The Process of Hiring and Onboarding a Sales Development Representative

So, you’re looking to add an inside sales development representative to your team. You may be asking yourself, “Where do I even start?”—that is totally understandable. There’s a lot that goes into the hiring and onboarding process, especially if you’re starting from scratch. 

If hiring an inside sales representative is completely new to you, here’s what the process should look like from start to finish.

There’s a lot of talent out there—how will you find the salespeople who are the right fit for your business? These are a few of the most important things you should think about during the recruiting process when hiring inside sales representatives.

The reason for hiring someone is simple: your organization has a need, and a new position could fulfill that need. When it comes to hiring an inside sales rep, ask yourself what you’re looking for in a candidate. Brainstorm traits, experiences, and other factors that you think would be the most fitting for your organization. 

There are several traits that make salespeople successful, but here are some important ones to look for:

• Resilience
• Adaptability
• Outgoingness
• Ambitious

Once you have a plan in place for what job you want to fill and what kind of person you want to fill it, the candidate search can begin. Be decisive in your goal setting, because it’s going to be the foundation that carries you through the rest of the process. 

Is previous experience important to you? Do they need to be experts in any technology before they start? These are areas to consider as you begin writing a job description. Include keywords you’d like to see on people’s resume and/or cover letter, and don’t be afraid to add some personality to your job description! The job posting is as much of an advertisement as it is an application—you have to draw people in so you have the best pool of candidates to choose from. In other words, you have to sell to your future sales reps!

You’ve narrowed down a candidate pool. You’ve held interviews. Now it’s time to hire. Let your first choice candidates know they have a position by giving them a call or email, and make sure to follow up with a formal offer letter. Talk about salary, benefits, and other measures that are necessary upon hire, and be prepared to negotiate. 

Above all, be welcoming! Being hired is an employee’s first taste of how a company is going to treat them beyond interviews. If new hires don’t get the proper information and welcoming they deserve soon after acceptance, they might become disgruntled and leave the offer on the table.

Statistics show that employees stay with companies that have quality, enjoyable onboarding processes. Your goal is to show new hires that they made the right choice and to get them excited about the new journey they are about to embark on.

Onboarding can include a lot of different steps depending on the company, but administration typically provides company leadership videos, training modules, resources, and typical formalities you’d expect from an onboarding process. At Abstrakt, we spend a whole month training our sales representatives on our techniques and processes. They go over the scope of your work, goals, expectations, and the tools you’ll use to get there. 

To make this process smooth, make sure to formally document the steps you want to walk new hires through. Take in constant feedback and encourage them to ask questions. Keeping a consistent, organized onboarding schedule is not only helpful to staff, but also shows new hires that your company takes this process seriously. There’s a lot of complexity in a sales representative’s job, so having a smooth onboarding process can make all the difference.

Sales representatives are social butterflies at heart, so this is the part of the onboarding process that we think is the most fun. Integrating new sales rep hires into the company culture is best when it’s experienced through group activities, cool company merch, and unique traditions that make your business special. This part of onboarding delivers the “wow” factor—it significantly reduces turnover and helps establish company loyalty early on. 

Creating an experience that is personal for employees will make a world of difference in your office environment. You want to make your company a place that your employees are proud to work and building a sense of community is the first step. Once team synergy is created and everyone understands their role, onboarding has done its job—you have yourself a brand new group of inside sales reps.

This process brings in the top talent for your company and taking the time to make sure it’s done right is essential to maintaining your work environment and culture. It’s a long, thought-out, and often meticulous process that includes a lot of HR, managerial, and executive involvement. We should know—hiring inside sales representatives is our second language!

Interested in learning what it’s like to have your own outsourced sales and marketing team? You could avoid this process and save both time and money. Let’s talk → book a meeting.