High-performing employees are the backbone of any successful company. However, it can be challenging to catch one, especially with thousands of employees continuously leaving companies. It’s like finding a needle in a haystack.
More often than not, these high-performing sales candidates in Chicago bring in fresh ideas that ultimately cement the company into one of the best in the industry.
Whether you’re focused on cutting-edge fintech, revolutionary healthcare, or the fast-paced world of media and transportation, the right sales talent can unlock new opportunities and drive exponential growth.
In this article, you’ll see the unique challenges that sales recruitment in Chicago experiences, some tools and techniques for screening applicants, and how to retain high-performing sales candidates in your company.
Emerging Industries that Can Benefit from High-Performing Sales Talents
Every industry requires high-performing sales talents in one way or another. Still, with the emergence of innovative products and technologies, specific industries need those talents more than the average guy. Here are some industries where suitable sales candidates can make all the difference:
1. Finance
Sales and finance go hand in hand in helping the industry attract more clients, generate more revenue for their company, and maintain loyalty and good customer service.
Above all, high-performing Chicago sales professionals are crucial for companies slowly integrating additional technology to revolutionize everything from online payments to blockchain-based transactions. Here, sales talents are in charge of assuring clients of the quality and security of their services to help build trust between the clients and the company.
2. Media and Communications
The media is one of the first industries that has adapted since the rise of digital platforms, content creation, and streaming services. However, the one thing that has yet to change is their reliance on ads. As such, sales talents are needed more than ever to attract customers to their platforms and understand the growing trends and demands of the public.
3. Healthcare Technology
Healthcare has become a dynamic field, especially since the introduction of telemedicine, AI diagnostics, and wearable technology.
Companies wanting to emerge in this industry must have professionals who can navigate a highly regulated environment while understanding all the medical jargon of doctors and patients.
As such, they must have a deep understanding of medical technology and the ability to translate it into a language that potential clients can easily understand. They should also be able to explain the benefits of each tool to various healthcare providers.
4. AI and Machine Learning Solutions
AI is at the center of change in almost every emerging industry. However, selling AI can be challenging, particularly when the audience needs help appreciating the technology’s actual value.
That is why high-performing sales candidates in this industry must simplify complex technical concepts and paint a picture of how AI can improve productivity or customer experiences.
5. E-commerce and Logistics
The sudden increase in e-commerce has created new logistics and supply chain innovation opportunities.
With millions turning to online shopping, the need to deliver products faster and more efficiently, a demand for sales professionals was created to help convince businesses of the benefits of new logistics technologies.
These people will require knowledge about various issues, from warehousing plus storage to distribution or last-mile delivery issues.
Unique Challenges in Sales Recruitment for New Industries
Sales recruitment in Chicago, especially since challenging the industry you’re trying to sell, is less well-known than the others. All industries have the potential to grow, and one way to get there is by getting the right kind of people behind your back, but it takes a lot of work. Here are a few challenges in sales recruitment for new industries.
1. Lack of Industry-Specific Experience
Unlike well-established industries, where most job applicants flock, emerging industries don’t have that privilege because they lack industry-specific experience. For example, an emerging sector focused on AI. However, some applicants have experience in software development; they need to be more familiar with selling AI-focused products.
2. Technical Complexity
Since emerging industries are relatively new, fewer people might understand the product that you are developing because of its highly technical nature. As such, companies may need help finding sales talents who not only understand the technicalities of the industry but also can translate it so that people can understand it more.
3. Adapting to Fast-Paced Environments
Emerging industries are characterized by rapid change. New competitors appear, products evolve, and customer needs shift constantly. Sales professionals must be agile and adaptable, able to adjust their approach as the industry and company’s offerings change. This can be challenging for those who are used to selling established products in mature markets.
4. Attracting Top Talent
Naturally, job applicants flock to well-known industries because of their reputation and the security they can provide for their workers. As such, candidates with sales jobs in Chicago experience often look the other way when presented with a company from a new and emerging industry.
That’s why, aside from focusing on the product or service that they’re selling, companies need to market themselves better from the benefits that the candidate may receive, the history and idea behind the company, the potential that it might bring to the world and the career growth and security that the sales talent will receive.
5. Finding Talent with Soft and Technical Skills
Having sales candidates in Chicago with excellent communication skills is a must for any growing industry; however, when it comes to emerging industries that many still need to become familiar with, having technical skills is just as crucial. After all, they can’t sell what they can’t understand.
The Chicago sales professional’s job is to sell the product you’re developing. Hence, they need the technical skills to understand what you’re creating, the story behind it, and how it can benefit your potential clients.
Finding someone who can master both the art of the deal and the intricacies of complex products can be a tough challenge. However, no matter how hard of a challenge, balance is essential for connecting with clients with varying levels of technical expertise.
Tools and Techniques for Screening Candidates in Niche Markets
No matter what kind of industry you’re in, finding those rare, high-performing candidates might be challenging, but it’s not impossible, especially if you know the right tools and techniques to screen them. However, what exactly is candidate screening?
Candidate screening pertains to determining whether the sales candidates in Chicago you’ve set your eyes on are qualified to go through the next stage of the hiring process based on their skill set, personality, experience, and expertise.
Through this screening process, you’ll have a shortlist of qualified candidates who have the potential to work at your company and will eventually become high-performing sales talents.
The candidate screening process seeks to eliminate the majority of applicants by using various tests and documents to determine the best candidate for the job and enforce fair hiring practices.
Here’s how to ensure you’re bringing in the best candidates for your team:
1. Skills Testing
A skills test is one of the most common ways to screen sales candidates. It’s not only an economical way to determine the candidate’s skill in real-time but also helps level the playing field by providing a clear and unbiased way to verify one’s skills and expertise.
According to the Harvard Business Review, several companies in significant industries use skill testing. It helps them reduce cost and time and makes better hires by utilizing short online tests as the first step in the candidate screening process.
According to their research, it effectively weeded out the least-suitable applicants, thus leaving a smaller, better-qualified pool to proceed to the next step, which tends to be more costly and personalized in the hiring process.
2. Behavioral Interviews
Interviews are a standard step in the recruitment process as they help the HR team to know the candidate better than relying on tests. This way, they can assess how they answer and respond to challenging situations. Behavioral interviews can give the candidate insight into how they have approached similar challenges in the past.
For example, asking, “Can you walk me through a time in your career when you had to convince a difficult client to buy a new and complex product?” or “How profound were the market changes you experienced, and how did you react to them regarding your sales strategy?” sheds light to the candidate’s self-marketing and sustainable growth strategies, especially under challenging circumstances.
3. Personality Testing
Having personality tests as a part of the hiring process is a complex topic since, while professionals believe they can provide insights into how the candidate performs in the future, some consider them unreliable.
Nonetheless, it can be good to provide personality tests to help you identify their strengths and weaknesses and how they overcome such challenges, even before meeting them. DISC or Myers-Briggs personality tests are standard and free tests that companies often use
This is particularly helpful in determining whether or not a candidate has the needed grit, empathy, and motivation for a challenging sales position in the industry you want to emerge.
For instance, candidates with high assertiveness and communication skills may fit well in positions that require closing deals with C-level executives.
4. AI-Powered Recruitment Tools
AI-powered recruitment tools are on the rise with their efficient and effective screening process. From resume screening to interview scheduling, they created a seamless recruitment process through these tools.
AI-powered recruitment tools use algorithms and cross-check the resumes against any skills or experience you require, thus saving time so that you can focus more on interviewing candidates who are more likely to proceed to the next stage of the hiring process.
These tools can filter out those who need more experience and fast-track those with niche skills.
5. Trial Projects or Work Assignments
There’s no better way to determine if the candidate is suitable for the job than seeing them in action. This is a common practice among companies that invite candidates to participate in completing paid assignments and tasks for some time.
Similar to a skills test, assigning the candidates a few official tasks will show how they work, if they can do the job well, and how well they blend in with the existing team.
By allowing candidates to do a test run on their potential work, you’ll be able to quickly identify their problem-solving skills without actually committing to the likely candidate.
Retaining High-Performing Sales Talent in Fast-Growing Markets
Hopefully, after a long and tedious recruitment process, you already have a new set of Chicago sales professionals to help your company thrive. Among them, you’ll likely have high-performing sales talents, so now, your next problem is knowing how to retain them in your company.
Finding great talent is like finding a diamond in the rough; however, once other companies realize the gem you possess, they are more likely to try to steal it from you.
With millions of employees quitting their jobs every month, keeping top performers is crucial if you want your company to grow even further. Here’s how you can ensure your star players stick around:
1. Offer Competitive Salary
One of the reasons why people work is because of their salaries. After all, they say that money makes the world go around. As such, if you fail to offer a competitive salary, it’s only a matter of time before your talents start moving on to companies that provide more for the same amount of work, if not more.
It’s essential to offer a competitive salary and incentives common within the industry, such as performance-based incentives and bonuses, to keep your employees motivated, thereby achieving better results.
If you need to figure out what or how much to give your employees, don’t feel free to other companies in the industry. Research the market and look for job postings that often include the range of salaries that they offer for a particular position.
2. Invest in Ongoing Training
Aside from providing a competitive salary, you must invest in your employees by allowing them to attend continuous training to help them keep up with the latest trends and industry developments.
It also allows for further self-development that will help them hone their skills to provide you with even better results.
3. Provide Flexible Working Conditions
Since the pandemic, many employees nowadays prefer to work from home. Consider giving flexible working conditions where employees are only required to go to the office for certain days of the week, allowing them to have a better work-life balance.
Whether remote work, part-time hours, hybrid work, or flextime, your employees will surely appreciate the effort to integrate these working conditions.
After all, an employer’s commitment to an employee’s work-life balance is a testament to their trust and care for their employees, hence making them more loyal and more likely to stay within your company.
4. Provide Clear Career Paths
Employees care about their careers, so when they realize there is a lack of growth, your employees will be least likely to stay. As such, you must offer your employees a clear career path, whether by giving them more responsibility or moving them into a leadership role.
Create individualized career plans during performance reviews and set attainable milestones.
5. Focus on Employee Engagement
No employee wants to work for an employer who doesn’t care for them. As such, it’s essential to identify critical factors that can increase employee engagement to create a better workplace environment.
It’s essential to foster an efficient working environment and a nurturing one that helps, supports, and cares for employees.
Your employees will stay in your company when they feel like the company that they work for appreciates them. They are part of a family that cares for their well-being, career growth, and advancement.
Another factor that contributes to improving employee engagement is providing a feedback system. Employees want to be updated on the developments of their performances, including positive and negative criticism, which assists them in knowing the traits they need to improve on.
Find High-Performing Sales Candidates in Chicago
Whether your company is emerging from a big or new industry, identifying high-performing sales candidates is a strategic investment that can lead to long-term success. After all, it’s the employees that help a company succeed.
Companies can build sales teams that drive growth and innovation by understanding the unique needs of these industries, knowing the different screening techniques, and focusing on retention strategies.
However, it can be challenging finding employees that fit exactly what you need is not always easy. Luckily, Sales Recruiters Chicago has got you covered. Whether you’re looking for candidates with technical expertise or those who can adapt to a fast-paced environment, our team is here to help you find the perfect fit.
Are you ready to gain high-performing employees that’ll help your company succeed? Then contact Sales Recruiters Chicago today and let us help your company grow together.
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