How to Find a Good B2B Salesperson: Steal 6 Tips From Me!

Welcome back to C-Suite Sidekick, where we provide you with the actionable insights you need to succeed in the executive world. I'm your host, Summer Poletti, and today we’re tackling a question many CEOs find perplexing: How do you find a good B2B salesperson? It's an undertaking filled with potential pitfalls, from dealing with good actors who disguise their weaknesses to wrestling with poor performance excuses and wasted resources.

In this episode, I’m sharing six key tips to help you scout the ideal candidate—plus a bonus tip on where to find them. Drawing from years of experience and some hard-earned lessons, I'm challenging some traditional hiring norms and offering a fresh perspective on what truly matters in a stellar salesperson. From prioritizing ethics and work ethics above industry experience to seeking relationship-building skills and a consultative approach, we’ll cover it all. And don’t worry, I’ll even tell you the best platform to run your job ads.

Stay tuned as we dive deep into each tip, helping you become more confident and successful in your hiring process. Let's get started!

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• Repurposed content, such as this description created using CastMagic
• Visit Rise of Us for more information about Summer's services
• Connect with Summer on LinkedIn

Chapters

• 0:00 Intro to mini pod
• 1:17 Tip number 1
• 2:15 Tip number 2
• 3:59 Tip number 3
• 6:01 Tip number 4
• 7:08 Tip number 5
• 8:16 Tip number 6
• 10:04 Recap

Transcript

0:00

welcome to another mini pod. Another set of tips inspired by a real client's project that you can have for free. I get this question a lot and I got hired to do this work a lot. How do you find a good B2B salesperson? Have you ever hired someone only to realize a few months later that they just weren't the right fit and how much time and money do you think that mistake cost you? If you wonder that salespeople are good actors and can disguise their weaknesses better than any other candidate you are. Right. I have been tricked more than once. Common complaints that CEOs have about salespeople are a failure to accurately determine the business needs of prospects taking too long to bring in a sale. Failure to reach decision makers, spending too much time chasing bad deals, blaming poor performance on other factors, such as marketing or product performance and poor sales leadership. Shameless plug. That last one is where I help out. Hiring a good salesperson is something that a lot of CEOs are concerned about. You're trusting these folks with the very important task of growing your company. I have been doing this for many years and have learned a lot of these lessons, the hard way. After all, no one teaches this stuff in college. In the hopes that one day you'll consider me for a revenue leadership project for you or a colleague. I am paying it forward. And sharing some of my best secrets. I have six tips and a bonus for you. Number one and we are coming out, swinging folks breaking a very popular rule. I do not require the person to have extensive experience in the industry or even any experience for that matter. I know that you are the expert in your industry, and I am confident that you and your existing team will be able to train the sales person well enough to be able to interact with clients and potential clients. Your sales person only needs a working knowledge. I'm going to challenge you to think of your implementation customer service or operations team as subject matter experts who can be tagged in as a sales assist. If your sales person gets into the weeds. This is a special teams play. Number two. I look for ethics above all work ethic and personal ethic. Someone has to demonstrate that they can and will work hard. And someone has to demonstrate that they're honest and trustworthy. I imagine you're not interested in working with a salesperson who will do or say anything in order to get the business. To judge ethics and work ethic is not easy in the limited amount of time you have during the interview process. You can ask a, what if question? To see how they will react to a certain situation. If they answer in a manner that aligns with your organization's culture, you're probably good. I actually recommend asking a couple of what if questions so that you can get more than one answer and see if there's any inconsistencies. And then talk to them. In a long form conversation. Keep it casual. Bill rapport. And dig deep when talking to their references. For work ethic, ask a few questions about how they structure their day and how they are used to getting their leads. I once worked with a sales person who had worked for a larger company in our industry. And. I found out too late, but she was used to getting her leads, fed to her from a very large. Marketing team. And she wasn't used to even having to call through a database, touching base with. Former prospects. So this is when I learned to ask about how people are used to getting leads. Before you ended up having them on your team. Number three. Look for someone who understands the game of sales, which is to understand that you need. To put in the time, statistically in order to get the win. B2B sales are hard now, and they're not likely to get any easier. Gartner suggests that it takes 17 to 20 touches in order to engage a prospect. Now, of course, some of those are going to be marketing touches, but on average, Salespeople tend to give up after four. I once worked with a sales person who only gave it one shot, web lead came in and he called or, emailed them once and then gave up. I will not bore you with the details, but I will say I didn't work with him for very long. So look for people that understand the game on are willing to play according to those rules. Also look for people who understand that a single channel approach no longer works. You can't only email you can't only call. You have to be willing to use social media. Email call send a video message, send an audio message through text, show up. If you can. There's a number of different things. That have to be used. And the omni-channel sales person is the one who's going to win. If you're going to do 17 to 20 touches on average, it's also going to get boring if you do the same thing every time. So you need to find someone who understands the need to switch it up. Your questions around how they get their leads will help with this as well. Ask an open-ended question, let them talk for as long as possible. And listen for things like I read the local paper and I look for news in the industry. When I'm out meeting a client, I have a list of other target clients in the area that I can stop in on. I research on LinkedIn, I call past prospects. It look for somebody who doesn't just give you one answer on how they find leads. That is going to. Give you a hint that you're talking to an omni-channel expert. Number four. Also look for people who seem like they're good at building relationships, because partnerships are what drive B2B sales these days. With an average response rate of 2% on outbound. And also those 17 to 20 touches that are necessary. That's a lot of work. Referrals tend to close at about 50, 50. They also close faster. Look for people who understand that and who are willing to put in the time to build those partner relationships. And I'm not just talking about strategic partners. Partner with your clients, internal partners. You have to know where to go in order to get the answer for a prospect. You have to be willing to work with the implementation team to make sure that the customer handoff is good. You have to be willing to work with your partners and marketing to. It's easier said than done, which is why you will need an experienced holistic sales leader. Someone who is good at relationship building will show you by telling you that they get leads through the referrals. They ask clients for referrals, things like that. The, how do you get your leads? Question gives you lots of good insights. Number five. You need to find someone who cares about the ongoing success of the customer. Gartner shows that. What B2B buyers expect is for the sales person to stick around and ensure the success and not disappear. Ask., what do you typically do after the contract is signed? And you might be surprised at how many people stumble over that fairly simple question would you rather buy from someone who genuinely wants to understand your needs or someone who just wants to talk about them and their product? This brings us to number six. Find a sales person who takes a consultative approach. Someone who demonstrates that they ask questions instead of giving PowerPoint presentations. My secret is to ask questions in which I make them imagine a common scenario or objection, and ask how they think they'd handle it. You'll either hear a variation of I'd explained the benefits to them, or I'd ask questions about what is most important to them. I will let you decide which sales person you'd rather talk to. And your bonus tip is where to find them. There's a couple of different ways that work really well. The best way is to pay attention to the good salespeople you interact with, build relationships with them and reach out to them. When you have an opportunity, it's a coaching play. Coaches are always watching. People play and are always looking out for their next superstar. Some of my best hires were from my network. Other salespeople, from the industry and salespeople who had worked for target customers, not my own customers, mind you, but other similar looking customers in the industry, of course. If you need to run an ad. There's only one answer in my opinion. And it's LinkedIn. Unless you're looking to give someone their first job out of college and invest in a lot of training in which case. Advertising with local universities. Does wonders. LinkedIn ads are not cheap. I'll admit the quality of the candidate you get on LinkedIn is far superior to the quality of a candidate that you get from other platforms that I'm not shady enough to mention by name. I have found many great salespeople through LinkedIn. Save yourself, time and money and run it there. First, if you want tips on how to write an ad, that will be compelling to a sales person. Hit me up. One last thought on LinkedIn. Not all B2B salespeople show that they're very active on the platform, although they might use it regularly for research. So if you bind someone who doesn't have a lot of connections or doesn't post at all or regularly, Don't let that scare you off. This is an area that I work with salespeople on a lot using social media efficiently to help them sell. Not everybody runs that play very frequently. Okay. Let's recap. One prior experience in your industry, not required. You and your team are smart enough to coach up a sales person on the basics. Number two, look for ethics work and personal above all. Have long, more casual conversations with them so that you can get an idea of who they really are. Three. Look for an understanding that it takes multiple touches to engage with prospects. And a salesperson who will leverage an omni-channel approach. Four look for relationship building skills with clients, partners and internal departments. Five. Look for someone who cares about the customer after the deal is won six. Look for someone who demonstrates a consultative approach and ask questions that are designed to see how they might interact with prospects. And number seven in my not always humble opinion. LinkedIn is the best place to run an ad for a B2B sales person. I hope this was helpful and that it gave you some insights and that you're less nervous about hiring a sales person now. Stay tuned. We're also going to go over my tips for ensuring success. Once you hire someone and also how to know when to cut bait in under 90 days, if you may have made a bad hire. If you need some specific tips, feel free to reach out and pick my brain. Find me on LinkedIn I'm summer Poletti rhymes with spaghetti, or find me online@theriseofs.com. Have a wonderful day.