Hiring the wrong salesperson can be costly in time and money. If you’re hiring for an enterprise sale, onboarding will take longer, which means more training is necessary. The cost of that mistake could result in a six-month gap in your pipeline. So, how to hire the perfect SDR enterprises?
You need to make sure you’re hiring the right Sales Development Representatives for your company.
If you can’t (or don’t have time to) teach them, hire for skills they already possess.
This article will discuss identifying difficult-to-teach skills and what you can do with that information to hire the perfect SDR enterprises.
Need Help Automating Your Sales Prospecting Process?
LeadFuze gives you all the data you need to find ideal leads, including full contact information.
Go through a variety of filters to zero in on the leads you want to reach. This is crazy specific, but you could find all the people that match the following:
- A company in the Financial Services or Banking industry
- Who have more than 10 employees
- That spend money on Adwords
- Who use Hubspot
- Who currently have job openings for marketing help
- With the role of HR Manager
- That has only been in this role for less than 1 year
Check all the Skills You Need
I’ve developed a remote SDR team from scratch over the past few years. In this environment, an SDR enterprise must be capable of:
Prepare for interviews by thoroughly researching the company and its people
Connect with 10-40 people in the same company, understand how they are linked together and what pain points you can help solve. Figure out if their budget will allow for your solution before moving forward.
The quarterback’s role is to pull the right people from a company to qualify leads.
The job market can be challenging for SDRs because they are usually young and dont have much experience in enterprise sales.
I developed a process to test my candidates’ skills before they are hired to solve this problem.
I cant teach my SDRs everything they need to know about the domain. I don’t have enough time or expertise.
These are skills like:
- Learning
- Researching
- Curiosity
- Convincing
- Writing
- Being passionate
In SDR enterprises, it is vital to think about the complex skills to teach before you hire someone. Once you know these skills, it will be easier for you to find a candidate who has them.
Now let’s take a look at how you can identify whether or not they have these skills.
Make Sure to Check Signals in the Resume
It takes a few months to nurture prospects and convert them into opportunities in SDR enterprises sales. I want someone with experience in the field.
I want to find someone who has been in their previous job for three years. They know how to build relationships and understand the corporate world.
Domain expertise is always a plus, but if you’re looking for young SDRs starting in the industry, it can be hard to find them because most of these people only stay with their company for one or two years.
Qualify SDR Enterprises in the Initial 30-Minutes Call
It’s hard to qualify a candidate in 30 minutes. Here are some things I look for: does the person have initiative and show passion?
I once interviewed a candidate who was shy in person. I could tell he had great potential, but it would be difficult to get him out of his shell.
He told me he and his friends started a business delivering breakfast to their neighbors. They worked out the plan budgeted for marketing, operations, etc., in just a few weeks.
Love it!
He showed me a different side of himself. He takes risks, but he also has an analytical approach to things.
I interviewed another candidate who had never even heard of FinTech, but something very unique about her. I asked her to tell me what she did for fun, and she said to me that because of the lack of healthy food options in school cafeterias, so started cooking more at home with fresh ingredients. She grew her following on Instagram by posting pictures from these recipes.
I can teach her FinTech, but not how to be articulate and charismatic.
Keep it short
It’s too much to ask a candidate for an SDR position to go through thirty minutes of interviewing with ten different managers. That would be redundant and not get at the heart of what they can do.
When you’re interviewing younger candidates, make sure to save time for them. Interviews can be stressful, and it’s important that they feel like the process is moving quickly.
Qualify SDR Enterprises Further With a Project
The next step is to prepare for the interview. Ask your top candidates to come equipped with these things:
Pitch an imaginary prospect
Let them know that we’re not looking to test their PowerPoint skills. We want them to think about how they would sell your product or service convincingly.
Assess each candidate’s research and learning skills, which you can easily do by observing their approach to new subjects.
Draft an Email
Have them develop a buyer persona and draft an email for that persona. The person doesn’t have to be correct, but it should sound convincing.
Find a Prospect
Lastly, ask them to go through LinkedIn and develop ten people they would target on the first day of work. Again, this test shows how good their research skills are.
I find that when I ask my candidates for these three things, they will typically respond with the following question: “When do you need all of this by?”
I usually let them decide.
Candidates will often ask for a few days to decide if they want the role.
This process has helped me weed out people who might not have the skills I’m looking for. It’s made my decision-making more manageable and precise, rather than relying on a conversation.
I’ve had many great initial conversations with SDR candidates, but they usually come unprepared.
The best way to find the top talent is by using this interview scorecard template.
Let’s Wrap Up
Finding a good fit for the long, complex, and expensive onboarding process of Inside sales jobs is crucial.
Your new SDR will need to learn about your company, but it won’t take them long if they have the right traits.
If you want to find a superstar enterprise SDR, look for qualified and interested people in research. Look for stories that show creativity and initiative because those will make them exceptional candidates.
Need Help Automating Your Sales Prospecting Process?
LeadFuze gives you all the data you need to find ideal leads, including full contact information.
Go through a variety of filters to zero in on the leads you want to reach. This is crazy specific, but you could find all the people that match the following:
- A company in the Financial Services or Banking industry
- Who have more than 10 employees
- That spend money on Adwords
- Who use Hubspot
- Who currently have job openings for marketing help
- With the role of HR Manager
- That has only been in this role for less than 1 year
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