Hiring outside sales reps? Best Practices & Tips

Who is an outside sales rep?

Outside sales are conducted by salespeople who physically travel to meet with potential consumers to sell goods or services. Outside of a conventional office structure or a formal team environment, outside salespeople frequently work independently. They frequently travel to meet with clients in person and to keep in touch with past clients.

What does an outside sales rep do?

An effective outside salesperson will know when to choose the best opportunity and turn it into sales. They find and qualify new clients, haggle over costs, and close sales. An excellent outside salesperson:

• Establishes connections with potential clients, keeps in touch with current ones, looks for cross-selling opportunities, and closes transactions that lead to conversions.
• Carefully monitors industry statistics, evaluates rival products, and collaborates with the marketing department to design and launch new products. 
• Educates clients on how pitching products or services can add value to their lives by answering a need or solving a problem

How to hire an outside sales representative?

1. Recognize the item you are marketing: Learn everything you can about the products or services you are selling before you begin promoting them. Although knowing a product's name, color, and other essential details is a good place to start, clients frequently have more complex inquiries regarding the goods you're selling.

Make sure you are knowledgeable on the specifics of your items, including the distinguishing features that set them apart from those of your rivals. You can find out this information by learning about the product's manufacturing process, the raw materials used to build it, or even by visiting the assembly department to find out what distinguishes your product from others.

2. Employ analysis techniques: Building strong relationships with your clientele is crucial for success in an outside sales position. This digital technology, like analytics, is possible. You can better comprehend the products that are simple to advertise in a targeted region or the territory where you can offer your goods or services by using the analysis plan. For instance, analytics can be simple and efficient when using software templates that include sales forecasts.

3. Get the right set of questions prepared: Asking the Right Questions of the Candidate Before you see someone in action, for example, it is impossible to predict how they will do in the field or when going door to door. However, there are a few crucial interview questions that astute managers use to evaluate each applicant:

• What draws your attention to sales? (creates motivation)
• What about the product appeals to you, and why do you want to sell it? (Do they consider the product in addition to themselves)
• Do you have any familiarity with our clientele? (Are they interested in and able to communicate with the people they are marketing to?)
• Assuming they have communicated their passions, product knowledge, and customer understanding in ways that demonstrate an interpersonal acumen
• Have you done a study of your competitors? (Do they know about the competition?)
• How did you handle and get through a challenging circumstance? (all about coping skills)

4. Interview the candidate with purpose: Design your interviews in a way that ensures you'll have the information and responses you require before you even begin. Hiring a salesman who meets your needs and adheres to your concept of a successful sales representative requires having clear expectations.

Not sure which traits to put on your wish list? You can read our article on great salespeople or look at these samples of questions to help you get the kind of information that will help you make a decision.

Design your interviews in a way that ensures you'll have the information and responses you require before you even begin. Hiring a salesman who meets your needs and adheres to your concept of a successful sales representative requires having clear expectations.

Not sure which traits to put on your wish list? check out the skills you need to assess while hiring an outside sales rep.

• Responsibility: Tell me about a big mistake you’ve made in the past. What did you do about it? What was the outcome?
• Being goal-oriented: What do you plan on achieving in your first 3 months of this role? What are your sales goals? How will you make sure to hit your sales quotas?
• High motivation: When was the most recent “No” you got from a prospect? What did you do next?
• Adaptability: Tell me about a time when your boss changed the sales strategy, processes or tools you used. What did you do? And what happened?
• Knowledge of the company: What is it about this company that makes you think you’d be a good fit here? What about this role makes you feel you’ll be a good salesman or woman and close deals on par with our most effective salespeople?
• Persistence: Tell me about a time you got told “No” but still ended up converting a prospect. How would you stay motivated to close deals with prospects that have long sales cycles and tons of pain points?