How to Hire an IT Sales Professional

How to Hire an IT Sales Professional? I wish I knew the answer to this. Most sales people, good and bad, are usually very good at talking and selling themselves. That means you could be their meat and end up getting snowed. So what can you believe?

They need a book of contacts to harvest leads, certainly. You need to know it's real. They need to show you good references, a whole bunch, and you need to follow up on those and sniff out the candidate's track record. You've already been assured by him that it's stellar, you need to verify that.

Does she listen? Sales people are great at talking. The bad ones do that much better than anything else. The good ones hear. Does she understand the nuances when you explain things? Does she get the details, not just the concept?

Has he been there and done that? Are you looking at a guy who has been in a completely different industry and assures you, by analogy and example, how his experience transfers to your industry? Be wary. It can work, but it's another hurdle, another red flag.

What is the candidate's personality? I hear about these archetypes for sales people, the hunter and the farmer. The former is aggressive, the hard sell type. The other is nurturing, establishes consensus and build relationships. I don't know why there is this idea of mutual exclusivity. You really don't need a hunter or a farmer after all. You need a skilled business rep who can communicate and close deals, knows when to push and knows when to wait, knows when to step up and knows when to turn it over to others in your organization. He can drive a hard bargain as well as cooperate. He is respected, not disdained.

What is the candidate expecting? Is he sitting in his chair all day? Is he out and about? Commission, tools to help him do his job (company car?), periodic review of his goals... and you? What are you expecting? Getting the wrong person is a big setback and can take a long time to recover from. Hire him on a trial basis, set the goals, and make the decision to retain or terminate at the close.

Here is an example of a job description for a sales rep at MWI. It's pretty clear:

What We're Not Interested In

• Somebody to watch the phones. We've already got someone doing that for minimum wage.

What We Are Interested In

• Somebody who is out of the office 90% of the time meeting with people.
• A lead generator and closer. Find new business, get them interested, and close the deal. We'll take care of the rest.

What We're Offering

• 20% commission on project-based sales. You sell a $20K website, you get $4K.
• On SEO there is an initial commission plus a six-month residual. You close a $5K per month SEO deal and you get a commission equal to the monthly fee, plus 20% of the monthly fees for the next six months. That means if you closed one $5K/month deal per month you'd be bringing in $132K per year in commissions. A salesperson with the right experience, connections, and skills should be able to do double or triple that.
• Health benefits. Candidates who prove themselves during a two-month trial period will be offered full-time employment which includes health benefits.
• And of course, the soft stuff. A nice work environment, a growing, exciting industry, cool co-workers without egos, and almost complete autonomy.
• If you'd like to get a better idea of how we sell our search engine marketing services, download our search engine marketing sales presentation.

That's good. Get someone who will do that!