Rounding up the latest in sales research and innovation.
August 11, 2021
Businesses are bouncing back from shutdowns and supply-chain interruptions, but now they’re facing a new blocker: not enough sales staff. Even in normal circumstances, there can be competition to hire the best sales professionals to successfully scale growth. But these times are not normal, and a perfect storm of factors is contributing to a sales-hiring landscape that is very challenging for employers. Rather than despair, you can take action by improving your hiring process. Stick with us all month as we detail how to do that. For now, here is a roundup of the latest news on the hiring situation.
In order to sell your company to potential hires, you have to understand just what it is that sets you apart as an organization—from the employee perspective. What benefits and value do people experience from working with you? Identifying these qualities, you can build what is called an Employee Value Proposition. The concept was coined in 2001 by Ed Michaels, Helen Handfield-Jones, and Beth Axelrod, in their book The War for Talent.
Many companies find themselves in a “war for talent” again right now, so the concept is coming back to the fore. UK HR leader Gonzalo Shoobridge posted a thorough discussion on LinkedIn last month, in which he describes how to build an EVP based on six core value areas: Affiliation/Reputation, Culture/People, Personal Growth, Nature of Work, Financial Rewards, and Employment Benefits.
Meanwhile, SHRM (the Society for Human Resource Management) has a little quiz to test your understanding of EVP. Its stat from Gartner on how much an effective EVP can reduce turnover is pretty mind-blowing.
Recruiter.com is a great resource when it comes to understanding current hiring trends. Some of their recent articles are extremely relevant to hiring in sales:
Sales Talent reports the latest, strong forecasts for sales hiring trends. The rising demand for sales professionals has put upward pressure on salaries and benefits. We have the latest statistics in our 2021 Hiring Trends and Sales Compensation Guide.
Compounding the challenge of hiring salespeople, the Wall Street Journal recently reported on lack of interest in sales jobs. It’s tied into the deeply-ingrained biases against salespeople that we talk about in Maestro’s Science of Sales training. The article is paywalled, but if you don’t subscribe to WSJ you can still read a really interesting conversation about the topic on LinkedIn.
Meanwhile, the “Coffee Is for Closers” podcast asserts that recruiting successful salespeople is contingent on development and alignment with the rest of the business, especially marketing.
The market is also tight in roles that have been categorized as “Pre-Sales,” such as Solutions Architect or Sales Engineer. The PreSales Collective posted the most recent (June 2021) statistics along with some suggestions of “outside-the-box” ideas on where to find talent.
LeadFuze recently posted an interesting—and long—guide to the hiring process. Some of the advice is great, while other parts diverge a bit from the Maestro hiring process we will lay out for you in the blog later this month. Which parts of LeadFuze’s advice do you like?
While I’m asking you questions—in an episode of TED’s “The Way We Work” series last year, psychologist Gil Winch asked employers to consider a more humane interview process that sets candidates up for success by making them more comfortable. Give it a watch and then let us know in our comments if you think his advice could work in a sales hiring context!
While this isn’t news in 2021, my all-time favorite TED talk on the topic of hiring is still totally valid. Jason Shen suggests ways to expand the field of people you’re considering. He also talks about which data actually predict the likelihood they will do a great job, for example the value of assigning work samples as part of the interview process.
Literally everyone is changing their sales compensation plans this year. Unsurprisingly, 2020 brought depressed revenues and lower-than-average turnover as salespeople stuck with their jobs even if the situation wasn’t great. Some of the 2021 predictions reported in the article have proven false, like on turnover—see the “Great Resignation” article cited earlier—but others are still interesting. Astron Solutions has more on types of sales compensation plans. And we at Maestro have just published our own 2021 Sales Compensation Planning report—check it out!
For experienced, effective assistance with sales rep and sales leader recruiting and hiring, contact mastery@maestrogroup.co.
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