Are you hiring sales reps for medical sales, laboratory sales, clinical diagnostics, imaging sales, medical device sales, biotech sales, pathology sales, surgical supplies sales, hospital equipment sales, pharmaceutical sales, or other healthcare sales?  Your first step should be to review your current team:  What works in your sales reps and what doesn’t?  Then you can make a hiring decision that’s based on past results of what works in your company and be more confident in your choice.

Let’s be honest:  Most sales managers are so busy that they hire on auto pilot.  (Not that it doesn’t sometimes work for you.)  But if you’re the kind of manager who makes decisions based on what has yielded the best results (and in this case, that means hiring candidates who are similar to your best-performing salespeople), then you need to review your team.  You can do this as an overview, or you can use formal assessments.  What do you look for?   Experience, tenure, degree, personality profile, sales productivity, or other qualities important to the success of your team. 

For example, one of my clients recently asked me to provide candidates for an open position.  My question for him was:  “Based on your experience, what would you say your ‘best fit’ best performer background is?”

After some thought, he gave me this information:

1. Ex-pharma with strong b2b exp, bus degree
2. Ex-pharma with business degree
3. Medical supply distributor with psych degree
4. MS/Molecular Vinology/No sales experience/Sales personality

All four profiles have performed at or above plan for the client.

When I pressed the manager for further insights, he said “You know, in the past we haven’t been able to get much sales experience in a range of 50-60K base plus 30 comp.  And the technical person (#4) who wanted to make a transition did do very well, but the ones with sales experience ramped up faster by at least 3 months.” 

I have found similar patterns in other managers who ask for candidates like #4, but who always move forward with candidates who have sales experience.  (With new clients, I start out sending both.)  When I discover this pattern, I point it out to the manager and then stop sending those candidates–in this case, the technical sales rep wannabes who aren’t making the cut. 

See?  My recruiting was based on past results.  Once you’ve narrowed your search criteria, the whole process becomes faster, more efficient, and more productive.

Just some food for thought…

Peggy McKee has been recruiting and placing top sales talent (in the medical industry) for over 10 years. She has worked all over the United States and held the titles of Regional Sales Manager, National Accounts Manager, Regional Product Manager, Systems Specialist and Account Manager (in the laboratory supply industry). She founded PHC Consulting in 1999. For almost 10 years, she has worked with laboratory and medical supply companies to attract and hire top talent. She has developed teams of top sales talent for laboratory service companies, clinical diagnostics companies, niche life science product companies and healthcare/medical software providers. Her understanding of hiring, sales, and the medical/laboratory industry has helped her clients maximize their sales potential.

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