Olaf Kaiser, owner of Kaiser Consulting GmbH, has hired, managed and upskilled hundreds of sales employees during his career and learned a few things along the way. For one, hiring the wrong salesperson can be worse than hiring no one and hiring the right one is both an art and a science.
Kaiser will detail his experiences during a session at the GTIA DACH Community Meeting, 13 November in Berlin, where he will provide specific implementation tips for anyone who wants to be successful with more employees in sales. We asked him how MSPs and ITSPs can improve their sales hiring practice, and what qualities to look for in candidates. Here’s what he had to say.
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When should MSPs start hiring sales staff/adding them to their team?
In my experience, it is advisable to always recruit actively, even when the delivery teams are working at full capacity. The duration from the start of the recruitment process to the achievement of the first sales results is approximately 9 months to 1 year, so it is always helpful to keep an eye out for suitable candidates.
What makes a good, successful salesperson?
First of all, what does not make a successful salesperson: Always be closing the deal. The classic habits of the past do not fit in with today's truly helpful measures and skills. It is much more about empathy and consulting, even in the role of a salesperson. Due to the complexity of both the problems and the possible solutions there is no easy product selling anymore but a true understanding of the needs and problems behind the outspoken problems is needed.
Why is it difficult for MSPs to hire a salesperson/key account manager?
Because they haven't done it in the past and don't know how to hire the employee who is best suited to their needs. And secondly, because of the growing competition for sales and marketing employees. Most MSP executives come from the technical side of the business and therefore find it easier to assess technical skills and competencies than sales knowledge. The easiest way to optimize your questionnaire is to ask about the sales achievement the candidate is most proud of and the reason behind it.
Where do MSPs go wrong when hiring salespeople and why?
They hire employees with a lot of hope and good faith, but also with a lack of knowledge about what to ask the applicants. Hiring the wrong person costs you more than waiting for the right one. Sales employees are usually at the top end of the salary scale, and it takes months to recognize a bad hire. Therefore, making a wrong hiring decision is costly and not easy to correct.
What important qualities or things should MSPs look for when hiring a sales employee?
During the hiring process, you can only consider a few hard facts and have to rely on your gut feeling. But in the first three to six months, you need to have clear expectations and real-world tasks that your new sales employee must fulfill. One concrete idea for seeing the new sales representative in action is to assign them five existing customers with specific requests for quotes. You can only recognize the qualities of new employees when they are confronted with real tasks in practice.
Learn more about the GTIA DACH Community.
