5 Steps for Finding Great Sales Reps

Earlier today a successful serial entrepreneur emailed me saying she was going to expand her sales team and to see if I had any recommendations. High quality sales reps, much like strong programmers, are always in short supply, regardless of the macroeconomic condition (and coincidentally are the two most complementary skills to have for startup cofounders). Finding great sales reps requires a methodical process and hard work.

Here are five steps for finding great sales reps:

1. Engage with social networks like Twitter and Facebook using a service like TheResumator to manage applicants and broadcast job openings
2. Pay for LinkedIn Jobs and target sales people at companies with similar corporate cultures to your own
3. Offer a bounty or referral bonus to people inside and outside your company
4. Participate in local college career fairs, especially if they have general business or management degrees and you are hiring entry-level reps
5. Network at local sales executive organizations and ask for referrals to reps
6. Bonus: talk to vendors are trade shows and use it as a form of interviewing to find reps you’d like to have on your team (I know one successful rep that was recruited in a Delta Crown Room at the airport because he did such a great job on a call)

Finding great sales reps, much like finding great employees, takes time and hard work. Participating in communities where the reps hang out as well as targeting specific companies through LinkedIn help increase the chances of finding strong candidates.

What else? What are some other tips for finding great sales reps?