How To Hire A Sales Representative

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Your business is doing well, and it’s time for growth. Hiring a sales representative can help your business explode and give you an edge over the competition. If you don’t already have a sales team, this first hire is critical, and it can be a little intimidating. The following information will help you hire a qualified sales rep and ease concerns about the process.

Key takeaways:

On average, sales representatives make around $56,591 a year, but there is a wide range of salaries, and many pay structures include an incentive or commission element.
Hiring your first sales rep can be difficult because you’ll want a seasoned salesperson to help you establish protocols and to find new leads. The more experience the person has, the more pay they’ll want and the harder they are to find.
Sales representatives are fairly easy to find through online job boards like Zippia. The trick is weeding through the applicants to find a qualified representative for your company.

To hire a sales representative, you’ll need to do a little prep work before diving in. This will help you understand what you really need and how much you can afford, and you’ll be able to spot the right hire.

Identify your needs. This might feel remedial as you know you need a sales representative to start selling your business, service, or product(s). But there’s more to it than that. Consider how much time you’ll need someone to sell and how you can accommodate the orders they might bring in.

A great salesperson can create a cascading effect and bring in a lot more orders, which means you need to have the staff in place to handle it.
Determine a budget. Budget is a big part of hiring any employee. You want to be compatible with what’s being offered in your area so you can get a great hire. Hiring a sales representative gives you a bit of flexibility because you can create a sales-based pay structure.

It’s not uncommon for people in sales to have a commission tied to their pay. This means you can pay them less as a base salary, but it also means that you need to be able to pay additional amounts if they’re making sales.
Write a compelling job description. Take the time to craft a job description that explains what the new hire will be expected to do but also highlights why they’d want to do it for you.

Take a hard look at what you really would like this employee to do and how much responsibility you’d like them to take. If it’s a new position in your company, you might want to research what’s expected of sales representatives in similar companies.
Post your job. An online job board, like Zippia, is a great place to post your job opening. This is going to be your best shot at finding a sales representative, as you can reach a wide audience with diverse sales backgrounds.
Interview candidates. You’ve posted your job opening, you’ve reviewed the candidates, and you have a handful who you think would be ideal for your company. Now, it’s time to start interviewing. The interview can be a tricky part of the hiring process. It requires preparation, practice, and exquisite listening skills.
Call references and do background checks. Your interview process has given you more insight into the candidates and may have highlighted one as your top choice. But you’re not done yet. Go that extra step and call references and do background checks; you’ll be glad you did.
Make an offer. If the background check and references all come back good, it’s time to make the offer. Make sure you don’t just focus on the pay aspect; let them know about all the other benefits of working for your company. Right now, it’s your turn to sell and close the deal.

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How Much Does It Cost to Hire a Sales Representative?

It costs an average of $56,591 to employ a sales representative a year, but there’s a lot of variation in that number. If you’re hiring a more experienced sales rep, you’ll be paying considerably more, and vice versa; someone new to the field will earn less as their base salary.

Then there’s the whole commission pay to consider. You don’t have to give them a commission, and you can pay them strictly on commission. There are pros and cons to both sides of the coin, which is why many companies prefer to provide a base wage for their sales team and then add incentives through commission pay.

Hiring a sales representative can be very difficult, not because there aren’t enough people for the job but because there’s so much variety in this field. Other professions are more cut and dry, and it’s not as complicated trying to determine what you need and how they’ll do their job. It pays to take a closer look at some of the different types of sales representatives.

Types of Sales Representatives

There are several different types of sales representatives, and it pays to understand the differences. You can be sure that your applicants will know which type they are and will filter through job openings based on the type of sales that they do.

Inside sales rep. An inside sales rep is responsible for maintaining existing client relationships and works as the contact person to keep your business strong. They tend to stay in the office and manage current clients or reach out to new ones via the internet or phone.
Outside sales rep. An outside salesperson goes out and finds customers. Quite often, they’re outside of the business, looking for new opportunities. While there is less door to door salespeople than there once were, there are some industries that still expect their salesperson to come to them.
Lead generation/development. In a large company, these individuals might not do any sales themselves; they simply work to generate leads and build the customer base. In a smaller company, your sales representative may have a lot of lead generation and development responsibilities as they search to make more sales.
Account managers. When a company has a recurring business, having an account manager helps build and strengthen relationships. They’ll do less selling and more relationship management.

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How to Write a Sales Representative Job Description

The best way to write a sales representative job description is to talk to your customers. If you have a loyal customer base, they’re familiar with your offering and know how they like to be sold. This is incredibly useful information and will help you customize the job description, so you hire someone who fits the mold your audience wants.

In addition to getting key insight from your current customers, the following steps will help you nail a sales representative job description.

Envision the ideal candidate. Imagine the ideal employee in this position. What would they be doing on a daily basis, what are realistic goals for them to achieve, and how would they interact with the rest of your staff and with customers?

The more vivid your mental image of this person is, the easier it will be for you to define their job duties and start outlining the job description.
Look at your process. What is your current sales process, and is that the one you want to stick with, or do you want to do something new? If you want to try a new approach, you’ll likely want someone who has experience in that type of sales.

If you have a well-established process and don’t want to change, you might be able to hire an inexperienced salesperson and save money while you train them to your process.
Include more than job duties. If you’re looking to hire someone, you want to tell them about more than the work they’ll do. Let them know a bit about your product, your company, and the benefits of working for you. You’re selling to a salesperson, so make it appealing.
Be concise. It might be tempting to list all of the great things about your company and the tasks someone will do, but too much information gets overwhelming. Think of the job posting as a taste of the job. If they respond to that, you can fill them in later on everything that’s involved and included.

Where to Find Sales Representatives to Hire?

Before you hire a sales rep, you’re going to need to find them, which means you need to know where to look. Good places to hire sales representatives include:

Zippia. Zippia and other online job boards are excellent places to find sales representatives. Through these outlets, you’ll be able to reach a large audience with a variety of skill sets and experience levels.
Through a recruiter. Hiring a sales representative is a difficult task, and it might require hiring an expert. A recruiter will bring experience in hiring for this position along with connections to salespeople that can help you find a solid hire.
Be social. Use your actual contacts and social media to let people know you’re hiring. Word of mouth is still one of the best forms of connecting with people and finding applicants for your business.
Within your company. Who knows your company better than the people who already work there? Within your own doors might be the best place to find your next sales star. It’s worth reaching out to your people to see if any of them are interested in pursuing a career in sales.

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Skills to Look for in a Sales Representative

If you’ve never hired a sales rep before, it’s hard to know what to look for. You might picture a character from TV or the movies who sells ruthlessly and aggressively but successfully. In reality, that approach doesn’t work; you need a combination of skills and a personality set that encourages people to trust and like the sales rep. This requires some soft and hard skills.

In the world of sales, soft skills usually mean more than hard skills. Soft skills are those innate personality traits that someone is born with or develops over time, but they’re difficult to teach. Hard skills are those that are learned through school or on-the-job training.

If you think you have a potential candidate with solid soft skills and who can learn the hard skills with training, lean toward this individual as opposed to one who has hard skills but lacks the right personality.

Important skills to look for in a sales representative include:

Hard skills

CRM experience. Customer relationship management (CRM) software has changed the world of sales over the last few decades. It’s incredibly beneficial, and having a sales representative who already has skills in this area can be a big benefit.
Social media skills. Today’s world is all about image and impressions. If you’re going to rely on one person to make your sales, you’re going to want someone who knows how to reach people through social media and develop a following.
Math skills or proficiency. It helps to have someone who can effortlessly do basic math. Not only is it important so your clients know the price of items and they get accurate quotes, but it also instills confidence in the sales representative’s professionalism.

Have you ever had a cashier count change back to you and not be able to do it accurately? It’s frustrating and instantly leaves you thinking they’re in the wrong profession; the same thing goes for sales reps.

Soft skills

Effortlessly communicates. Sales representatives not only need good communication skills, but they also need to have them come so naturally that they’re effortless. The best salespeople are so easy to talk to, and they make you want to talk to them, even if you’re not in the mood.
Prospecting. Can the person you hire go out there and find new customers, and drum up business, so to speak? This is going to be something most people want from their sales representatives. Feel free to ask them about their prospecting skills and how they plan to bring you new business.
Problem-solving skills. Many experts say that the art behind sales is determining what makes someone say no and then solving that problem.
Listening skills and intuition. How can someone solve problems if they aren’t able to listen to what someone’s saying and then take it a step further and understand what they’re really saying?

How to Interview a Sales Representative

The interview can be the most difficult part of hiring anyone, not just a sales representative. Job interviews are difficult for everyone, and if you keep that in mind, it can make it a little easier. You’re both nervous and probably not feeling as natural as you want to, which can make the conversation more awkward. The following tips will help you interview for a sales representative.

Research and plan questions. First, you’ll want to explore what questions you can legally ask in a job interview. Then, you’ll want to start asking open-ended and closed questions that give you more insight into the candidate’s qualifications and personality. Be thoughtful about how you ask your questions.
Practice. The best information in an interview comes from the answers your interviewee gives you. This means you need to be comfortable enough with the questions to listen intently to their answers. How do you do this? Practice, practice, practice.
Let them lead. One of the best parts about hiring a sales representative is the soft skills they bring to the job and the interview. Remember, you want an effortless communicator, so if you let them lead, you’ll instantly know how they make you feel about talking with them. Just don’t let them control it so much that you don’t ask your questions.
Don’t ask them to sell themselves. It seems like this would be a great way to conduct a sales interview, but it’s not. This puts the interviewee on the spot in a situation where they’re already nervous, and it’s very impromptu. Instead, ask them why you should hire them over another candidate.

Making a Sales Representative a Job Offer

You’ve narrowed it down to one candidate with a couple of backups, and you’re ready to make a job offer. It’s exciting to think about bringing a new person into your company, but a poorly made job offer can blow the whole deal.

Before you call that person to give them the good news, remember that this is a business transaction, you’re not telling them they’ve won the lottery. They might have more offers in front of them and not have the enthusiasm that you do.

When you tell them you’d like to hire them, reiterate what the job entails and what the benefits are so they’re reminded why they applied with you in the first place. Make sure you know the details of the job and be willing to answer any of their questions. Oftentimes, job candidates save the big questions until they are sure they’ll be hired.

Finally, if they say yes immediately, that’s fantastic but rare. Expect them to want to have a little time to think it over. You spent a lot of time preparing to make this hire, and they deserve some time to decide if it’s right for them.

Tips for Hiring a Sales Representative

While hiring a sales representative can be tricky, keeping one can be even harder and more important. The following tips will help you through the hiring and onboarding process. Hiring is just the first step, and that mindset needs to play into your entire process.

Plan for onboarding. Your training period for a sales representative needs to be well thought out and thorough. Learning your company and your industry takes time that you don’t have, so you need to do it in an effective and efficient manner.
Build flexibility. Most sales representatives don’t work set hours as there are dinners, weekends, driving, and other considerations involved in making sales. It’s best if you’re prepared for that at the outset and willing to let them plan their own hours.
Don’t steal staff from a competitor. Some recruiting firms will tell you this is the best way to build your staff with professionals. When it comes to sales and your competition, this is the worst thing you could do. Suddenly, that salesperson who has been hyping your competition as the best is switching teams and promoting your company.

They immediately lose the credibility and trust they’ve created with their established customers and might not be able to bring on new clients.