There is no business without sales, and it goes without saying, there are no sales without excellent field sales executives. Field sales executives occupy the centremost position in an industry and give life to an organization.

Simply put, sales executives are essential for a functioning business and there should be no mistake in hiring them. Having said this, it is high time to create a strategic plan to assess and hire field sales executives.

Recently Harvard Business reported that the rate of turnover on sales teams is 27% higher than the overall labor force.

In addition, businesses in the US spend more than $15 billion yearly on training new salespeople to take the position of employees who have left. It becomes obvious that excessive sales team attrition has a major negative impact on an organization's bottom line when you include in the lost income these salespeople would have been bringing in.

Enough about the negatives, here in this article we tell you how to assess and hire field sales executives to save you from all the drama.

Who are Field Sales Executives?

Field sales executives often manage product and service sales by visiting different locations within a predetermined zone to meet potential consumers and pitch them various products and services.

These experts typically work for companies where part of their duties include ensuring the widespread sale and distribution of a variety of goods and services.

Field Sales Executive Roles & Responsibilities

Building business by identifying and selling prospects; maintaining relationships with clients.
Identifying business opportunities by shortlisting prospects and evaluating their position in the industry; researching and analyzing sales options.
Selling products by establishing contact and developing relationships with prospects; recommending solutions.
Maintaining relationships with clients by providing support, information, and guidance; researching and recommending new opportunities; recommending profit and service improvements.
Identifying product improvements or new products by remaining current on industry trends, market activities, and competitors.
Preparing reports by collecting, analyzing, and summarizing information.
Maintaining quality service by establishing and enforcing organization standards.
Maintaining professional and technical knowledge by attending educational workshops; reviewing professional publications; establishing personal networks; benchmarking state-of-the-art practices, and participating in professional societies.
Contributing to team effort by accomplishing related results as needed.

Salary Trend of Field Sales Executives

According to Talent, the average field sales executive salary in the USA is $80,000 per year or $38.46 per hour. Entry-level positions start at $54,337 per year while most experienced workers make up to $137,544 per year.

How to Assess a Field Sales Executive?

Almost 50% of organizations claim that they do not have the right sales talent in place.
This is because there are no proper pre-employment assessments carried out before hiring candidates. Assessing a candidate from top to bottom is important to make the best hire for your organization.

Initially, setting up a few sales-related questions will sieve out the top candidates from the large pool. These top candidates can then be minutely assessed to hire the right fit for your organization.

Hiring managers or recruitment teams can assess a field sales executive candidate on the following criteria:

Logical Reasoning and Analytical Ability Tests

A basic logical reasoning test tells whether a candidate is able to make logical arguments and what is their thought process during the entire hiring process.
An analytical ability test measures the critical thinking and problem-solving abilities of the candidate. These assessments help the hiring manager to gauge the candidate based on their soft skills.

Communication Skill Assessment Test

Communication is crucial for a sales executive. Assessing the candidates for excellent verbal and written communication skills can give you an insight into the overall personality of the applicant.
An applicant with good communication skills along with a command of the language can persuade the customer easily. Basic email etiquette is also necessary to check as field sales executives have to interact or follow up with their customers over email frequently.

Psychometric Test and Sales Skill Test

Psychometric tests help in quantifying the soft skills and the sales skills of the candidate. These tests reveal the actual strengths and weaknesses of the applicant.
Artificial intelligence is creeping into our lives slowly but making a deep impact every day. All these pre-employment assessments are now available on the web and can be customized according to your needs and help you to pick the best field sales executive for your organization.

Tips to Hire a Superstar Field Sales Executive

It can be a daunting task to assess and hire field sales executives. What may look like a full charismatic personality might be a facade hiding a shy and prudent candidate. Of course, you cannot judge a candidate based on their looks only, gauging their technical and soft skills is another important part of the hiring process.

While you can judge the skills of a candidate using pre-employment skill assessments, you might want to consider these tips for effective hiring.

Post attractive Job Descriptions

Create an effective guideline for writing job descriptions that apply to every position. But a few tiny details can attract the sales executives to your job posting, such as:

Tone of the JD: Most salespeople are enthusiastic and goal-oriented. A field sales executive is more likely to be interested in a job description that uses a lot of active verbs and enthusiastically describes a range of duties.

Mention Important Details: Salespeople place a high value on professional development and workplace culture, according to a study by Glassdoor. In your job description, be specific about the career path for the position and describe your company's culture.

Be transparent: Job postings that exclude a company's name, location, or other crucial information are probably going to fall short of what prospects are hoping for. Tell them what they need to know in an honest manner.

Get Referrals

In any line of work, referred employees are frequently the best hiring. The same is true with field sales executives. Experienced sales managers or directors are likely to be familiar with several excellent applicants they have previously worked with. Departmental team members may also have some useful connections.

Advertise on Niche Job Boards

Although popular job boards like Indeed, LinkedIn, and Monster can help you locate excellent prospects, you should also check out job boards that are specifically focused on sales skills. Your job opportunities may be seen by the appropriate candidates if you use more focused job adverts on job boards like SalesHeads and SalesGravy.

Approach the Candidates Effectively

Reaching out to salespeople on social media is the most successful sales recruitment method, according to a survey of sales experts. Many potential leads can be found via sourcing through social media platforms like LinkedIn, Twitter, and Facebook.

Since cold calling is a requirement of their position, salespeople are also inclined to respond positively to it. Therefore, once you get their phone number or email address, you should contact them.

Final Thoughts

The success of all employment tactics for a sales process varies on its effective execution and monitoring. These tips will surely help employers to fix the loopholes of shortlisting and selecting the most suitable field sales executive and make the procedure more efficient.

The primary goal is to proactively find the approach and acquire the ideal sales executive for your company.

How To Assess And Hire Field Sales Executives?