Inside sales takes a very unique set of skills. Working from the office and calling potential clients all day is not a job for the faint of heart. It’s also a difficult position to hire for, and selecting the right candidate can almost feel like trial and error. But that is not to say that there are not ways to qualify your leads for the employees that are going to be qualifying your leads. Inside sales rep hiring can be not so daunting if you try to focus your interview process on these factors.
The inside sales rep’s job is inherently limited. You might have a couple of connections with a potential client, if you’re lucky. It’s common to only get one. When the only point of contact you have with them is a single phone call or an email that can get lost in the inbox, you have to find a rep that can make it count.
One of the steps for inside sales rep hiring should be testing that first contact. Give applicants the opportunity to show how they would make themselves stand out in what can feel like a tidal wave of buying inquiries to a client. Great tactics to look for are how they do their homework and research the lead, plan out their questioning and direct the conversation.
Without being trained in your practices or company values, examine how a candidate differentiates themselves from the masses and makes sure that that all important voicemail or email is remembered. Of course, this isn’t going to be a perfect run. It will, however, give you a feel for how the hopeful employee approaches their role and utilizes the short time that they get with each contact.
You know you have a great product. The person on the other end of the phone does not. They are solely concerned with getting products that they actually need. The single most important part of salesperson’s role is being able to understand that there is a crucial difference between product features and value. The customer’s need is more important than your product offering, which can be tough to swallow when speaking to a qualified lead. Sales reps that fail to understand this fact about the marketplace spend their time inefficiently chasing down a client that will never give them the yes.
A great way to mediate this is to give them a concrete example. Take them through a mock version of lead qualification. Beyond their likeliness to buy, see how their decision making skills are in deciding how appropriate your product is to a consumer. For instance, narrow down a few leads for a candidate with different characteristics and scenarios and let them explain to you which ones they think they would pursue. This can either be set up where you are trying to have a candidate give you a specific answer or the type of open-ended response that allows them to defend their choice and decision making criteria.
A more concrete way to set your company up for success is having excellent sales tools, collateral, and processes. Creating a sales department-wide standard will ensure the homogeneity of your connections which leaves only the skill of rep to chance. When you culminate the best practices and strategies before hiring, the stage is already set for success. A qualified candidate can more readily excel. Further, more structure will look even more attractive to applicants, resulting in more talent knocking at your door eager to work for your brand.
Inside sales rep hiring no doubt has challenges. It is a very specific type of skill that not everyone is cut out for. But that is not to say that you can’t plot a route to success. Keep these factors in mind to take as much uncertainty out of the hiring process as possible. Following a targeted approach to addressing the difficulties of the job will help narrow down and make the right selection more obvious.
TruPath helps organizations find culturally aligned inside sales reps. Contact our team today to learn how we may be able to assist you in a search for the best inside sales representatives.