Kathy Hammond

Is Your New Sales Hire Ready for a Recession?

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The Holy Grail in talent acquisition is time-to-hire as the longer a position stays open, the greater the loss for the employer – revenue, customer confidence … you name it. But this isn’t the only important metric. With a concern of a recession, closing the gap on time-to-productivity can also help recession-proof your new sales hire.

Let’s consider the financial expectations of a new sales hire with an annual quota of $1.2M. The Aberdeen Group finds the average time to productivity is 3.6 months. But wait! That doesn’t mean beginning the third week of the fourth month of employment a new sales hire hits their stride. No, this just means they’re beginning to be productive with “productive” meaning many things – first sale, first presentation, etc. What it likely doesn’t mean is a sales manager logging $100K in the win column in Month 4.

Now, let’s consider a 2020 recession. If your average time-to-hire for a sales role is 30 days and you fill the role in November 2019, 3.6 months would have the rep becoming productive mid-March 2020. This running start would allow the rep the time to create momentum with customers that could carry them through a recession. Delaying a hire could place a rep in the middle of a recession where traction may be difficult to achieve.

Depending on the value of the sales position, a reduction of even 10% in time-to-productivity could cover the recruiting cost, save a customer, generate unexpected revenue and sustain business through an economic downturn. A business leader would be happy with any of these outcomes.

To set-up a new sales rep for success, following are five strategies to get a jump on a recession:

1.  Utilize proven tools to shorten the hiring process.

You don’t need to interview 20 people for the job. You only need to talk to the top two or three candidates. How do you narrow applicants? Use a competency model, administer validated pre-employment tests, use structured behavioral interviews, ask candidates the process they used to win a sale, check candidate references, train hiring managers to interview or, alternatively, hire a specialized recruiting agency to do the heavy lifting.

2.  Ensure the new sales hire has the tools they need beginning Day One.

This means computer, phone, business cards, product samples, system logins, employee phone/email list, credit card, company car, customer list, etc. For necessary HR forms, send them to the new hire in advance of their first day and have the employee bring them with them on Day One. Provide new hires with a training schedule, co-worker introduction meetings or meet-and-greet, and a written, detailed onboarding plan. Talent acquisition professionals can provide managers with a checklist, ordering assistance and set-up internal meetings in advance of a new hire’s first day.

This shows the new hire you have your act together, and we know how first impressions set expectations, they can get up-to-speed quickly to start selling and they’re not chewing up your payroll without any return while waiting for tools. On my first day at one employer, the hiring manager was hours late to work, no one knew where I was supposed to go and HR was in another city so not much help. It then took nearly one month (at a hefty monthly salary, no less) to provide me with a laptop and phone just to get me started. That set the tone for our relationship.

3.  Clean up your CRM or get an attack plan in place.

How much time would it take for a new sales rep to scour hundreds or thousands of CRM records to see if there are any viable leads for them to pursue? A lot. What does that cost your company? A lot. How about the cost to build a territory? A lot more.

Appoint an SDR, admin or hire a temp to clean-up CRM records before bringing in the big sales gun. Handing over a near-pristine CRM with updated contact information and real opportunities can shave months off a new rep’s time-to-productivity, saving the company thousands of dollars in salary, benefits and lost opportunities; lost opportunities because if a rep is cleaning up a CRM, they aren’t selling. A clean CRM is also a big selling point for any sales professional worth their salt.

If you’re short on leads, at least be prepared with a go-to-market plan to give your new hires a starting point. It’s not a new rep’s responsibility to devise your company’s sales strategy.

4.  Kick-start customer relationships.

It takes time for a new rep to build trust, even if the customer is known to the company. A manager can short-cut trust-building time with introductions and a customer dossier. This gives the rep a head start on how they can solve problems and sell their solution. A former employer introduced me to key clients in my first two weeks on the job. Within 60 days, I acquired 400 additional locations at one client, up from only six, I re-wrote a contract for another client to extend services three years and acquired a national retail client because my manager provided background and made introductions.

This may require that support staff not purposely or inadvertently thwart a new rep’s relationship building efforts. This often happens when a sales position has been vacant and others have taken up the charge. To protect their “turf”, support staff may not be forthcoming with vital information or not realize how their actions impact a rep’s ability to sell, grow and manage a customer.

5.  Calculate a real sales ramp-up time.

You can’t manage what you don’t measure. To understand where to make adjustments in onboarding a new rep, calculating ramp-up time is a necessity as there’s a big difference in productivity expectations between a 90-day and 1-year sales cycle, for example. I’ve witnessed many companies that didn’t understand their ramp-up time dismiss great employees too early or keep under-performing employees too long. All missteps are costly. Getting a handle on this metric shows how sales training/coaching, sales rep experience, territory/customer distribution or other can improves time-to-productivity. After all, hiring a new rep is only half the job.