How do I recruit the right Sales or Business Developer?

Analysis of the recruitment market (Sales & Business Development)?

What analysis should be made of the recruitment market for Sales & Business Development profiles?

In recent years, demand for these profiles has become very strong, hence the existence of Bootcamps Like that of Akimbo to become BizDev. Companies have realized that their recruitment is a strategic issue in order to achieve the objectives of their Business Plan. There is a close link between the growth of a company's turnover and the recruitment of good commercial profiles. In other words, a recruitment that is 3 months late is 3 months late on the Business Plan.

In addition, numerous studies have shown that the gap between sales generated by the 20% of sales representatives on a team with the lowest performance and the 20% with the highest performance is 1 to 4. It's colossal! Hence the current tension on these jobs.

Finally, the recruitment market is obviously not transparent: supply meets demand quite poorly. Hence the need to build a global recruitment strategy, regardless of the size of your company, which will include, for example, the employer brand. Last insight: recruitment is one of the missions that, if planned early enough, take 2X to 3X less time than if they are organized at the last moment.

The demand for well-trained, rapidly operational and goal-oriented profiles is constantly growing. If I had to segment the market, I would say that businesses generally have 3 types of needs:

• SDR/BDR/Business Developer;
• Sales Executive, Account Manager, or Account Executive — or support positions like Sales Coach, Sales Engineer, etc.;
• Sales Manager (managing a small sales team) as VP Sales

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The 3 types of profiles in Sales

From the point of view of candidates, what do these 3 types of Sales profiles correspond to?

On the candidate side, these 3 types of profiles correspond to:

• junior sales (0 to 2 years of experience) Who did SDR/BDR and who want to evolve towards more responsibilities beyond pure prospecting or qualification;
• Business developers Who spent 2 to 4 years in a startup who did well and who wish to either land an entrepreneurial adventure or, on the contrary, want to go to a brand (Salesforce, LinkedIn, etc.) that makes them progress and gives them a label;
• Experienced Sales (>5—7 years of experience), sometimes from these big names and who want to evolve into a managerial position in startup/scaleup.

We notice that there is a problem at both ends of the scope: there is a lack of junior talent — who are competent in prospection/qualification and like it — as well as senior talent — who are used to managing teams of 20 to 100 people.

Distinguishing good from bad Sales profiles

How do you distinguish good from bad Sales profiles in interviews?

From experience, there are 3 mistakes that are indicative of the quality of the candidate:

• not remembering goals and/or performances. A candidate who can't tell you what their goals were and how they performed is, at best, incompetent — at worst dishonest;
• don't like the terrain. Even if he/she is senior or fairly experienced, your Sales candidate must have a permanent link with the reality on the ground and must be able to jump on a deal or take back control of prospecting at any time, in order to show the example;
• show arrogance. Even if your candidate is an over-achiever acclaimed by his former bosses, a Sales person must always be humble and listen to his prospects as well as his colleagues. Every time a customer ignores the arrogance of a candidate because he/she superforms, it ends badly.

Conversely, businesses pay attention to certain good signals, including:

• past experiences, in particular with companies considered to be good Sales schools (examples: Doctolib, Salesforce, etc.);
• the track-record within each company and in particular the progression — the more efficient a Sales is, the faster it rises;
• motivation and in particular a taste for challenge;
• the diploma, especially for inexperienced profiles, with a preference for business schools;
• the ability to listen and question.

Tips for recruiting Sales profiles

What advice would you give to companies that are in the process of recruiting Sales profiles?

Whether you are HR, Sales or a co-founder, remember to constantly challenge your candidate on everything he says. This is vital to discover good speakers, who sell very well, but sell their solution (s) much less well or will be out of control. This involves real work on your part and in particular comparing the candidate's performances with those of their former colleagues.

Then remember to cross-check your opinions with internal but also external opinions. Taking references is absolutely essential on Sales profiles to assess their quality. As usual, if a candidate hesitates to give you the references of his former boss, dig into why, there is very often a wolf.

Finally, recruit constantly.

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Advice for Sales profiles who are going to interview

Conversely, what advice would you give to Sales profiles who are currently interviewing?

First, do some introspection and ask yourself why you really want to apply for a Business Developer role. For experienced candidates, you also need to look back at your goals and, in comparison, your performance. They need to know their numbers like the back of their hand! They must also know how to evaluate, objectively, their performances, in terms of objectives but not only — management, feedback, etc.

Then I would advise them, for each professional experience, to build and repeat a brief that summarizes their responsibilities and presents some concrete cases (prospects or customers).

Finally, they need to have a kind of personal pitch that shows their Sales profile and how they work. Each company has a bit of its own Sales culture, which can help with a good match.

You can find the Tips from Akimbo for applying, and to pass his Sales interviews.

How do you retain the right Sales profiles?

If you look around you, how do businesses retain the right Sales profiles?

It is a key question. Attracting the right profiles is essential to the success of your business, but retaining them even more so.

A lot depends on the importance that the company gives to its Sales teams — in terms of the package, of course, but especially the working environment: progression, training, promotion, etc. To encourage and help them improve.

Fundamentally, this refers to the ability of a company to embody its vision in its Business teams and therefore to drive them through growth and challenges. To put it another way, an ambitious company attracts ambitious profiles. On the other hand, focusing on margins or internal challenges (mergers, acquisitions, product redesigns) is much less exciting for good Sales profiles.”