Lowering the Cost of Sales Talent Recruitment

Recruiting sales talent can be expensive, especially if you end up with a bad sales hire.  We define a bad sales hire as – a salesperson who consistently ranks in the bottom 20% for three months after the ramp-up period.  It’s not only that the company has wasted the invested salary in a salesperson who didn’t work out, but there are other expenses created — replacement recruitment and hiring costs, replacement training costs, lost productivity, lost business, and more.  So, how much did that bad hire really cost you? Current estimates are 50% to 75% of the annual compensation. That means a salesperson who makes $50,000 annually costs between $25,000 and $37,500 to replace. Lowering the cost of sales talent recruitment will save the company substantial time and money.  Increasing the accuracy of sales hires will save the company substantial time and money. 

Establish the Minimum Requirements

The first step in designing a cost-effective sales talent recruitment strategy is identifying the minimum requirements in education and experience.  Here is an example:  Qualified sales candidates need to have:  1) Bachelor’s degree in business, marketing, communications or related field. 2) Three years previous work experience in sales.  3) Demonstrated knowledge of the sales process and 4) Excellent written and verbal communication skills. 

Develop an Attractive Job Description

The next step is creating a job description that summarizes the essential responsibilities, activities, and skills needed for the position. A job description can also include important company details like the company’s mission and vision statement and any benefits or perks that it provides for sales staff. An attractive job description needs to provide enough detail so candidates can easily determine if they are qualified for the position.  Your job description is an introduction to your company and your employer brand.

Create an Attractive Job Posting

Your job posting can provide a link to the complete job description you have developed.  The job posting needs to begin with a strong, attention-grabbing hook. Hook the reader with some of the details about what makes your company a great place to work. Provide an exact job location to optimize your job postings.   Outline the core responsibilities of the position. Identify some of the day-to-day activities.  Clarify how the sales position fits into the organization. Indicate which manager the person will report to.  The job posting should clearly state the minimum requirements in education and experience.  You also may want to include desired soft skills as well as some of the personality traits you are looking for. 

Use AI Assisted Recruiting Solutions

AI assisted recruitment solutions revolutionize the Talent Acquisition (TA) process in four primary ways:

1. Democratic sourcing – all major sourcing channels combined into one platform for ease of use, increased access to candidates, and less reliance on multiple external vendors.
2. Working upstream – rather than wasting a recruiter’s time with cold candidates, they are now speaking to qualified, interested and available candidates.
3. Intuitive – the experience is very easy for the recruiter and candidate.
4. Recruiter and Candidate experience – seamlessly delivering quality and speed.

Read the Executive Summary about our technology enabled recruitment solutions.