First, anyone can be a sales person. When an individual believes in a product or is motivated to sell the product, that individual can be a successful sales person without even trying.
So how do you find people who are motivated enough to sell your products? The same way that you fill any other position. You go through the interview process.
After reviewing the resumes and applications for the sales positions, you narrow your selection down to the candidates that meet the qualifications that you are looking for based on the job description. Then you conduct your interviews and second interviews.
Perhaps during the interview process, you could have the candidates attempt to sell you products. Using this method, you can see how their sales skills truly are.
For example, your business sells cell phones. Your first applicant has six years of experience selling perfume in a local department store. When it comes to selling your phones, this candidate seems like a natural. The candidate is able to tell you all of the benefits of the particular phone you are pretending to have interest.
Your second candidate is a recent high school graduate looking for part-time work while attending college classes at the local community college. Though this candidate has no work experience, this candidate is able to sell the same phone just as well to you as the first candidate. The candidate is enthusiastic and takes the time to understand the selling facts about the product.
The third candidate has been in the work force for ten years and is looking for a part-time position. This candidate, though having an impressive resume, is not convincing when it comes to selling your phone. The person is soft spoken and appears unmotivated and lacking confidence in your product.
Which of the candidates would you choose? A good leader would select the first two candidates to fill the positions.
This works great for businesses that are hiring at physical locations where employees come in and sell the products. A new wave of businesses is taking the world by storm. If you are an e-business owner, how will you hire a successful sales force when you do not physically interview your candidates?
Business best practices recommend always interviewing your employees in person but if this is not feasible, one definite practice that you should use is similar to the sample selling test you would do during an in person interview. If the candidate is to sell products vie e-mail or websites, have the candidate create a sample of the e-mail that they will send to the potential customers. Gather physical samples of the candidate's work.
Having a strong sales force is important to any business that is trying to sell a product. You need to put forth as much of the effort to get the right candidates for your sales force as you expect the sales force to use in selling your product.
