Selling a salesperson is no small feat. They're used to getting pitched, they know exactly how they want to be comped, and when they've developed a streak at their current company, they're not likely to want to move. So when you're ready to build a list of candidates and begin reaching out to them, where do you start?
That's what I had to ask myself when I began the herculean task (at least to me) of building a pipeline for Sales Development Representative over here at Entelo. We've been sourcing and hiring like crazy over here (nudge nudge wink wink know what I mean say no more), so the candidate pool for me was already going to be smaller as a result of my co-workers' previous efforts. When I began sourcing on our product I quickly realized that the standard sales queries weren't going to cut it, as the candidates yielded by those searches were almost all tagged as "Contacted" or "Listed". I was going to have to get creative.
Turning Over New Stones
Ever thought about how many Bay Area Tech Recruiters are searching "Javascript + Ruby within 50 miles of San Francisco"? Here's a hint: all of them. The only way to stand out from the noise is by not being noise, and that goes beyond writing a great recruiting email. If you want to find candidates who are the best fit for your role, and who haven't already been inundated by all manner of thoughtless outreach, think critically about what's unique about your role and your organization.
In my case, it was the fact that our product is in the recruiting industry. As a result, i didn't just want any one with "Sales Development Representative" as their title. Knowing that many companies employ an army of Recruiting Coordinators, people whose job it is to schedule and arrange interviews as well as be an early point of contact with the candidates, I figured this was a good place to find people who'd be comfortable talking about tools in the recruitment space. Further, many of these Recruiting Coordinators are paid as contractors, so a full-time role would represent a positive career move for them. I'm sure you've all heard a million times how similar Recruiting can be to Sales, and so therein was the final third of my sourcing triumvirate: transferable skills.
A True Hot Opportunity
While you should never, ever put "hot new opportunity" in your recruitment messaging, it's still useful to noodle on to whom your open role would represent a step up.
Salespeople are a competitive, hungry, driven breed who crave a challenge. I'm of the persuasion that many companies, especially those with small deal sizes and strong brands, reach a critical mass where the product essentially sells itself. The value has been proven, the customer isn't risking much, and the rep just needs to get on the phone and swipe a credit card.
From a salesperson's perspective, it doesn't get much more boring than this.
The role for which I was sourcing involves a longer, more personal sales cycle, much meatier variable comp, and a clear path to selling to the most recognizable logos in the world. If all they're currently doing is pounding phones closing $50 deals, this is a huge opportunity for them. Clearly, this is relevant mostly to me and this specific role, but make sure you ideate on what type of person stands to advance their career by taking your role.
The Ask
So I've assembled a list of companies to target, some less than obvious skills that would make for a good candidate, and have an idea of the type of person who this role would make sense for. I've sourced, built out a list, and now it's time to get some people's attention. I A/B tested my subject lines like a good little marketer, and found the most opened subject line to be merely my company name. Yup, just "Entelo". Who knew.
As far as the actual email was concerned, I made a point to explain why I reached out to them, specifically. I truncated all of the above to a brief email about how I think this could be a good move based on their unique experiences, which I listed. The results were encouraging: several replies, a handful of phone screens and two face-to-face interviews.
What I Learned
I hope you love key takeaways as much as I do, cause here they are:
- Get creative when sourcing to avoid well-tilled candidate soil
- Find people for whom your job would be a true step up
- Follow up with people who aren't interested to find out what they love about their job
- Your company name makes a great subject line
What are your strategies for sourcing Salespeople? Leave a comment or tweet @EnteloRob!
