The Bridge Group is a SaaSsales consulting firm that we hold in very high regard. They release outstanding sales data which canbe found at their site, bridgegroupinc.com. We recently reviewed their “Sales Hiring Hourglass” which is primer onhiring B2B sales talent. It’s well worththe read, and below I summarize some of the big take-aways.
Change the message. Attract more of theright people by speaking to ‘What’s In It For Them’. Focus less on what you’re looking for andmore so on why the candidate should consider you.
Sell the job. “A job descriptionshould sell the job. If you can’t capture attention and interest, the fineprint is irrelevant. This is salescontent. You’ll be selling the sizzle, while every other hiring manager will bedocumenting the chemical makeup of the steak. Job descriptions should leavecandidates with just one impression: this is the place to advance my career.”
Stop describing the ugly parts. For instance, whenhiring and SDR, “calling out scheduling 7 demos a week or 100+ dials a day is amajor turnoff.” Instead focus on theexcitement at your firm like mentioning big name customers, and describe thepromotion trajectory and career track for the candidate. Give a sense of the great things that arepossible for the company AND the candidate.
Instagram. Great young talentlives on Instagram. “When it comes toattracting recent college grads (and early career talent), Instagram is targetrich.” The best recruiting is still doneat university specific recruiting events, but a 60 second video on Instagramcan be very powerful.
Targeting. What are thebackgrounds of some of your best reps? Where did they go to school? Where dothey spend time? Focus your targeting on the characteristics of your best reps.
The landing page. Don’t hitcandidates with a wall of text job description. Incorporate pictures of your work place, highlight some of the greatemployees that will mentor them, and other employees that are currently verysuccessful in the same role. Get quotesfrom your team members talking about the company’s opportunity, career path, andwork environment.
Streamline the application process. Don’t make acandidate fill out a bunch of fields, set up a username and PW, or go throughmultiple pages. The best ones wont dothat. Each additional step or fieldcreates friction. If you’ve got morethan 5 fields or multiple pages to click through, you’re over doing it. Once candidates submit their resume and fillout their 5 fields (which include name, contact info, and maybe 1 or 2questions tops), you can email them and ask them to fill out a survey if youmust have some proof of real interest.
Five steps. Your hiring processshould have only the following steps: application + survey, phone screen, phone interview,on-site interview, shadow/mock presentation.
Phone screen. This shouldn’t bedone by you, but rather by HR or talent specialist. The call is quick and the goal is to find redflags (reasons for job change, what they want in a role, etc), not evaluateskills.
Phone interview. This is where youcome in. For many sales roles, this iscritical because most sales roles live on the phone.
On-site interview. You and your teamdo this, so once you’ve set up all those meetings, the candidate may be on sitefor a few hours if not half a day. One-on-one interviews with your team members are far superior to groupinterviews. If you want them to do some take-home work, now is the time to giveit to them.
Shadow. For candidates youknow you want, have them shadow one of your current employees for an hour.
Score the candidate. After the on-siteinterviews, the feedback from your employees cant be “I liked her,” it needs tobe quantitative. Use a scorecard with a1 to 4 scale rating for the characteristics you’re looking for. 1 to 10 is too many and just a “yes” or “no”is too restrictive.
Two weeks from application to offer. The entire processmust take no longer than 2 weeks. Thebest candidates get snapped up too fast for the process to take longer. “If you want A-players to choose you, youneed to move quickly. I prefer the offerto come from either the CEO or the VP of Sales—as high as you can go. This is afinal opportunity to make the candidate feel special. Just like with jobdescriptions, add some personality and sizzle to the offer letter. It is asales tool, and until the candidate signs on the dotted line, you are still inselling mode.”
Don’t lose candidates. Once someoneaccepts the offer, you need to continue selling them because once they put intheir two weeks, they have 24+ days including weekends to change theirmind. Have your current employeesconnect on LinkedIn, send them swag, send over an orientation agenda, andfinally email them 3 days prior sharing your excitement to have them join. Perhaps send them a pic of their desk.
Recycle candidates. If a candidate tookanother offer or decided not to leave their job, don’t be jilted. Keep them in the funnel for future hiring andcircle back. “If a candidate tookanother offer and find they regret it, most won’t come crawling back. But ifyou’ve stayed in touch and (refrained from salting the earth), you can pickright back up where your hiring process left off.”
Incentivize referrals. “In terms oflower-cost and higher-quality, referral recruiting can’t be beat.” Pay for valid applications submitted, notjust hiring success. “Think of yourreferral process as you would qualified appointment setting. If an SDR sets ameeting that meets the proper criteria, they’ve done their job—whether or notthe deal ever closes. When generating referrals, the goal is the same: putqualified candidates in front of hiring managers.” One idea for paying for applications: “Each month,reps who referred candidates get their names in a hat. On the 1st, draw for theprevious month. Perhaps last month’s winner is ineligible. Or maybe multiplereferrals mean multiple chances to win. You can work out the fine print. But two factors are critical. One, everymonth someone wins something significant. Two, there’s a short lag time betweenaction (referral) and reward (the drawing).”
Forced referrals. “When a new rep hasbeen in the role for roughly three months, I tell them that tomorrow we aregoing to sit together for twenty minutes. And that tonight, I’m going to gothrough all their LinkedIn connections and find people that are early on intheir careers at good
companies. I’ll build a listthat we’re going to go through together.”
Rely on alumni. “A real bottleneckis getting the right people. Our Alumni, because of the way
we fast-tracked their careers,refer younger siblings, roommates, and friends. A very high percentage of ourhires are referrals. Our alumni continueto serve as advocates for the company and the program. They are an ongoing recruitment marketing resource. When we'reinterviewing people, I like to tell them, ‘I challenge you to go find anotherhiring manager who's going to truly care what you're doing three, four, fivejobs from now. I will because you'll continue be an ambassador for theprogram.”
The full report is well worththe read and has charts and graphs for every metric. Again visitbridgegroupinc.com to get it.
Thank you for your readership. Seemore blogs and SaaS data at blossomstreetventures.com. Email the author atsammy@blossomstreetventures.com.