How to hire top sales talent better than your competition w/ Gabriella Cuevas

Outbound Sales Lift

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Streamlining the Hiring Process (0:23)

Sales recruiting is extremely critical to any organization and necessary to get this right because your sales reps are at the forefront of your entire organization.

People forget that the interview process is a two-way street: having your elevator pitch down is necessary for an interviewee; as an interviewer, a quick, detailed, and efficient interview process.

Being empathetic, kind, and diligent with feedback goes the extra mile when closing a candidate. For a lot of the junior candidates, it's about tonality and making them comfortable.

Questioning Strategies (5:45)

Pull from behavioral questions and situational questions.

Behavioral questions revolve around the candidate's accomplishments and their storytelling ability. For example, many companies will ask the question, "tell me about a time that you have seen success."

Situational questions are good because they assess how the candidate can think on their feet and use critical thinking.

Doing your best to try to make the candidate feel comfortable is key. You don't want them so bogged up with nerves they can't answer it.

Stick to more professional examples, but if you have a great personal story that makes you who you are, make sure you keep it relevant.

"Tell me about yourself" questions are critical. You have to be able to entice that interviewer in the first 30 to 45 seconds, just like you would a prospect, and this question is often one of the first ones you're asked.

The majority of the process comes down to whether or not they can do the job. But a good 30-40% of it also assesses if a candidate can work alongside the team.

Common Mistakes (10:47)

Don't miss out on a candidate because you have FOMO. If they're a good candidate, they're going to get swooped up, so you better schedule next steps to keep them warm and engaged in the process.

Companies should always provide feedback whether they move forward or reject a candidate. This helps them in the future while allowing you to assess their coachability skills.

When an offer is made, and the manager doesn't reach out to congratulate the candidate, it doesn't feel like the offer is real since those team members aren't sharing excitement or encouragement.

Some companies only have a one-step interview process. It's rare, but an individual needs to meet at least two to three folks on the team to understand if they can work there. So ensure you have more than just a single process is key.

Role of the Recruiter (14:19)

The recruiter is the strategic matchmaker and works with candidates to figure out what they are looking for in their new professional home.

They also work with companies to determine what they want in an ideal hire, soft skills, technical skills background, etc.

Recruiters want managers to interview three to five candidates and hire one of them. So they work closely with the companies before setting up interviews to figure out their ideal candidate and process.

Trust your gut as a hiring manager and run with it. Set viable expectations and just be open to young junior people who don't have prior SDR experience because that's what the whole business model is.

Gabriella's Bio:

Director of Strategic Accounts at Vendition

I have been recruiting SDRs for the past 3.5 years

Placed over 100s of SDRs

Important Links:

Gabriella's LinkedIn Profile