Hiring sales people is something that many businesses do. There’s no denying of the importance that a successful sales team can make to a company; in effect, they make a difference between an ailing company and a thriving, growing business.

Hiring sales people is at the forefront of the work HR people do but attracting and hiring the best is more difficult than it seems. If you feel you’re struggling to get the right people delivering the right results, take a look at these four factors that could be impeding your recruitment process:

1. Not looking for the right talent in the right places…

… and failing to look on a continual basis. The secret to successfully hiring sales people is to be continually looking for people. This sharpens interviewing ability and improves networking and influencing skills.

Sales people too have a different outlook to their profession and recruitment. If you don’t have a current sales job vacancy, asking to meet them and being honest about this is one way of creating the right impression with the person you want. Talented sales people are also willing, in some instances, to stand and fall by their results so even if you don’t have a role at that time, creating one specifically for them can be one way of getting the best.

2. Poorly written job advertisements

The job advertisement needs to give the right impression to prospective sales talent. This is why you should start to hold more weight against your advertisement, how it’s written and the impression it conveys. Think of it as a headline for your company.

Top tip – asking questions can be a great way to hook attention. Ask questions such as “do you feel you have gone as far as you can in your current role?” “Are you looking for somewhere new to achieve new, bigger and better sales?”.

3. Not addressing ‘hot buttons’

Hot buttons are what sales people will look for in a new sales position. If you fail to meet these head on and tell people what they want to know, sales talent will look elsewhere.

You should tell people what opportunities are on offer with your role, their earning potential now and in the future, what the professional development opportunities are and so on.

4. Not streamlining the interview process

On one hand, getting the right sales person or pool of talent is important but on the other, this does not mean creating a long, laborious interview process. Many companies lose top people who are interested because the interview process is uninspiring or too long.

If you think your interviewing process is too long, take a look at each step and justify why it’s part of the process. If you come up with, ‘because we have always done that’, it might be time to reconsider its inclusion.

Sales people can be the fuel that drives business. Make sure you get the right ones and your business will certainly see results.