As counterintuitive as it may seem, the most experienced sales representatives won’t always be the best fit for your job openings. There are some instances when automotive recruiters encourage giving fresh talent a chance to prove themselves.
For example, if candidates already have specific characteristics like achievement, optimism, and competitiveness, they are likely to succeed even without previous experience.
Remember, teams that recruit a good mix of veteran players and rookies are usually successful in professional sports. First, dealerships should understand the benefits and drawbacks of inexperienced candidates. Then, they can focus on looking for these critical traits when hiring sales reps.
Experience May Not Be the Best Indicator of Success
Although hiring managers shouldn’t automatically dismiss inexperienced sales reps, there are some instances when recruiting more experienced candidates is recommended. If a business doesn’t have the time and resources to train a sales team, then experience is essential. However, there are plenty of benefits to hiring candidates who are new to the field, including:
- Fewer bad habits – Sales veterans can bring conflicting habits into an organization, like cutting corners. New sales reps are open to new standard operating procedures and have nothing to compare them to.
- Untarnished reputations – Fresh salespeople have less baggage and usually don’t have bad reputations.
- Flexible preferences – Experienced salespeople bring pre-established work preferences that can be difficult to break.
From recent college graduates to people seeking a new line of work, new candidates represent a significant portion of the available talent pool. Organizations must start objectively measuring candidates to find the best fit.
Must-Have Traits for Sales Hires
Knowledge, interpersonal skills, and experience should all be evaluated when hiring sales reps. Then, we can look for the key traits to help predict who can find and close deals. First, optimism is considered by many experts to be the most critical trait that successful salespeople have. Next, effective communication is key to building gainful client relationships.
Sales reps that are proficient in active listening better understand the needs and concerns of their customers. Although they can be challenging to measure in an interview, look for “actionable” traits in candidates: ambition, passion, confidence, and motivation.
Since some of these traits can be hard to detect on a resume, hiring managers have to ask the right questions during the interview to find them. For instance, to determine if a candidate has ambition, you can ask about specific sales goals that they have set and how they achieved them.
Sales hires who are relatively new to the industry can be an asset with solid training and support. Sales aptitude testing is considered the best way to determine if candidates have the traits to succeed in this industry. Otherwise, automotive recruiters have proven strategies for finding the qualities that are most important in sales reps.
So when you’re ready to have the recruitment team at Autopeople in your corner, give us a call at 1-800-659-9501, visit our website at www.apreport.wpengine.com or email us to discuss what Autopeople can do for you.