BY Kathy Crosett
How can you improve your sales hiring outcomes? Hiring sales reps, especially the right ones, has never been easy. After all, the cost of a bad sales hire for B2B companies is now at $177,171 according to our research. Staying aware of the latest trends and following best practices in sales hiring can make a difference.
How big is the sales industry?
Nationally, the Bureau of Labor Statistics reports that 1.3 million sales jobs must be filled every year in the U.S. Some of these jobs represent new positions. But in many cases, businesses are hiring sales reps to replace departing team members who report an average turnover rate of around 30%. Here are a few trends to know about to ensure that your next sales hire is your best sales hire.
Are you hiring for the right position?
HubSpot anticipates that specialized sales roles will continue to be important. Large organizations will be seeking solutions engineers and customer onboarding specialists.
Smaller organizations may require their reps to serve in more than one sales role. They may employ only one or two individuals to be full-cycle sales professionals.
In recruiting for these roles, the important first step is to write an accurate job description. If you need a new business hunter, you don’t want to draw resumes from solutions engineers. Creating an accurate job description will result in attracting attention from the right candidates.
A good job description improves the results generated by sales skills assessment platforms. In TeamTrait, clients have the option to request the creation of a customized job description. When candidates take assessments, their results are scored against the defined job skills. With that information, the hiring team receives a more accurate assessment of how well the candidates will perform in the position. And they have a better chance of hiring sales reps who will succeed.
How do assessments help to verify AI-readiness in sales candidates?
AI technology is changing the role of sales hiring and how customers buy. Does your hiring strategy reflect the new reality?
Hiring for AI-readiness
These days, it’s not enough that your reps are using AI. They must use AI competitively. That means the sales manager should train their teams on generative AI and agentic AI use that their organizations have approved.
Most companies are turning to AI for research, our surveys show. The AI-generated results save time.
McKinsey analysts cautioned recently about AI use. Their research reveals that employees, including sales professionals, see AI “as a business enabler rather than a compliance exercise.” That attitude should be a red flag for any sales manager. Around 62% of surveyed organizations are not yet at “fully scaled agentic AI” because of their concerns regarding security and risk.
A big part of that risk is related to releasing data to a prospect that has not been fully vetted as accurate. These decisions are challenging and require sales professionals to use critical thinking.
TeamTraitTM, the industry leading sales assessment platform, scores sales candidates on AI-readiness and on critical thinking.
What are buyers doing with AI?
On the other side of the sales transaction, your new hires must understand how buyers use AI. Over 20% of senior business decision-makers turn to AI to make better purchasing decisions. Their practices mean your sales content and your sales reps must show up in online searches.
In particular, your reps must use more critical thinking. Instead of following a prescribed sales pitch, their discovery process should include finding out how far the prospect is down the sales funnel with their research. They need to think through the next logical steps to engage the prospect.
Longer B2B sales cycles
The economic outlook is not easy to read. And many buyers report that general economic conditions will be a top challenge for the next couple of years. One casualty of this new attitude is the B2B sales cycle. It’s taking longer than ever to close deals – around 272 days according to Dreamdata.
Once your sales team members have engaged with a buyer, they must educate themselves on the complexity of the team making the decision. By tracking the multiple stakeholders and maintaining contact at the right time, they can guide the deal to the finish line.
As you review candidates for open sales positions, look for individuals who score well for collaborating with the members of the buying team.
The need for digital communications expertise
One way to maintain contact through the extended B2B sales cycle is to optimize social selling. HubSpot research “shows that social media now delivers 42% response rates.” Where does email stand? 26%.
With a sales assessment platform like TeamTrait, hiring sales reps is easier. You'll be able to find which candidates excel at digital communications, have AI-readiness and will work well with your team.
Image on Pexels by Andrea Piacquadio
