If you’re looking to attract candidates for inside sales, outside sales or really any kind of sales position, it isn’t easy to properly attract the right candidates. In today’s market, you’re not just trying to cut through the noise clutter. You are, in fact, trying to sell your opportunity, especially if you’re looking for the right candidates. Candidates are no longer looking to sell themselves to you. The tables have turned, the game has flipped, the ride has reversed — I have other allegories but I’ll stop here as we have a point to make.
There’s a much different (and, I would argue, larger) challenge in play here: You’re trying to sell to salespeople. And that’s tough. Salespeople can be a little cynical about the whole sales process. After all, they make it their job to be rejected, so it’s easy to become a little hardened about the whole affair. So how do you do it? How can you cast a net to attract salespeople without coming off as one yourself?
Don’t sell.
The sales cycle can be a bit of a dance, and one that salespeople know all too well. It’s all about leading the prospective client down a funnel to incite a purchase decision, and salespeople know what that process looks like. Their gut knows what’s coming next, and they can feel a little pandered to when that happens. So don’t sell to them. Don’t start off with pre-qualifying teasers that try to reframe something into a conversation that seemingly they have no choice but to say no to because they will do just that.
Speak human.
Sales-speak has a tone, an almost third-person removed vibe that seems artificial, almost scripted. Think about movies from the 40s before people like Marlon Brando forced stage actors to reconsider how to deliver their lines and the idea of method acting forced delivery to become more natural. Voice and tone from films back then never seem to portray real conversations between actual people, but a genre in and of itself. That’s how sales-speak appears to anyone watching it happen. Buzzwords, false enthusiasm and agendas all weigh in to create a fake conversation. Speak to salespeople as you would to someone you’re familiar with — someone to whom you’re not trying to sell. Engage in an actual conversation and see if it feels right. And if it does, then the rest will work itself out.
Get to the point.
This is really it. Salespeople are transactional by nature. They want to understand what this will all lead to. If you’re looking to attract them to a mid-level position with particular compensation, perks and corporate culture, just say that. Let the truth speak for itself and let them use this to sell to themselves. After all, they are salespeople.
'Know when to hold ‘em.'
It may seem counter-intuitive, but in today’s hiring environment, it’s more often than not the employer who can come off as too eager to make this happen. Deadlines are looming, there’s a big order to fill and it’s easy to lose your cool a little when trying to get the best candidates in the door. Pushing candidates for faster decisions, underscoring your urgency or simply forgetting that at the end of the day you’re still the employer will create the impression of an imbalance right from the start, and this can make the better candidates think twice about whether this is the best career path for them. So don’t fret feverishly about the close, especially to salespeople. They can smell that. You don’t want this to feel like sales, but you do still want to keep your “poker face.” (And that is the only parallel we’ll draw here with Kenny Rogers or Lady Gaga.)
It all comes down to connecting on a personal level as best as you can without trying to outplay a salesperson at their game. After all, if it’s the best salespeople you’re looking for, then you want them to be better at this than you are. So don’t play a game they’re prepared to win; change the context altogether. To quote Don Draper, “If you don’t like what’s being said, change the conversation.”
