Hiring The Modern Sales Rep for B2B Organizations
Congratulations! Your company is growing and now you want to hire your first Sales Rep.
I would like to share with you a process that we are applying at Flawless inbound and also for our clients. But before I go in to more detail, let’s agree on one thing:
"The Sales Department is the heart of any B2B organization, whether you are in technology, medical, industrial, or other professional services."
If you're a CEO planning to hire your first VP of Sales, or you're a VP of Sales planning to hire your first Inside Sales Manager, Business Development Manager, or Sales Rep — whatever you call this role — the key point that you need to ask yourself is: do you truly have a sales process and a framework, and does it also reflect on how you are going to choose your next hire?
First let me explain the concept of the Modern Sales Rep, especially for a B2B organization.
Here is what you should expect from a Modern Sales Rep
- Leverages technology to their advantage, and understands who to start a conversation with, when, and why.
- Understands how to hold a business conversation focused on clear goals and challenges, because they actually understand who their ideal buyer is before a conversation even starts.
- Displays deep industry knowledge, because they are truly passionate about the solutions their company brings to buyers in its segment.
- Demonstrates comfort discussing a variety of alternative solutions with the buyer, which often include doing nothing or even using a competitor’s product or service.
- Tailors every conversation to the buyer’s specific situation, with a timeline.
- Openly disagrees when they think a buyer’s proposed solution to a goal or a challenge is wrong, or that their judgement is blurred by fear, uncertainty or doubt.
- And above all else, the Inbound Seller prioritizes a buyer’s needs ahead of their own sales goals.
So how to evaluate a new candidate for a Sales Rep position — especially if you are a B2B organization with a longer sales cycle, high-priced product or service, and aggressive revenue targets like a VAR, MSP, SaaS or technology startup, or in the medical industry?
Ask yourself these questions:
- Does this Sales Rep have the desire to be successful in sales no matter what? What proof do I have?
- Does this person have a positive outlook on the product or services he or she sells or would be selling? Why?
- Does this person have a positive outlook on themselves? What evidence do we have to believe they have that positive outlook?
- Do I believe that this person will take responsibility for all sales outcomes, no matter what, or will they make excuses? Why do I believe my answer to that question?
Here's what you also need to look for in that person
These will be exactly my questions for my next Flawless Inbound Sales Rep:
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Do I believe you have a high level of Emotional Intelligence and self-awareness? Can you put yourself in someone else's position and empathize with the challenges they are expressing?
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Do you have the “grinder/hustler” instinct and a high level of work ethic?
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Are you a lifetime achiever? Were you the kid that had the lemonade stand, the newspaper route?
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Are you a strong problem solver who can marshal a variety of internal resources to get the outcomes you need?
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Are you coachable and to what extent? Show me proof.
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Do you take responsibility for outcomes in life, or do you make excuses?
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Do you possess the ability to educate and teach? Will you push back on a prospect when they reject you or challenge you?
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To what extent are you goal-oriented? Have you set personal goals for yourself?
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Do you enjoy learning? If yes, why is that, and can you show me concrete supporting examples?
I hope this blog would be of help to any CEO/VP of Sales planning to grow their sales teams and build a sales process around them.
At Flawless Inbound, we have worked with over 60 B2B organizations to help them not only with their Inbound Marketing framework and implementation, but also building a modern Inbound Sales process to match — and very soon, we will be helping them to building their services process as well. Stay tuned for more updates from our team.