Hiring Sales Executives with a 7 Habits Mindset

As a Sales Recruiter much of my success and failure is determined by the quality of the candidate that we find, engage, present to our clients, and guide through the interview process. To maximize our efficiency and efficacy throughout this process we employ a few habits we’ve all heard of and that we’ve modified for the recruiting we do.

Be Proactive

Remaining focused on ONLY Sales Recruiting allows us to concentrate all efforts and resources on engaging ONLY sales professionals. Developing professional relationships with like-minded sales executives and sales leaders in our marketplaces creates efficiencies in our ability to proactively nurture value-based relationships with more individuals.

Begin with the End in Mind

We do not believe that the end is the date of hire, 30-days after hire, or when the candidate clears his/her guarantee period. The End we have in mind is 1 year after the candidate has started and both the candidate and the hiring manager agree that it was a good career move/great hire.

Put First Things First

We focus our search efforts to surface the candidates with experience in the most important imperatives of the role. Successful experience in those activities and accomplishments which the client organization deems most important and most urgent are what we seek in our candidates. A firm grasp of these key responsibilities are the foundation of our interviewing/screening.

Think Win-Win

In the recruiting world, Think Win-Win focuses on 2 different parties:

• The Hiring Company – Acquires the services of an individual who is experienced and highly skilled in those activities and accomplishments which the company deems most important.
• The Hired Candidate – They join a company who has a need for the skills, knowledge, experience, and expertise they bring to a specific role and that will help them step closer to realizing their career goals.

Seek First to Understand, Then To Be Understood

Good communication will enable the efforts of an organization and a recruiter to secure the talent needed to advance towards the goals of the team and company. Bad or minimal communication will hinder these efforts. When recruiting, we always listen for the following critical information:

1. Understand what the head of sales needs/wants for the role.
2. Understand what the immediate hiring manager needs/wants for the sales role.
3. Understand what the purpose of the role is w/in the organizations.

Armed with a clear understanding of what a new hire must ACTUALLY ACCOMPLISH in this role to be considered a highly successful hire and the ACTUAL SALES RESULTS that a top sales prospect will have produced in the past that would identify him/her as a wise sales hire for your organization can we begin our search for the individual(s) needed for the role(s).

Synergize
According to Covey, this habit brings together the creative cooperation of multiple individuals creating a team that is greater than the sum of its parts. Our “pretty darn good” practices that have been built over the course of several years and several careers in sales, recruiting, and sales recruiting come from this synergy. These “pretty darn good” practices” coupled with our close working relationships with our clients creates an elevated sales recruiting experience and result.

Sharpen the Saw

This habit is precisely why I don’t like using the term “Best Practices.” If we are engaged in the habit of self-development then we never will reach the point of having a practice in place that is “BEST” and cannot be improved. Every stage of the recruiting process can be improved and developed to better serve our clients and the people we recruit or help in their careers.

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