This document provides steps to build a repeatable sales recruiting process to avoid costly hiring mistakes. It recommends profiling the ideal candidate, using a scoring matrix to objectively rate candidates, creating standard interview questions, deciding on an interview process that may include role plays or mock calls, and carefully screening any recruiters. Building such a process can improve consistency and help form a successful sales team while minimizing the immense costs of a single bad hire, estimated to be as much as $2 million.

1. How to build a repeatable SaaS
sales recruiting process.
A guide by Married2Growth.

2. If you are growing your sales team,
you need a repeatable recruiting process.
And it’s never too early to start!

3. As you grow beyond a few salespeople, this
repeatable process will save you time and
mistakes.
No matter your size, the cost of a bad-fit hire is immense.

4. The ugly cost of a bad hire:
‣ Peak Sales Recruiting has a calculation that estimates a bad sales hire can
cost upwards of $697,000.
‣ HR Daily Advisor ran an article estimating the true cost of a bad hire can be as
much as $2,000,000.
‣ The U.S. Department of Labor reports that the price of a bad hire is at least 30
percent of the employee’s first-year earnings.
For a small company, a five-figure investment in the wrong person is a threat
to the entire business as a whole.

5. These numbers aren’t meant to scare you,
but it is important to understand that the
cost of a bad hire is not to be taken lightly.
And while there is no perfected hiring method, there are many things
you can do to avoid the pitfalls that new sales recruiters often fall into.

6. Here are five easy steps to get you
started today!

7. 1. Profile your ideal
sales rep.
Identify the characteristics, experience and
skills your “perfect” sales rep will have.
Include the “must haves” versus “nice to haves”.
Consider what type of experience will be a
good fit for your company. What values and
skills will be important to succeed in your
company, and succeed with your buyers?

8. 2. Use a scoring
matrix.
Create a candidate scoring worksheet to objectively
measure these things. Rate each candidate on a wide
variety of things including their experience, how they
conduct themselves during the interview, how they
answer certain key questions.
You may think that you can keep a mental tally that you
can use to assess candidates, but be assured that you
cannot. Hiring is emotional and fraught with bias. That
candidate you love might just score poorly. And vice
versa. Use a scoring matrix and you will be surprised at
how helpful it is to compare and contrast the candidates.

9. 3. Create a set of
core questions.
Create a list of interview questions that you will ask
at each stage of the interview process, and ask every
single candidate those questions. Of course, you can
go off script, but make sure you are using the same
base set of questions for each potential hire. This
gives you a more accurate baseline when comparing
afterward, particularly for your scoring criteria.
Similar to your scoring sheet, you should probably
have some pass/fail questions to help make
recruiting even more quantifiable.

10. 4. Decide on your
interview process.
A typical process includes a phone screen, then
an in-person interview, then a second interview,
then the offer.
But for sales recruiting, particularly if you are new
to it, you will want some additional steps, like a
role play conversation, or a mock demo call.
You can also interview the way your buyers buy.

11. 5. Carefully
screen recruiters.
Consider using a recruiter and/or 3rd party skill
or aptitude assessments. While these methods
are not 100% reliable and can sometimes yield
poor or even costly results — these are both
viable options that have been proven to work
very well under the right conditions.
Make sure that all possible recruiters pass a
skills-based screening with high marks, and you
should see great results.

12. Some sales hires will knock it out
of the park, and some won’t.
No matter what, it’s likely that you will make some hiring mistakes.
Your goal is to make as few of those mistakes as possible.

13. Building and maintaining a repeatable sales hiring
process will help improve your consistency and start
you on your way to building a successful sales team.
Just remember to evolve and adapt your repeatable
hiring process as you learn and grow as a sales leader.

14. Start building your repeatable
recruiting process today!

15. Want more?
These slides were inspired by
“How to Build a Repeatable Sales Recruiting Process”
on the Married2Growth blog.

16. Thank you!
We hope this was helpful,
and we’d love to hear from you!
info@married2growth.com

17. THE BUSINESS OF SaaS