start with defining your Ideal Salesperson with the BASE:
Behaviors
Attitudes
Skills
Environment
Next, write ads based on the BASE and place them where your ideal candidates will see them.
After that, use a Sales Specific Candidate Assessment that is weighted with your BASE.
Then, Phone Screen, to weed out the weak.
Next, turn the interview into an audition. Really the only way they WILL Sell is to make the sale and prove it to you in real time.
Review your comp. plan, to insure you are competitive in the market.
Interview again for culture, character, and integrity.
Make the offer.
Have a very specific and strong onboarding plan.
If your cheering went to jeering and you are overwhelmed, let’s talk.
