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There is an epidemic of failure in the payroll industry among salespeople, as 66%* of all payroll service salespeople quit or are fired in their first 4 to 12 months of employment. In fact, I saw one payroll service owner hire and fire four salespeople and one sales leader at a cost of $200,000+. By the way, each person was employed for an average of 6.4 months. Ouch!

9 Tips To Help You Avoid Hiring The Wrong Salesperson.

If you want to hire a sales professional, I have listed several tips for you to consider below.

Tip #1: Review Your Hiring Process – Before you hire a salesperson, review the following:

• What are your interviewing, reference-checking, and onboarding processes?
• What type of marketing database do you have on file for them to leverage?
• How do you plan on training the person?
• What sales reports do you want them to use (which will help you manage them)?

Tip #2: Pay A Bounty - Go to your staff, contact database, and vendors and say, “I will pay you $5,000 if you can help me recruit a salesperson.”  By the way, you will only pay the $5,000 if the salesperson produces $X in revenue in their first 12 months of employment (a lower amount based on employment/revenue produced).

Tip #3: Check References – Reference checking is critical when hiring a salesperson, as 57% of all people embellish their resumes when it comes to their “skill set,” according to a CareerBuilder.com survey.

Tip #4: Ask Their Past Employer(s) This Question - “If you had the chance, would you hire <first name> again?” Their response, or lack of an answer, will be eye-opening.

Tip #5: Look Deep Into Your Rolodex, LinkedIn Contacts, And Vendors - When you have an open sales position, reach out to your contacts to see if they know of anyone who might be interested in a sales position at your company.

Tip #6: Test Candidates On The Computer – Before you hire a salesperson, test every candidate on their ability to type, as there is a direct correlation between technology skills and sales success. 

Tip #7: Don’t Hire Salespeople Who Will Work From Home - If you can avoid it, hire a salesperson within a reasonable driving distance from your office. 

Tip #8: Develop A Formal Onboarding Process - BEFORE you hire a salesperson, make sure you have a formal onboarding process (sales training manual, sales tracking reports, databases, sales scripts, etc.). 

Tip #9: Mandatory Things To Do - BEFORE you hire a salesperson, do these two things:

1. Ask the candidate to role-play with you to test their discovery question-asking skills.
2. Ask them to give you a presentation on what they are currently selling.

About The Author:

Glenn Fallavollita is a nationally recognized keynote speaker providing money-making advice to help payroll service owners, sales pros, and marketing gurus build more profitable relationships with their database of prospects, referral partners, and clients.

Additionally, Glenn is the president of SellMorePayroll.com and Drip Marketing, Inc. and has written 50+ whitepapers and three sales/self-marketing books; Supercharge Your Payroll Sales NOW!, Stop Whining AND Start Selling, and Drip Marketing: A Powerful New Marketing Strategy That Gets Prospects To Buy From You. He also writes blogs for LinkedIn and other national websites.

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