Sales recruitment: 6 levers to pull in an interview

In 2000, sales representatives still had to convince companies to hire them. In 2022, successful sales representatives are being hunted everywhere, and it is up to companies to attract them!

In short, the game has changed.

This is true in many sectors. It is even more so in the tech industry, where the adage "Winner's take allencourages up-and-coming start-ups to invest as much as possible in their sales teams to dominate their market as quickly as possible.

Do you want to develop your team? You have identified the potential of this candidate from the first interview, and you want to integrate them into your team. However, they seem hesitant, and probably recieve other offers. So what can I do to entice a suitable candidate to join my team?

Upstream : Develop your employer brand

To begin with, the employer brand represents the company's image with its employees and. candidates. Basically, this image will determine whether you will receive 200 applications, or 5 poor resumes that are off the mark. It will also lead the most popular potential candidates on Linkedin to answer you... or not!

When we see how difficult it is for companies to recruit, we understand the relevance of being able to rely on a solid employer brand. The question then arises:

How to develop your employer brand with sales people?

To do this, there are 3 effective levers:

Word of mouth from employees ⇒ Ultra powerful. They are your best ambassadors, therefore your best showcase ;) => Clear and essential co-option process to play on.
The core mission of the company, and the prospects it offers ⇒ The future you offer may be enough to attract people! Be clear about your ambitions.
The extension of marketing and communication ⇒ These should no longer be focused simply on products, but also on the life of the company.

But that's not the real battle. To have a strong employer brand, you need to understand :

What are good sales representatives looking for, and how to let them know that you can provide it?

In my opinion, these are the 5 main reasons why a sales representative joins a project:

The job and the product: "I have a concrete vision of everyday life, I believe in the solution I am selling. "
Confidence: "I feel confident to succeed: there is coaching, a good team. The culture and atmosphere suit me."
Learning: "I will be around inspiring people, and I will learn a little more every day."
Prospects: "The company is growing, and offers great developments."
Salary: "I want my salary to be at market level and to reflect my performance as a closer .

At Modjo, for example, we tried very early on to recruit an outstanding team (so far, I think we've done pretty well 😁 ). But when growth accelerates or becomes exponential, recruitment needs intensify, and a strong employer brand becomes essential. That's where Modjo stands out in 3 ways:

The Modjo software is mostly used by sales representatives. We've even received applications following demos from our prospects!
We are our own users, which allows us to master our solution perfectly, and to be very comfortable when we talk about it to our prospects.
Our communication largely revolves around sales-related topics, and therefore directly concerns this population.

In short, we've gone all out. Now you're going to tell me: "Yes, but that's Modjo'sbusiness. My business has nothing to do with it. How can I do it?"

You're right. Here is the sales engine that I think outperforms all the others (not many will admit it): recognition!

And yes, sales people want to shine, both internally and externally! When a sales person wants to join Modjo, we want them to know they'll be playing at Champions League level. On the external side, you can take a look at our Linkedin page, where you'll find :

Des articles sur la vente et le management<Des posts sur nos nouveaux clients
Posts about our new clients
Webinars on sales, hosted by our sales people (cc: Tom Le Cocguen).

Result: We receive a large number of applications, and 1 out of 2 salespeople we approach already know us!

II. In interviews: what matters to the person in front of me?

All candidates are different! While some value flexible working hours, for example, others will not see any added value.

Your first objective is then to identify the expectations of the candidate you are facing:

What is this person interested in?

What are their personal drivers?

What kind of career are they planning?

You are in the position of a recruiter. Your mission here is to understand the deepest motivations. This is a complex exercise as in an interview, candidates will tell you what you want to hear. You must therefore dig into each answer, to identify the candidate's motivating factors (+ "Why"):

"Where are you today?" => To understand immediately if the candidate is actively looking or "listening".
"What does your next role look like?" => To understand what the candidate wants to do in concrete terms. Does he have a precise idea? Does he or she have conviction about his or her next job, or on the contrary is he or she looking for a little bit of everything and anything?
"What is your ambition at +5-10 years?" => To understand the candidate's North Star, and how they plan to get there. there are no right or wrong answers, it just triggers a discussion and potentially some coaching on the pro project.
"What are your other leads?" => Does he really want to be dirty? Or is he also applying to structures that have nothing to do with it?(⚠️⚠️⚠️)"
What will be the important criteria for your decision? What does he think separates the boxes? To be challenged if the person has no criteria.

III. In the interview: present the elements that hit the bull's eye

The technique lies in the art of adapting your company's pitch to its expectations. Take up point by point the elements mentioned by the candidate to build your presentation. Simple, effective :

If learning is important :

"We organise a weekly coaching session with the whole team, here's how it goes:..." - "Every other day, you have a period of time allocated to listen to your calls with Modjo to improve"

"We have international ambitions. For this, you have 1 hour of training each week with Globale Exam to study the language of your choice."

If support is important :

"If you join Modjo, you will benefit from Kaspr to generate your leads, Outreach to automate your email sequences, Aircall and Modjo to record and analyse your exchanges, all centralised on Salesforce."

"Our Sales Ops allow us to structure the information, analyse it, and help make the best decisions."

If the prospects are significant :

"We're here to help you evolve as quickly as possible, that's why we train continuously. Once you've proven yourself, anything is possible."

"At Modjo, the variable is de-capped: the better you perform, the more you are rewarded."

"All indicators are green: retention rate, upsell, scalability, etc. The outlook for the company is more than encouraging!"

Everything is true, but you don't have to say everything. As in sales, only present the aspects that are relevant to that candidate ;)

Finally, when you are sure of yourself, but you feel that the person is hesitating:

Give a positive answer at the end of the interview, and ask them in turn for their position. A real YES from a recruiter right after an interview is a pure sign of confidence. Quite powerful on the candidate side.
Set up a meeting with one or two members of the sales team as soon as possible, so that the candidate can get a good idea of what he or she is up to.

💎 Bonus: Once recruited, you still need to know how to integrate newcomers into the team! To help you with this, we've put together a guide to successful commercial onboarding, which can be adapted to suit your teams.