Your small business is growing steadily and new customers are coming in, which means sales are going up, which is great.
But it’s time to bring in the big guns to start scaling exponentially.
How would you do this?
You have a few options.
You could:
- Hire your own full-time sales assistant and eventually build a sales team
- Do the lead gen yourself, which takes time.
- Hire a freelancer
- Either hire a lead generation agency like Salesbread
You should consider each of the above options before jumping into a commitment and figure out which option would be best for your business.
This article will discuss all you need to know about hiring a sales assistant, as well as:
- When it’s time to hire your first salesperson.
- How much it would cost your company
- How to choose the right candidate.
- And if outsourcing might be a better option.
(If you aren’t yet sure about the commitment that comes with hiring a full-time sales rep, Salesbread guarantees 20+ qualified leads per month, with no locked-in contracts. Read more about how our business helps you generate leads here: https://salesbread.com/the-best-done-for-you-lead-generation-service/ )
When do you know if it’s the right time to hire your first sales assistant?
Do you hire a sales assistant before you have enough leads?
Or after you have enough leads?
When is the right time to hire your first sales representative?
At Salesbread, we find that the best time to hire your first sales rep is just before you have enough leads for them.
Why?
Because if it’s your first rep, they are going to be active in the lead gen process. Very rarely will they just be closers.
Initially, they might be wearing a lot of hats; They will definitely be doing some prospecting, and some outreach. Because of this, it would be a smart idea to bring them in, just before you ramp up the sales process.
In this way, they will learn how you have been doing lead generation, and how the company has been doing lead gen, which in turn will help them to get their feet wet, so to speak.
So while you are training them, they will be learning the ropes of generating leads and by the time you are ready to tell them to start selling, they will be at a point where they are contributing their own leads to the table.
Thus they should be off and away with plenty of leads. Some leads, the sales rep will be creating themselves, and others the company will be giving them.
Another question to ask yourself is: Are you ready to dedicate enough of your time to actually build an in-house sales team?
Remember this takes commitment. Do you have the time to review all the processes that are in place, and train a team?
The reality is, that you need to know your role. If you are a very busy founder, whose calendar is fully booked for the next year, you would need to then hire someone to take over the sales role for you.
If you enjoy the sales side of things, and you have the time to build a team, that’s great.
But remember, we all have preferences. You might love tech, but hate prospecting, and the thought of training up a rep might be daunting.
And that’s okay.
Consider what you enjoy, and if you hate outreach, hire a salesperson who loves it, or an agency that specializes in lead generation.
Can you afford to hire a sales assistant?
Next, does it make sense to hire a salesperson financially? Is it in your budget to hire someone full-time?
According to recent stats published by Indeed.com, the average sales rep’s salary in the USA is $4,944 a month, which equates to $69,824 per year.
This does not include extra costs that you’re business might incur such as:
- Office equipment
- Phone lines
- Data
- Coffee/tea
- Employee benefits such as medical or life insurance
You could also consider hiring a part-time sales assistant, or a freelancer, which might be a cheaper option.
Another factor that could affect the salary of your rep is which area you live in.
For example, some of the highest paying cities in America for sales assistants are:
According to Glassdoor, a business development representative receives a 15% above average salary in San Francisco. On average, they will receive $55,985 per year based on 618 anonymous salaries submitted to Glassdoor by BDR employees across San Francisco.
If hiring a US sales rep might just be out of your budget initially, you could hire top talent from other countries such as South Africa, The Philippines, or even Mexico.
The average pay per hour is usually cheaper than what you would pay to hire a sales professional in the US. In some cases, starting salaries could be about $10 per hour for a freelancer.
But if you do decide to do this, make a list of some of the top candidates and make sure to interview them. You could also give them a trial period to see if they are a fit.
Where to find the best talent
If you are looking for a virtual sales assistant, have a look at Upwork and Linkedin.
You could then scrape Upwork for profiles that contain certain words you’re looking for. You might then be left with 20 profiles. (Upwork has various filters that you can use to filter through for the right candidates.)
You should then manually review each profile and invite the best candidates for a job interview. Another option is to filter/scrape by number of hours worked / 2000 hours worked for example.
Linkedin is also another option because you can also filter through the platform to find people to interview.
Next… How do you find the right sales assistant?
Once you have trawled various sales assistant job seeker platforms, you will then need to filter through your best candidates and interview them.
You can do this by asking some of the following questions:
“How many years of experience does the salesperson have at their previous company?”
Look for SDRs who have been at a company for at least a few years.
The reason for this is that no “middle of the road” salesperson will be able to stick it out for at least 5 years.
If they have been at a company for some time, it means that they probably enjoy what they do, and secondly, their employer must be happy with their results.
Be wary of salespeople who only stick around in their role for a few months.
“What’s the candidate’s sales experience like? Do they have experience in your market?”
You also need to think about what you are selling and who you are selling to.
For example, if you’re selling courses on how to deal with toddler tantrums, choosing an SDR who has experience in selling tech products, might not be the best fit.
Have a look at the sales candidates, and see which niches they are experienced in selling.
It would be better to choose someone who has experience selling in your market.
(Side Note: If you can’t find that special sales associate, hire someone who is willing to learn and who is teachable. If a sales assistant can adapt and learn, then this means that no matter what you throw at them, they will be willing to catch the ball.)
In this way, they will feel comfortable selling your product/service, and the amount of training that you will need to do won’t be too much because they already have an understanding of the market.
“Do they LOVE what they do?”
You can quickly pick up from a person’s Linkedin or Upwork Profile if they have a passion for their job. Sales aren’t for everyone and it requires a certain type of grit.
You would need someone who doesn’t mind getting rejected, especially if it’s telesales and someone who doesn’t give up easily.
Hiring an introvert, for example, would not be the best choice for a salesperson. In order to find out a person’s character, you could ask the candidates to complete the 16 Personalities test.
These kinds of psychological assessments can give you insight into hiring the right person.
A successful sales assistant should possess the following characteristics:
- Extroverted
- Competitive
- Positive
- Patient
- Has a good listening ear and cares about the customer’s interests.
- Assertive (This doesn’t mean pushy, but rather someone who can get to the point and stick to the facts.)
- Analytical
- Subtle (A great salesperson shouldn’t come across as pushy. They should rather focus on how the product can solve pain points for the buyer.)
Even if you do seem to find a sales assistant with these traits, it’s still important to ensure that they are teachable.
You might find an extremely driven salesperson, but if they aren’t willing to learn and grow with your company, then this could lead to issues. Being able to pivot and change is an essential trait of an excellent salesperson.
Side note: We once interviewed Lukas Mikelinich, the VP of sales from Negotiatus, and he hires ex-athletes as SDRs for their team.
You might be thinking…. This is an odd way of hiring a sales assistant.
But in truth, if you think about it, ex-athletes have many of the characteristics of good salespeople.
But what Lukas mentioned in the podcast, is that the number one quality he looks out for when it comes to a new hire is coachability.
He brings out how these ex-athletes have never sold anything in their lives and their sales pitch is usually off.
Then during the interview, Lucas will tell the candidate:
“Hey that was good but can you try saying…. XYZ next time, let’s do it again.”
So, can these candidates implement the feedback that’s been given in real-time? If they can, then you know that coachability is a trait that they have. Plus athletes have the sheer desire to win. A strong trait for any sales assistant.
Make the candidates work for the position
This might sound unfair, but a recent study according to Appcast (one of the industry’s most respected recruitment data providers,)showed that “the candidate drop-off rate for people who click ‘Apply’ but never complete an online application is a whopping 92 percent.”
You might think that the online interview process should change (which in some cases, could be easier) but how much does a person really want the job, if they aren’t willing to complete an online application?
The right salesperson will be determined enough to do what needs to be done during the interview process to get the job; Whether it’s a short paid assignment, a video interview, or even a quick sales demo with a script…
This lengthy process will scare away those who might not be the best fit. A salesperson who really wants the job will do what’s needed to get it.
These complex interviews filter out candidates who don’t have the drive needed to be SDRs.
This is especially true if you want a results-driven team because you want SDRs who have fire and zeal. You want to hire someone who won’t back down from a challenge.
Offer a trial between 1 and 3 months
Once you have chosen your top sales assistant, it’s important to mention a trial time. It could be one month, or 3…
Within this time, they should be able to show their communication skills, their customer service skills, and whether or not they are an ideal fit for your business.
This trial also allows them to see if they enjoy working for you too.
If a sales assistant is still struggling to grasp your business after 3 months, they might not be the best fit for your company.
Remember to be fair
There is a massive debate going on at the moment on social media about whether or not employers should post salary information in a job description.
Some feel it’s important because this allows the candidates to choose whether they would like to apply for the job or not.
This is still your choice at the end of the day, whether you would like to include a pay range, but if you want to keep top talent, especially if they are an excellent employee, it’s important to pay the best that you can afford.
This will also help the new salesperson feel valued. It will make them want to stick around and work with you for years to come. Because employees start looking around for other jobs when they don’t feel valued for their hard work. A fair salary with an epic work culture is where it starts.
We aren’t living in the Stone Age anymore, and studies show that “almost all employees (93 percent) who reported feeling valued said that they are motivated to do their best at work and 88 percent reported feeling engaged. This compares to just 33 percent and 38 percent, respectively, of those who said they do not feel valued. Among employees who feel valued, just one in five (21 percent) said they intend to look for a new job in the next year (vs. 50 percent of those who said that they do not feel valued).”
Should you hire a sales assistant?
If you feel like you’re ready to take on the responsibility of a full-time sales assistant, that’s great; but if you aren’t yet ready, think about outsourcing your lead generation to a company like Salesbread.
Why?
Here are some of the main reasons why our clients choose us, instead of hiring a full-time sales rep initially:
- We are more affordable than hiring a full-time sales rep.
- Salesbread won’t lock you into a contract to secure your business. Instead, our results speak for themselves, leading to customer satisfaction, which is why our clients stay with us.
- We guarantee 1 qualified lead per day (minimum), which amounts to 20+ leads per month.
- Salesbread builds ultra-refined lists of even some of the hardest target audiences, hence our 1 lead per day guarantee.
- We offer expert copywriting that includes personalization in our Linkedin outreach. We also follow up in real-time, meaning that we don’t automate everything.
- Salesbread offers a multi-channel approach to generating leads. (This means that if your ideal prospect isn’t responding on Linkedin, we will reach out to them via email or SMS.)
- You will get to work along with the founder of Salesbread directly, who has over a decade of lead generation experience.
- If you would like us to book appointments for you, we can do this too. All you have to do is show up to the sales call.
- Once you have enough leads in your pipeline, we can halt the campaigns, and teach you how to do lead generation yourself, meaning you can then start your own in-house sales team.
Here is what some of our clients have to say:
If this sounds good to you, let’s hop on a free 15-minute consultation call, or read this article to see exactly how we partner up with our clients.