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Having too few salespeople may be your problem. You can’t make your number without the proper headcount, and you can’t cover all the opportunities in your territory without the human capital necessary. You may want to hire fast, and you may want to hire right now. And there are a lot of people right now who need jobs. Some of these people may even pretend to be salespeople in order to get work.

But hiring non-sales people for a sales role is a mistake. I’m not writing about hiring people without sales experience. If you have the ability to train and develop sales people there’s nothing wrong with hiring people without sales experience.

What I’m writing about here is hiring people who don’t really believe that they’re sales people. They don’t enjoy the work of selling. They don’t love the challenge of winning a new client. They don’t love the challenge of opening a relationship with a prospective client, creating enough value to win their business, and eventually acquiring a new client.

They don’t love the chase. They don’t love the hunt. And they don’t love the hustle.

Some of these people may have worked in roles that they considered sales, but roles in which the clients came to them. Like retail. These people are perfectly comfortable in sales–without the opportunity acquisition component and without the “asking for commitments” component. If that’s the kind of salesperson you need, fine, hire them.

But if you truly need hunters, the sales people who can acquire opportunities for your business, then hiring non-salespeople will only give you the false comfort that you have your headcount and that you can make your goals. But you can’t. And you won’t.

It’s difficult to find hunters. It’s tough to building a salesforce that can acquire opportunities. It takes longer, too. But it’s the fastest path to growing your revenue. Anything that feels easier, is probably wrong. Take your time. Hire well. And then work like crazy to coach, to train, and develop your sales hunters.

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Sales 2013
Post by Anthony Iannarino on August 29, 2013

Written and edited by human brains and human hands.

Anthony Iannarino

Anthony Iannarino is an American writer. He has published daily at thesalesblog.com for more than 14 years, amassing over 5,300 articles and making this platform a destination for salespeople and sales leaders. Anthony is also the author of four best-selling books documenting modern sales methodologies and a fifth book for sales leaders seeking revenue growth. His latest book for an even wider audience is titled, The Negativity Fast: Proven Techniques to Increase Positivity, Reduce Fear, and Boost Success.

Anthony speaks to sales organizations worldwide, delivering cutting-edge sales strategies and tactics that work in this ever-evolving B2B landscape. He also provides workshops and seminars. You can reach Anthony at thesalesblog.com or email Beth@b2bsalescoach.com.

Connect with Anthony on LinkedIn, X or Youtube. You can email Anthony at iannarino@gmail.com

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