For the third part in my recurring series of post on hiring web hosting sales talent, I wanted to consult an expert on the recruitment of sales professionals. David Forsyth is an IT Sales Recruiter with The Innovar Group in Colorado www.innovargroup.com, they are one of the fastest growing sales recruitment firms in the country (#198 in the last Inc! 500). I find it is often beneficial to use a recruiter when looking for sales talent; they have strong networks of candidates and copious amounts of time to dedicate to finding the right type of person for the position.
Stacy – How do you find good candidates?
David – The key to finding good, rock solid sales talent is twofold. When given a new job requirement to work on, the first step in attracting talent is looking for passive candidates via social networking sites including LinkedIn, Facebook, Plaxo, etc. The second step is reaching out to sales leaders in the area who work in the appropriate space as they have managed these reps and know a high producer from an average rep.
Stacy – When working with recruiters what type of information is important for me to provide to the recruiter?
David – I have the most success when a hiring manager will designate some substantial time to an initial call whether it be 30 minutes to one hour so I am able to hone in on the skills the manager is looking for in candidates. In addition, it is important for a hiring manager to make themselves available throughout the hiring process for any questions, concerns, or issues that might arise as the search progresses. A pet peeve of mine is when a manager will give me a 5 minute run down on the job requirement and his or her company and expect me to bring them A talent.
Stacy – How can I find a good recruiter?
David – Similar to a recruiter looking for solid sales candidates, I would highly recommend plugging into your social network. Ask your peers in the industry who they would recommend or do a search on a site like LinkedIn and plug in key words such as Sales, Recruiter, Virtualization and see who comes up. If a profile looks compelling, take a look at the recruiter’s references and see what other candidates and hiring managers have to say about their work.
Stacy – How can I identify a good candidate from their resume?
David – While a resume isn’t the end all, be all document – that it is sometimes made out to be, hone in on specific highlight’s on the candidate’s resume that appeal to what you are looking for in a candidate. In sales candidates, if there is no mention of President’s Club, quota achievement, etc., it tells me that they are not a top performer. Also, having a consistent work history is also a key indicator. While virtually every person has a few bad jobs throughout their career, it is a major red flag is someone has had 5 jobs in 5 years.
Stacy – In your opinion what is the most important factor in determining if a candidate succeeds or fails in a position?
David – The one factor that determines whether a sales candidate is successful or not, in my opinion, is consistent performance over a stretch of time. For example, while many reps are struggling to hit their numbers given the current economic conditions, it is expected that many won’t hit their numbers. However, if they have consistently hit their numbers 7 out of the last ten years, it proves they have the chops to perform over time.
About Stacy Griggs
Stacy Griggs is Sr. Director of Customer Experience for Cbeyond Cloud Services , previously Stacy was the Vice President of Sales for MaximumASP which was acquired by Cbeyond in 2011. Cbeyond (NASD-CBEY) is a publicly traded provider of telecommunication and cloud services, which has been recognized by Microsoft at its 2009 Worldwide Hosting Partner of the Year and 2010 Hyper-V Cloud Provider of the Year. Prior to Cbeyond Stacy held a series of positions at Hosting.com including Chief Sales Officer, Chief Service Officer and General Manager for their flagship Delaware data center.
Stacy has led several information technology services companies over the last 15 years. He was a Managing Director for KForce a $1 Billion publicly traded professional services firm. At KForce Stacy managed 5 business units that collectively generated $18 Million in revenue and had 140 employees. Prior to KForce Stacy was a Vice President and part-owner of Diamond Technologies, an 80 employee custom software development firm. Previously Stacy held management positions at TMP Worldwide, the University of Pennsylvania, and Humana.
Through his theWHIR blog, Stacy will touch upon sales and service in the Web hosting space, web hosting events, cloud computing and industry trends.
No related posts.
