The primary asset of any sales-based industry should always be your people. And because there is always a need to staff different positions across the country, recruiting is an important topic. Building a stellar sales team begins with identifying talent and recruiting, and it's one of the most critical responsibilities a manager has.
Recruiting not only builds bench strength, but it builds your credibility among the candidates as a desirable organization that everyone would like to be part of. Think about recruiting as a two way, qualifying encounter; the manager looks to qualify the candidate at the same time they are looking to determine if what you offer is exciting enough in their search for the right career path.
During the interview, the goal should not be whether or not the candidate is a fit, but rather that they leave feeling positive about what you are about and have them anxious to share their interviewing experience with others. Searching for great talent isn't always easy. Why not have them find us?
But ultimately, aside from an opportunity to brand ourselves during the interview, we look for talent in the recruiting process. A certain look in the candidate's eye, a certain level of confidence, a lot of substance, and potential to see them grow and realize a successful career greater than they can imagine possible, should all be at the forefront of our minds when interviewing a candidate. It means continually wanting to find that talented "someone," being willing to embrace their strengths, and our commitment to never selling them short on helping them grow to achieve greatness in an exciting role amongst the best sales team in the world.
Some key details to look out for are things like:
- What motivating factors make them perform well?
- What environment do they flourish in?
- What areas do they see as strengths?
- What makes them uncomfortable?
- What would they do in an emergency situation?
- Would they like to own their own business someday?
You might think that you know within the first few minutes of the interview if it's worth a second round or if it isn't a good fit. It is easy to allow yourself to think that you have underwritten the talent right off the bat before become distracted by other business thoughts that need to be dealt with. But a few bad hires later, and you will realizing that paying close attention to key behavioral details will help prevent poor decisions. You might think these are small things in a potential employee you can fix down the road, but think twice.
Some key questions to ask ourselves are what was their best round of golf and why it happened......yes, I'd like the details, please! Do they find happiness in persuading a friend to buy into their story or idea? Yes, we all might know these questions and no doubt we can ask them. But do we pay attention to the candidate's body language and response? It's no different than spending 80% of our time listening to the customer and 20% responding. Is that not an art of selling we as managers can still forget?
Be patient in the interview and commit to being engaged. Have your strategy in place and get a second or third opinion from someone you trust, especially in a different department such as construction or accounting. Shouldn't you feel confident that six months later every quality or opportunity we learned was something you visualized in the interview? If not, you've missed the mark, and there's nothing like wasteful energy having to make a staffing change due to a poor hiring decision.
Todd Condon began his professional career in 1995 as an aspiring golf professional in San Diego, CA. His career path evolved, however, as 2015 marks his 15th year in the homebuilding industry. Todd has experience working for two of the top five builders in the Arizona and Chicago markets, and now is the Director of Sales for the Chicago Division of New Home Star.
