Role clarity - does your applicant match your sales role?
Both sales applicants and sale recruiters often fail to specifically match the right sales skills with the right sales role. For example, account managers that look after current customers require a very different set of skills compared to a hunter who is looking for and securing new business.
At Objective Assessment, we come across many people who work in sales and really want a new sales job. However, when you ask the candidate what it is they enjoy about sales it may transpire that they don’t enjoy prospecting or cold calls. Both the candidate and the company have got to have clarity on the role being advertised and the skills needed to fulfil it.
Some companies even swap their teams around depending on what is happening in the business, for example, when a new product launches. Once a hunting team has established new markets those people won’t be the right people to farm and manage the customers in two years time. When you profile your job and are advertising a new position make sure you get your criteria right. If you are applying for a sales job at the moment, make sure you are applying for roles you will excel at.