If you want to successfully recruit top Software Sales New Business Sales Executive's, here are some useful pointers to ensure that you capture and hold their attention during the recruitment process:

Be clear.

Top sales candidates will only move if they feel confident in their future employer. So as a hiring manager you need to build confidence by clearly laying out why the position is open, what the hiring timeline is, and importantly, why the role is desirable. Detail what the position entails (i.e. territory, quotas, expectations, obstacles, opportunities etc.) and describe in detail what you have to offer a new recruit. Be specific as new hires are more likely to give your company serious consideration.

Compensation always matters.

Unsurprisingly, if you are under-paying you will have a hard time attracting top sales talent. You'll need to be at market levels to compete for their employment. If on target earnings numbers are low, you'll need to emphasize the possibility of quota over-achievement, or you'll need to rethink your compensation strategy. Ask software sales specialists, like Harvey Thomas, for insight into the current market remuneration levels.

However, flexibility with travel and work / home life balance are increasingly valued by top talent and can be useful in creating an attractive offer.

Build rapport and trust.

As their potential direct manager you should have the largest stake in the process and should be invested in building a connection at the outset – starting with the first phone call. This is the best time to bond with top talent. Find out what their goals and aspirations are – don't just focus on your needs during the hiring process.

Also give them a taste of the role by sharing performance results. Sales professionals like to understand what the rest of the team are experiencing. It helps them imagine themselves in the role and envision the possibilities of working for your organisation. Share details of recent wins which demonstrates success and helps to make them feel like they are already part of the action.

Best Practice for Recruiting a Top Hunter
In our experience we find that savvy software vendors that are able to successfully recruit the best Hunters often:

– review their recruitment strategy and constantly look for ways to improve the candidate's experience.

– they work with specialist Saas sales recruiters like Executive Talent to ensure they have access to an extensive personal network of the best hunters – most of which are not actively looking for their next role.

– are aware that the speed of the process is important, and that drawn out processes involving multiple interviews pose the risk of losing talent to organisations that can move to the offer stage more quickly.

– they also take into account the impact that lengthy notice periods have on recruitment when planning their next hire.

Can you send me a Job spec? It's a question that is asked by most potential candidates when discussing a new job opportunity and, for most, it is the first point of introduction to a potential new employer.

Yet there are many organisations who don't see the importance of a highly engaging and attractive job spec and still use age old generic documents written as an afterthought.

For those looking to create an appealing job description, here are 10 tips you may want to consider.

1. Put some thought into it ! The job spec should ideally be written by the hiring manager and should not be a standard template where you make small changes relating to title or reporting line. Give it the time and thought it deserves.

2. Get the job title right – It may sound quite standard but for many potential employees, it is an important consideration. The title will ideally need to match the seniority of the role and the message needs to remain consistent throughout the job spec.

3 Think about using 3 sections – Consider breaking down your Job spec into 4 sections – Company, role description, skills and experience and finally perks and benefits.

4 Start with Company – This is a hugely important opportunity to introduce the company and build a picture of the type of organisation you are. This is how you can differentiate yourself from other business hiring in your market. You might wish to talk about your successes over recent times or awards you have won. If you are looking for a sales hire, this will be a chance for the candidate to really understand the solution they are selling and the company behind it. Consider it like a pitch to a new client and Sell The Business!

5 Try to avoid standard 'fillers' if you can – Whilst they will always find their way onto a job description. In most cases they are pretty obvious and can just take up room. For a sales role, 'Must have excellent communication skills' or 'excellent at relationship building' are fairly standard skills for a successful sales professional, do they really need to be included ?

6 Be realistic with your requirements around 'skills and experience'. Are you sure they really must have at least 10 years IT sales experience ? What happens after 10 years that makes the candidate a better fit for you ? Is someone with 7 or 8 years experience not going to be able to do the job? You might find a highly credible candidate will not apply for the role if you are too specific.

7 Are the technical skills really a prerequisite ? Following on from point 4, but focusing more on technical hires. Carefully consider what really is a must have in terms of technical knowledge and what is a nice to have. Don't just fill in the skill requirements with all the technology that the 'perfect' candidate will understand, as you are likely to lose out on candidates who are perfectly capable of filling the role .

8 Think about sales cycles and average deal values – This one relates to sales hires. It is important to mention this on your job description in order to ensure you attract the right experience for the business. If you're your average deal value is £15k – £30k then think about mentioning this, as someone with experience in closing larger ticket deals with longer sales cycles is potentially going to find it difficult to adjust and vice versa. You might also wish to discuss what quota level you are looking for someone to have worked towards, but his will depend on whether you wish to advertise this or not.

9 Highlight the benefits – What do you offer above and beyond a salary and commission or bonus? Many are now looking at additional benefits when deciding on new opportunities. If you offer all the insurances then mention it, if you offer something a bit different, in addition, then you need to say. These might include – Sales kick offs, overseas training, Incentive trips, stock options, Training etc.. Don't just think about what you want, thank about what you are giving back.

10 Make sure your website matches the job spec – If you have spoken at length in the job description about what a great company you are to work for , how much fun you have and how your employees love being there, then make sure you put some though into developing your careers page on your website as this is the next place the candidate will go, if they haven't been there already. Think about pictures, videos and bios and makes sure it all matches up !

If you would like some support with writing an engaging job description then please contact Max Baynes at Executive Talent on 01455 248038.

CV Advice
While there are many companies out there that charge you to produce a "professional" CV, if you follow our simple guide you will be well on the way to having a professional resume that gives you the best possible start in your career search – and this advice is free! Furthermore, Executive Talent are happy to offer you specific guidance on the content and layout of your CV once we have had the opportunity to review it.
We suggest as a starting point you consider the following guidelines:
• Try to keep your CV to a maximum of 3 pages, any more than this and there is a chance that the reader may skip valuable information
• Your personal details only need to include, name, address, contact details (mobile, home, email), and nationality including your visa/right to work status if appropriate;
• Talk about yourself in the first person and maintain the same tense throughout;
• Keep your CV clutter free, and maintain the same format throughout. Use one font, change the size of the font and use bold to highlight headings etc.
• You don't want to confuse the reader with too much happening visually, avoid complicated column formatting, graphics, or colours.
• Use bullet points, they are much clearer to read than long paragraphs of text;
• You should include a summary on page 1, an attention grabbing paragraph that provides an outline of your experience and includes your major achievements;
• List your career history in chronological order with the most recent position first. Each entry should include the name and location (city/county) of the employer, the dates of employment and job title, including the dates of promotions (to show your career progression) followed by a brief description of the role, responsibilities and achievements;
• Place more emphasis on the more recent experience, career history going back more than 10 -15 years should be particularly brief;
• If you have worked to targets, deliverables, or deadlines, make these clear and show how you achieved them; Employers love to see evidence, and it's great to refer to at interview
• Qualifications and courses attended with dates should be toward the end of your CV
• If you have any gaps in your work history, make sure you have offered an explanation;
• Include your IT experience towards the end of the CV, in particular your competence using industry specific software packages;
• Ensure that your CV is truthful. You will be asked about your CV at interview, if you have not told the whole truth it will be very obvious.
• Hobbies and interests is always a good opportunity to show your personality and the type of person you are.

As a sales team leader, it is important to create a positive environment for your team; a productive space in which they can celebrate their successes and reflect – but not dwell – on their failures. If not managed correctly, one person's bad day or mood can manifest itself around the entire office and before you know it your once thriving office has lost its spark and your best sales people are looking elsewhere.

We are currently in a very candidate-driven market; companies are fighting over top talent and doing their upmost to ensure they retain staff. Unsurprisingly, one of the main reasons Executive Talent candidates tell us they want to leave is because they do not enjoy their current working environment. Here are some of the things to focus on to ensure you retain a highly motivated team;

On-going training – our most popular clients are the ones that provide on-going training for their staff. The best employees are the ones that are not complacent and want to continue to develop throughout their careers. Offering training to your staff not only ensures that you have a skilled workforce, but shows them that you value them enough to continuously invest in their personal development.

Staff input – taking the time to listen to your staff and their ideas is what differentiates a strong leader from a poor one. It is unlikely that your entire sales team will be home grown and therefore staff may have experiences and initiatives taken from previous employers that could benefit you.

Benefits and incentives – generally salespeople like to win! Nowadays companies offer great bonus and commission structures, so while this is still a draw for candidates, it is also expected and considered the norm. Anything that you can do to further motivate your staff can go a long way and doesn't have to cost the company a huge amount. It also introduces healthy competition between co-workers in the office which will help increase activity.

Celebrating wins – the term 'peaks and troughs' is often used when describing a career in sales. There are inevitably highs and lows in a sales environment and it is human nature to dwell and reflect on negative experiences. However, it is very demotivating for an employee if they feel as though they are chastened for their mistakes and not congratulated for their successes. It is extremely important to remember to take the time to celebrate your team's wins – even the small ones.

It all sounds very obvious, but these are things that can really make the difference between a negative, frustrated team and a positive and motivated one!