A good Sales person can have a significant impact on building your business. Having said that as you can see by the above comments its not an easy task finding that right person. Apply the 80/20 rule here 80% of all "Sales" people can do two things very very well...1) write resumes, and 2) Interview well. after that its a crap shoot. the other 20% is what you are after. To find that 20% you must have a solid basis for recruiting, interviewing, hireing and keeping that person on your staff.
Step one:
Make your job description in the Ads very clear on what you Have to have , and what is preferred. stick to your own guidelines. Put in full expectations of Job, including activities, tools that will be used ( like CRM) and standards of business practices. put in what the Salary range and OTE (On Target Earnings) are, make them realistic and based on real history of business.
Step two:
Have an interview process with more than one person in your company, make the questions consistent and then collaborate with everyone before final decision. Make the interview real, wlk through scenarios, thier cold calling abilities, there method of establishing and keeping business, how they deal with issues caused by internal processes, how to deal with a unreasonable customer, negotiona scenarios, sales scenarios. let them know what activities are Condition of employment requirements.
Step three:
Validate , validate , validate make them show you w2's for past performance, CHECK REFERENCES, verify info on application matches resume, matches w2's and matches references. Facebook Search, Instagram search, google search, LInkedin Search, Public Data Background search, Credit Check, Check references.
Step four :
Make an offer that comes with a no compete ( even if your a right to work state) 120 day probation period, in that offer is your companies policies (make them initial).
Step Five:
on their start date, have their business cards, computer, cell phone, whatever tools you will provide have this all ready to go, hold a luncheon with the rest of staff and celebrate their onboarding. make them feel special and valued.
a couple of other things to consider: Sales is a truly noble profession....nothing in our world happens unless a sale is made. If you are a sales-based company and your revenues comes from new sales or ongoing sales, then everyone in your company is either IN sales or Supporting Sales. Sales Professionals also have a set of skills ( yes real skills) and for those skills you must pay, nobody works for free, and if they do then well you get what you pay for. Professional sales people will definitely favor a good commission structure over a larger base everyday, but again I iterate if you looking for a commission only salesperson...you are likely to join some of the above people in their experiences.
This is the original presentation i created a few years back...still holds true
https://www.dropbox.com/t/GDGZJK1PYwsE8vJr
Good Luck!
