With our structured interview process and proprietary candidate evaluation process, Bandalier’s recruiting team has become experts at connecting with the top 2% of talented sales candidates from across the U.S. However, the hiring process can present a plethora of challenges for companies that need to fill roles fast. Speedy hiring can lead to mistakes – according to a 2017 CareerBuilder survey, 74% of employers state that they’ve selected the wrong person for a role at least once.
To hire the right sales development representatives for your team, follow these four tips:
Review Your Team’s Success
Before hiring a new remote sales development representative, consider the qualities that have driven success for your existing team members. If you have an existing sales team, consider what traits have made them most successful. If you’re preparing to hire your first remote SDR, think about what traits your other team members exhibit, and how those traits will impact an SDR’s work. In doing so, you’ll establish a clear framework for evaluating candidates.
Bandalier’s best SDRs have been folks who are naturally curious. If your new team member needs to dig deep to find prospects’ pain points, natural curiosity and great communication skills will help them ramp up faster. If your team is going to target enterprise sales, you’ll need a patient, organized team member who understands how to build value throughout the sales process.
Follow a Structured Interview Process
Whether you’re bringing your first or tenth remote SDR on board, using a structured interview process will help you evaluate new candidates. Before you start interviewing candidates, outline a few key questions that you’ll ask every candidate. Create a rubric that will guide your evaluation of each candidate’s responses. When you ask those questions, make sure you phrase them the same way during each interview. In doing so, you’ll be positioning yourself to understand how each candidate is likely to perform.
Once you’ve developed the structure of your interview process, introduce optional questions. These questions may help you dive deeper into the candidate’s responses, or they may help you explore different qualities in each candidate. As you introduce new questions, be mindful of how they may impact interview results.
Define the Role
Before bringing your new remote SDR on board, meet with your current team members. Discuss where your new team member will fit within the team. Outline what is expected of them, and who they can work with when they run into obstacles.
This step is especially important if you’re onboarding your first sales team member. Great SDRs will ask great questions during the interview process, and you’ll need to be prepared to answer them.
Connect with Proven Performers
If you need to scale your team fast, connect with proven performers. Look for a talent partner like Bandalier that can help you find the perfect candidate for your growing team. You can learn more about our direct hire process by contacting us today.
