5 Tips To Attract Talented (but Passive) Sales Reps in 2016

It’s no surprise that many employers find themselves “underwhelmed” by the potential pool of candidates they attract after posting an ad to fill a sales position. The reason is simple. Top-performing sales professionals are typically employed, busy selling, networking and creating new contacts, leaving relatively no time to search job boards. So how are companies supposed to attract the crème de la crème of candidates to fill an open sales rep or sales manager position?

Answer: Target Passive Candidates

Passive candidates are those who are not actively seeking a new position. They may on occasion browse job openings online to see what is available, but finding a new position is not a priority. Why should it be? They are already performing well because they are good at what they do.

So can your company access this pool of passive talent? Here are five tips for attracting top-producing passive sales reps in 2016.

1. Network Proactively

To recruit top sales reps, you’ll need to not only be visible at networking events, you’ll need to make it known that you are looking for top performers. A good rule of thumb is that if you share with 100 people that you’re actively looking for a strong sales rep, you will wind up with a small pool of qualified and interested candidates. But people need to know you’re on the hunt, so get out there, and let others know what you’re looking for.

1. Targeted Emails

Much like networking, targeted emails to your database, sphere of influence, and even family members announcing that you’re looking for top performing sales managers or sales professionals, can yield another viable albeit small pool of qualified, yet passive candidates. Use the people you know for referrals!

1. Make Sure Your Position Provides Perks Others Don’t

If you’re going to attract “A” candidates, you’re going to have to offer an attractive overall package. This may include above industry compensation, benefits that blow away the competition, a fun office space/environment/culture, and of course plenty of room for growth. By poking around to find out what others are offering, you can find ways to make your offer stand out among the rest.

1. Engage in Strategic Social Media Opportunities

LinkedIn is a great place to find passive “A” candidates. You have a virtually unlimited pool of potential passive candidates right at your fingertips. Take time to join networking groups, sales groups, and other groups affiliated with your industry. Through connecting personally with others in your region, industry, or with fellow members in business organizations such as the chamber of commerce, you increase your opportunity to spread the word about your sales opening.

1. Hire a Professional Sales Recruiting Firm

In a perfect world HR managers or business owners would have dozens and dozens of spare hours to recruit top performing passive candidates. But the truth is, social media outreach, targeted emails, research into valuable networking opportunities, to say nothing of the hours spent weeding out unqualified candidates, requires a great deal time. Unfortunately, time is probably not something you have a lot of, if you’re running a business which is in need of a top sales professional.

This is where a reputable targeted sales recruiting company can prove invaluable to your business in the coming year. Professional recruiters spend their days tracking down the specific type of candidate that you’re looking for. We conduct exhaustive research into all viable candidates, so that we can identify those most suited to your unique needs. From there, we utilize countless tools to reach these talented, passive candidates including emailing, phone calls, targeted employment marketing, social media marketing, and more. We also help you to make sure that your position does indeed stand out, by offering suggestions of ways to improve your offer so it stands as a beacon of opportunity.

From there, we conduct interview after interview on your behalf, to weed out candidates who don’t meet your criteria. Finally, we present you with a small pool of only the most qualified sales reps and managers for your needs.

If you’re looking to recruit outstanding sales performers to join your team in 2016, give us a call. Grapevine Targeted Sales Recruiting has helped countless companies take their business to the next level by providing a painstakingly selective recruitment process to ensure that an outstanding candidate, whether passive or active is available to you for hiring.

We wish you great Sales Success in the New Year!

Andy Wright is the owner and an active recruiter at Grapevine – Targeted Sales Recruiting.  Andy began his recruiting career in 2003, and has a proven track record of helping companies both large and small increase sales team retention and productivity through recruiting top talent.  Prior to launching Grapevine in December of 2011, Andy held key leadership positions for two Twin Cities-based search firms, training and managing teams of recruiters while developing new business and managing national account relationships. Visit www.grapevinerecruiting.com, call 952.856.2371 or email[email protected].