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October 20, 2013
The One Thing You Cannot Skip When Hiring an ‘A’ Player
By:
You just got off the weekly call with the Sales Leadership team. Your boss, the SVP of Sales, has some ‘great’ news. “We got budget approval to add new sales heads. Start recruiting now so we can start of 2014 with a full team.” Thoughts race through your mind because the last few hires have not worked out:
Hiring ‘A’ players is difficult. But the reward is worth the pain. We estimate the cost of mis-hire range from $150,000 to $750,000. Using a defined method for hiring reduces this pain to hire. And don’t reinvent the wheel. Use a proven method for your hiring process.
SBI has been helping companies hire and develop ‘A’ players ever since our CEO co-authored a book in 2008. During that time, we have insisted on the ‘Topgrading for Sales’ method of hiring.
What is Topgrading for Sales?
It is the sourcing, hiring and onboarding of “A” players. It is in a consistent and integrated manner.
What does Topgrading for Sales do?
It boosts the quality of new hires and avoids costly mis-hires. It creates a robust manner to evaluate and develop your current team.
What does it mean to use Topgrading for Sales?
It means selecting the right talent and establishing new-hire expectations. This gets your new reps to goal more quickly.
This method has several critical steps to increase hiring success. But the most common step not taken that provides the best indicator of success? It is the Job Tryout.
The Job Tryout:
This is the most important indicator of future success during the interviewing process. It simulates a live scenario the candidate will face during their actual job performance. But most wonder how they are going to ‘simulate’ a live sales call. Your Sales Managers can’t understand how you can really test the candidate. And they especially can’t in a made-up situation.
Download the Job Tryout Guide. It will enable you to construct and use a scenario in your interviewing process.
There are three steps to getting the Job Tryout right and making it work:
Conducting a Job Tryout isn’t easy. It takes time, preparation and energy from both parties. But the results from using one are hard to argue. Even reducing the expense of a mis-hire is well worth the effort. Hiring ‘A’ players is going to be critical to your success in 2014.
Call to Action:
Most organizations fail to put their candidates through a job tryout. This is because of lack of time, energy or politics. Most sales people fail due to execution. This is the failed execution of the sales process, CRM or time management. The Job Tryout will test your candidate for those important variables. The cost of mis-hire can be staggering. Stack odds with you by insisting a Job Tryout is in your hiring process.
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