GB Ep 1: How to Hire Independent Sales Representatives for Your Startup
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Welcome to my first ever edition of Growth Bites. It’s not always easy to make the right call in your business, and that’s why I created Growth Bites. You can ask me your most burning questions about making a difference while making a living. We’ll take 10 to 15 minutes to address questions the audience sent in and cover one topic each time.
We’ll cover four questions each week, along with the regular Growth Everywhere interview you get every Monday. Remember to subscribe to Growth Everywhere to get updates on Growth Bites as well. You’ll also get my free eBook on 9 Growth takeaways from top entrepreneurs.
Show Notes:
- Learn the different ways to find an independent sales rep like an outside sales rep company and the pros and cons involved [2:01]
- Why outsourced sales reps aren’t necessarily in tune to what you’re doing or finding the ideal client [3:02]
- My results are often better training someone in-house from the ground up. [3:27]
- Hiring someone junior to verify leads is usually fresh out of college or looking for a career change and prospecting earning $35k to $45k base. [3:45]
- Here’s a resource from sales compensation at www.levelingup.com/sales-compensation and see the business model SalesLoft uses.
- To find new sales reps, send your recruiters to college events and post on college job boards like the CampusJob.com. [5:45]
- I posted a sales development rep job on TheCampusJob.com and paid $24 to “unlock” the University of Florida to find students. I found motivated candidates.
- Make sure your training process is well documented and don’t expect them to understand everything right off the bat or figure it out for themselves. [6:48]
- Sign-up for local college job boards to find area candidates [7:12]
- Use ZipRecruiter to manage your job postings to sites like Craigslist and Indeed. [7:43]
- Bring good questions to the table when interviewing. Sales reps should be motivated, so ask if they’ve played sports or what their accomplishments are. [8:05]
- Promote your account executives (or your closers) from within the company set-up compensation structures and promotion incentives. [9:04]
- Use LinkedIn recruiter or headhunters to find people, and you may need to pay more to find more experienced people. [9:46]
- Make sure your recruiting pipeline is continually getting filled. [10.34]
- Develop good relationships with headhunters. They’re business model is pay by performance and they do the legwork for you to find qualified candidates. [10.13]
- Always negotiate the terms with your headhunters. I asked to divide the final bill into three and pay by net 30 to protect the business and help cash flow. [11:10]
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