Do This and You Will Attract Top Passive Sales Talent
Regardless of how great your products or services are or how well your market fit is, a talented sales team is still key to your ability to maximize growth.
Thirty-four percent. That’s the average sales rep turnover rate according to a survey of over 300 B2B SaaS sales organizations by The Bridge Group. And two-thirds of these are involuntary terminations (which could signify they were bad hires to begin with). Either way you roll the dice those stats aren’t good, especially if you’re trying to find the right people to grow and strengthen your team.
Because these turnover numbers are so high, hiring is always a priority and seeking passive candidates is a must. But if you want passive candidates to take interest in your company, you have to intrigue them enough to even take an interview.
To build a strong sales team, you need to remember what top (and passive) salespeople want: they want to be winners. They outwork their peers, aren’t afraid to try new ideas, and really like solving problems. They want to do good any way they can and be apart of something special. They hate slackers because they bring the team down. They want to feel challenged, supported, and recognized for their results in adding to the organization’s value. The culture and structure of your company is what will provide the platform for their success.
So, here’s what you need to intrigue top passive candidates:
A strong company brand and value proposition
It goes without question that top performers look for companies that are market leaders with a strong value proposition and killer products. Take the time to reflect on your own brand and value prop. Try this: for your next annual offsite meeting with senior leadership invite two of your proven sales reps along (their insight will be valuable) and add these questions to your agenda:
How is our brand doing? What do our clients and employees think of us? What does Glassdoor say?
How does our brand value compare to the competition? If a passive candidate compared our website to competitors, what would they think?
What is our value proposition? Has it stayed the same over time? How can we make it even better?
Are we innovating enough to address market opportunities?
The answers to these questions will put the needed attention on which areas of your company should be dialed in to intrigue the best talent out there.
A good initial first impression via social channels
Because your brand is so important, candidates rely on social sites to learn about you. When it comes to B2B and SaaS companies, Glassdoor and LinkedIn are the most important so make sure they’re strong and relevant. If your company pages pass the test, candidates will take another step forward and take a look at the profiles of your sales reps and leaders. I remember going into interviews and candidates mentioning reviewing my LinkedIn profile—thankfully, the feedback was positive but if it wasn’t it very well could have been the difference between accepting or declining an interview.
A pro-sales culture
Every employee should feel valued and recognized for doing great work, but salespeople thrive on being in the spotlight for driving company growth. There are two types of companies: pro-sales and pro-product. I wouldn’t say one is better than the other, but top performers will look for a pro-sales environment to support their own goals.
Here’s one way that supports a pro-sales culture: create an advisory team of top sales performers and have them meet quarterly to share insight and feedback directly to your leadership team. Allow them the platform to be heard and make sure you use their feedback to implement change.
A training track that showcases on-going development and career growth
Top salespeople want to win and feel confident when selling. Your onboarding process needs to be well-thought-out and highly effective, but it shouldn’t stop there. Be sure to institute an on-going training program and career development plan to meet the needs of your team. Top performers are always thirsty for new ideas, ways to streamlines processes, and to better understand what competitors are doing. Success in sales is part hard work and part knowing what to do at just the right moment and this stems from repeated, systematic training that is both impactful and measurable—any top performer would appreciate that.
As for career growth, think about having different levels of sales roles within your sales org. Each level signifying career advancement, perhaps more responsibility or higher value clients. This is best done by setting revenue targets that move the sales rep through the various levels versus using tenure as the qualifiers.
A promised potential for opportunity
Any established top performer will weigh leaving their current organization (where they could be covering a large territory or perhaps have the best accounts in a certain sector) to the opportunity make-up within your company. You need to define their opportunity and very clearly explain what it will look like. Key info they will be looking for: territory size, account size, average deal size, average sales cycle, new business versus account rounding expectations, and who their buyers are and what are they like.
They’ll also want to know if they will be the only one responsible for calling accounts or if they will have inside support. Will they work with other departments in managing the accounts? What if an issue arises? Or it’s the renewal time period? The key is to entice the candidate and make them realize how awesome the opportunity is and the support they will have..
A strong compensation package
You’ll fail if you believe you can attract top talent with an average comp package. Yes, even with a great company culture and lots of opportunity top performers will pass on you. And if a sales rep accepts an average comp package, they are probably an average player. After all, top performers expect to do very well financially.
If you haven’t researched comp packages within your market in the previous 12-24 months, you should. The market has changed dramatically over the last several years due explosive growth in the tech arena fueled by investment capital from both VC and PE sectors.
And the days of finding top talent for low bases but heavy variable are long gone. The more complex your sale, the higher the base salary will need to be and make up of the overall on-target-earnings (OTE)—think 60/40 or 70/30 (base/variable). If your sales are transactional in nature and smaller value <$10K ASP, then a 50/50 plan can still work.
Stealing a top performer from a secured environment and income will need extra support in the first 12 months. Consider offering a stipend during their onboarding period plus additional bonuses for the first 6-12 months should they hit key metrics. This will help mitigate any fear the top performer might have leaving a place where they are comfortable and established.
The takeaway
When it comes to passive candidates, you have to remember these people aren’t knocking on your door looking for you. Rather you’re looking for them and inviting them in. It’s up to you to make your case for why they should accept your invitation—this means showing them why your company and culture stands apart from all the rest. For passive candidates, many doors are open (and they may not want to cross any thresholds) so you need to ensure you can help them envision the success they would have with you.