Hiring Sales People Who Can be a Force

Louisville, KY, November 26, 2007 --(PR.com)-- The success or failure of your sales team can make or break an organization. That places an even greater emphasis on hiring high quality sales professionals. Yet that’s a skill very few managers, executives and even fellow sales professionals possess. With his sales coaching franchise, Dr. Keith Winfree, founder of Winfree Business Growth Advisors, covers some basic steps hiring managers can follow to make better selections with sales hires.

“A bad hire can cost nearly $27,000 in initial hiring expenses and just a few months of a modest salary/commission ($4000 per month) and benefits. That’s not including the costs you can’t measure like the damage a mediocre or bad hire can do to your firm’s reputation with existing clients or prospective ones,” said Winfree. “Making a good hire, like anything else, means putting systems in place to make that happen.”

Some of the processes Winfree recommends:

• Identifying your ideal sales rep – write down all the qualities and characteristics you’re looking for and set up benchmarks. Look to either the best sales reps in your industry or the best one in your company as a model. Make sure you include those qualities and characteristics in any classified ads or job descriptions you post.
• Tailor your interview process for the sales rep –Most people interviewing for a sales position can dance around typical interview questions. Set up a portion of your interview process for role-playing to see how a candidate conducts himself or herself in a situation similar to one they will face on the job, e.g. approaching a prospect.
• Forget your instincts during the interview - Do not go by “gut” feelings or instincts during the interview process. Go by what you hear and see. You’re not only looking for the qualities you wrote down earlier, but also potential weaknesses that might impact their selling skills.
• Make your sales staff part of your recruiting efforts – offer generous incentives to your employees for referrals who become part of your sales force for six months or more.

“Probably the biggest reason for bad hires comes from hiring out of need,” said Winfree. “While it’s important to replace staff that leaves your company, you never want to hire out of necessity because you’ll literally pay for it in the long run. By only filling openings with people who meet your standards, you’re raising the bar for your company and keeping it there for the people currently on your sales staff.”

In addition to coaching advice on how to recruit and hire sales people, Winfree Business Growth Advisors sales coaching franchises offer: sales training, sales management training, sales coaching, business development coaching, owner coaching, seminars, advice to owners on growth issues for their businesses and exit strategies and succession planning for their companies. Yet it’s Winfree's five-phase, 12-element Black Belt System—with Results Guaranteed!®--that converts Winfree clients into advocates and franchise owners.

Winfree Business Growth Advisors currently runs 11 coaching franchises, located in Georgia (Atlanta), Illinois (Chicago-3), Kentucky (Louisville), Massachusetts (Boston), New Jersey (Princeton), New Mexico (Albuquerque), Texas (Dallas-Fort Worth), Virginia (Hampton Roads) and Washington (Seattle-Tacoma-Bremerton) and has openings in several states. Each Winfree Business Growth Advisors coaching franchise is a proud sponsor of Compassion International (www.compassion.com), an organization supporting impoverished children worldwide.

For more information on Winfree’s programs or franchise opportunities and available territories, please go to www.winfree.org or contact Dr. Keith Winfree at (800) 616-9260.

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