The Third Step in Hiring Is to Ensure Candidates Will Follow up on IT Leads!
You can execute the perfect sales pitch to your IT leads, offer them a competitive rate, and still not close the deal. Oftentimes, the problem lies in a lack of persistence. If your sales team lacks persistence, they will let potential clients slip through their fingers. The best salesmen follow up. Though some sales gurus claim it’s necessary to follow up half a dozen times or more, some instances merely require one or two follow ups in order to make a clear distinction between the merit of your services and those of your competitors.
Put Your Sales Applicants to the Test
An interview of a sales professional is markedly different from that of any other position. After all, salespeople should be used to selling themselves. If such an individual allows you to steer the course of the interview and end it without any sign of an attempt to close you, don’t hire him!
The best sales professionals pounce on the opportunity to close a prospect. In this instance, you’re the prospect and the sales professional is attempting to sell you his labor. Don’t direct him toward making the close. Let him find the opening and attempt to convince you that he’s the man for the job. If he successfully closes you, there’s a good chance he can do the same with actual target clients.
Find the “Follow-uppers”
Don’t hire a sales professional who fails to follow up with you after the interview. A failure to follow up is a sign of disinterest, laziness, or a sign that the candidate hasn’t perfected his craft. A real salesperson will put forth the effort to follow up, whether it’s with a snail-mailed thank you card, an e-mail, a phone call, or through another method.
Consider the candidate’s post-interview behavior as the first example of how he’ll conduct himself on the job. A lack of a follow-up in the aftermath of an interview is a clear sign that he will fail to follow up with target clients.
Don’t Let Persistent Sales Professionals Hop On Board With Your Rivals!
Persistent sales professionals who make their intentions clear, go for what they desire, and conduct themselves in a proactive manner are exactly what you need to score clients. If a candidate is persistent with you, he’ll likely act in a similar manner when it comes to securing target IT leads for the business.
If a sales candidate aces his interview and follows up with you in a reasonable amount of time, don’t drag your feet when it comes to making an offer. Hire him as quickly as you can. There’s always the chance that he’ll accept a position with one of your competitors if you play the waiting game.
About our Contributor
Jennifer Holmes is President of MIS Solutions and a Georgia native who, after graduating from Georgia Tech, became an accomplished research virologist at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in Atlanta. In 2000, Jennifer hung up her lab coat to join husband Lliam at MIS Solutions as President.
In the past 16 years, she has led the MIS Solutions team to become the leaders in Metro Atlanta IT Support. MIS Solutions, Inc. is on a mission to provide managed IT services to Atlanta businesses to help them grow and support their businesses. MIS Solutions provides a wide range of IT services to Atlanta-based businesses and, combined with Jennifer’s passion for sharing effective business strategies with her clients, they are able to deliver the best IT support solutions for each client’s unique environment in Atlanta.
In 2013, Jennifer’s leadership and marketing skills won her the title of Spokesperson for the nationally acclaimed Technology Marketing Toolkit, an industry group of over 550 top U.S. She is a graduate of the Leadership Gwinnett program and has acted on the boards of the National Association of Women Business Owners’ Atlanta chapter, Gwinnett Great Days of Service, the Buford/North Gwinnett Rotary Club and the Gwinnett Chamber’s Technology Board.
