The Sales Job Description is Key to Hiring the Right Salesperson
Investing the time to develop a good sales job description is essential to successful sales planning and hiring. I’m not simply talking about the sales description you publish; I’m talking about a sales job description lets everyone in the organization why you are hiring and what this salesperson is expected to do.
This is an area where most of us fall short. Without a good sales job description, some managers just put out the word they are looking for new sales people and then hire the first salesperson who seems qualified.
Take a minute and ask yourself – how well is this working? Take a look at sales turnover and the revenue your sales team produces to find the answer. If you aren’t satisfied with what you see, perhaps you ought to reconsider your hiring process and develop a good sales job description.
What You Need in the Sales Job Description
You develop a sales job description to make sure you know what you are looking for in your next sales person. What you want them to do. When you want them to do it. And most important, how much you expect them to do. If you hire a recruiter to help in your search, he or she will need to have a thorough understanding of what you’re looking for. In other words, the recruiter will want to see the sales job description. This provides him or her with a full understanding of the sales job requirements. Your sales job description also helps the recruiter select and sell your position to the most qualified candidates.
If you’re going to advertise, either within your organization or to the public, a detailed sales job description lets prospective candidates know what you’re looking for and why they should come to work for you, rather than your competition.
An accurate sales job description also will let the candidates know your company’s standards and expectations, as well as what they will be held accountable for. This information makes it possible for the right candidate to properly commit to the job from day one – no surprises.
The sales job description also provides you a chance to build a frame work for the job and define exactly what you need.
Four Key Questions to Consider When Developing Your Sales Job Description:
- Does this represent what your company is looking for?
- Does this tell candidates why they should work for you?
- If you were a salesperson, would this job description compel you to apply?
- Does this job description describe exactly what will be expected of the salesperson
Sales Job Description Components
In the job description you publish you will want to provide a brief description of your organization. For example: A1 Security is a full-service security company meeting the needs of the banking industry since 1992. With more than x clients in the x area, A1 is … etc. You understand what the goal is here. Sell the company. Tell the candidates why yours is a great organization to work for.
Next you want to give them some information on the sales territory, where they will be working. Will the salesperson be working locally, regionally or nationally? Is there travel involved? If so, how much?
The sales job description should also outline if they will be a full- or part-time employee or independent contractor? Are you looking for a one-call closer, or a relationship salesperson? Inside sales or outside? Hunter, farmer or both?
As you develop your sales job description you will need to determine if this is an entry-level sales position. Will you you require a certain number of years of sales experience? Can it be any type of sales experience or a specific type? Should that experience come from your particular market segment?
Essential Functions:
This is where you start outlining what you want the sales person to do. You want to use this outline to insure you have defined your need. When you publish your sales job description, it will provide candidates with a roundup of what the sales job entails. Here are a few examples. You’ll want to tailor them to meet your company’s needs.
- Ability to sell and present company products and services to current and potential clients.
- Manage an assigned territory with the goal of increasing company revenue by generating sales from new and existing customers across multiple industries.
- Prepare action plans and schedules to identify specific targets in your territory.
- Effectively present products and services to and develop relationships with potential clients.
- Participate in various incentive programs and contests designed to support the achievement of production goals.
- Meet sales goals for products and services to both new and existing customers in assigned territory.
- Prepare presentations, proposals and sales contracts.
- Develop and maintain sales materials and current product knowledge.
Qualifications:
What qualifications are you looking for in the salesperson you hire? Once you know, you can then place it in your published sales job description. Here are a few examples, but again, personalize these to meet your needs.
- Bachelor’s degree or equivalent.
- Proven persuasion and negotiation skills.
- Strong communication skills to build rapport with prospective and existing customers and within the organization.
- Experience in lead development, lead follow up, qualification and targeted account selling in person and/or by telephone.
- Ability to work efficiently within our CRM solution to prospect, administer leads generated by campaigns, update customer records, manage a pipeline of opportunities and deliver accurate forecasting for the assigned territory.
- Ability to conduct in-depth sales presentations, including product demonstrations that highlight key benefits, ROI and the value of our solutions and services.
- Organizational skills and effective time management to succeed in a fast-paced environment.
- Microsoft Office (Excel, Word & Outlook) experience.
- Proof of good track record in B2B sales.
- Ability to create, compose and edit written materials.
- Good driving record with no restrictions or major violations.
The requirements for your sales job should be based on the work you’ve done in your strategic sales planning, as well as in the previous steps in this process.
In Conclusion
As you develop the sales job description, understand this is the blueprint for the job and one of the tools you will use in the selection process, especially the interview. You will also use it in developing your on-boarding process for the newly hired salesperson.
This sales job description planning process is for you to make determinations on how you see the job. You won’t publish the sales job description directly in the newspaper or on the Internet. You will use it to create your job posting. Examples of recruiting ads are available on websites like monster.com or careerbuilder.com. However, don’t just copy someone else’s job description; make sure your description lays out exactly what your organization needs.
Going the extra mile with your sales job description can help ensure you make a quality hire who will produce for your company for years to come.
Related podcast:
SMW 004 Sales Recruiting – Hire The Right Sales Person Part One
SMW 005 Sales Recruiting – Hire The Right Sales Person Part Two
Related Articles:
Has Your Sales Planning Allowed You to Build Your Sales Team for Success?
Hiring Sales People? Know What You Are Looking For
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