A Checklist Prior to Hiring
Hiring? Some Factors You Should Consider
When your company prepares to hire its next sales or marketing employee, there are some factors you should consider. When all these variables are considered properly, you could be looking at your next sales or marketing superstar.
1. Education – this does not necessarily mean grades, however a good education says a lot about a sales or marketing professional. First, a good education normally translates into good writing skills and the ability to formulate intelligent thoughts which the competition may be lacking (or we would like to think so). Additionally, a good education means that the individual whom you are hiring can easily learn new concepts. This will prove invaluable upon rolling out new products or services to the market. Even though this is not true in every case, your company should first look for sales and marketing professionals with good educational backgrounds.
2. Sales and Marketing Accolades – everybody likes to receive rewards and your company should like to receive employees who have been recognized for their work. The corporate world moves extremely quickly and it is quite rare when people stop and notice the effective work one is doing. If his or her past employers took the time to recognize what he or she has done in the past, then you may be doing the same a year from now.
3. Employment Backgrounds – some industries need something very specific. For instance, if your organization sells into a certain medium, then you are going to want somebody who has experience doing so as well. Though, be careful, a matching background and sales / marketing potential are two entirely different things. Take inventory as to the backgrounds of the most successful sales and marketing professionals in the company. What are these employment histories? Why are people with x or y backgrounds successful?
4. What You Can Get for Your Money – don’t always put an exact figure on what you want to pay a sales representative. Test the open markets; see what you can get. A sales or marketing professional who is going for $100,000 on the base may provide you with a much bigger return on investment than somebody who is going to cost you $70,000 on the base. Remember, there is a reason why some sales and marketing employees cost what they do. Interview a wide range and see what is best. Then again, that $70,000 sales or marketing representative could be better; you never know until you interview.
5. Should This Person Work From Or An Office – more and more, companies are switching the virtual office format as this allows them to hire sales representatives who can cover the entire country. Additionally, commercial real-estate space is quite expensive and with the use of the internet, it is not all that necessary.
6. What Markets Do We Want To Penetrate – before hiring your sales or marketing employee, do some research as to what markets you wish to penetrate. For instance, if you want to sell to the government, look no further than Washington DC. Conversely, if you are in the media industry, New York and Los Angeles should be targeted prior to any other locations.
