"A" sales candidates aren't moving – what you can do to get them to accept your employment offers

You need to hire sales people and you like the fact that these days more candidates are applying for your jobs, but the ones you want are the ones that are still employed elsewhere and they may not be inclined to move.

In fact, sales candidates are generally reluctant to move in this economy – even if your company has a great offer and the candidate is in an underperforming situation – they are often more inclined to stay with the devil they know than the devil they don’t.  If they move to a new company where they have to learn the nuances of a new product/market, make new relationships and build a pipeline they may be putting their income at risk – especially when such a large part of their overall compensation is variable and depends on a lot of moving pieces and events.

Does that mean you can’t hire passive candidates in this economy?
No way.

But to attract the best sales reps to your company and get them to accept your offer takes a unique approach that only applies to the sales position. Here are some quick tips:

1. Make sure the commission plan is clearly explained
- a lot of contracts provide no explanation – this won’t make a new hire comfortable – remember, they know how they get paid at their existing company.

2. Point to examples of success
- if you can show how long it takes for reps to meet targets and how achievable the quota is across the team, the more achievable the plan will appear and the more comfortable a candidate will be with a move

3. Let them get to know the sales leader
- many interview processes are rushed because everyone is busy and the candidate gets minimal time with the sales leader – this is risky they are going to be spending time together and the relationship could make or break performance – better to let them become comfortable with each other and build trust pre-hire

4. Get the sales leader to personally make the offer
– in spite of the fact time is limited, a brief call to close the hire and make them feel important can make a huge difference to a candidate in their decision to join your company

5. Let the employee start after their own quarter end
- often the new hire will be collecting bonuses and achievement awards at quarter end for their strong performance. Let them collect these and start at the beginning of a new quarter (otherwise, consider paying them a signing bonus to start earlier)

If you liked this article, you may also be interested in these similar posts:

1. Are you sales candidates real producers or posing?
2. Checklist for Hitting the Sales Target this Q
3. The Simple Success Formula – How do your reps stack up?
4. 6 Ways to Score a Recruiter (how to select a sales recruiter)
5. Sales Candidate Assessments – a quick quide