Recruitment for Industrial Sales
With more than 15 years of successful sales recruiting and staffing experience, JRG Partners expertises in B2B (business-to-business) sales recruiting and staffing. We have placed numerous industrial sales jobs for large companies as well as medium and small size companies. Placement for sales in different functions and industries differs in many ways. While best-fit sales management executives need to possess a unique set of skills, candidates for business-to-business sales needs many other important skills which are not required for normal sales jobs.
Our expert consultants understand this difference and with experience, we have populated a list of additional sales skills that industrial sellers need to master in order to be successful. We modify / device screening interviews for industrial sales positions emphasizing on the skills that are most crucial for success in business-to-business sales. Below you can find the skills we emphasize on while selecting industrial sales executives for our clients :
1. Complete Product Knowledge and It’s Application
Industrial use products require extra efforts by the sales team to understand the product(s) their technical features and benefits in detail. This knowledge is crucial for two main reasons. Firstly, sales executives need to educate the prospects, provide them with insights that will help them expand their horizon and give them a better perspective for improved thinking. Secondly, industrial buyers are usually desirous of being a part of the solution. Many successful industrial sales executives work with buyers to develop solutions that can help them achieve their goals. Thus both: complete product awareness and understanding of the prospect’s needs is a crucial skill that every successful industrial sales executive should possess.
Our consultants understand and appreciate this and, we ensure that only such candidates who are skilled in “product detailing” and “need analysis” are shortlisted for our clients.
2. Industrial Buying is mostly based on ROI
Since industrial buying decisions are mostly influenced by the return on investment model, industrial sales executives need to understand and appreciate the importance of the ROI model. Return on investment can either be a reduction in money cost or time cost or both. A successful industrial sales executive needs to highlight the cost benefit of his product / service to the buyer so that the purchase decision is easily made in his favor. An analytical thinker is most suited for industrial sales as he / she can explain cost and ROI benefits to buyers easily.
Our recruiters have tailored our screening questionnaire to include such crucial analytical and ROI based questions which help them select candidates who possess a good level of analytical thinking skill and will definitely be a good fit for industrial sales jobs.
3. Listening Skills
Listening not only entails understanding the requirement but also reading between the lines to actually gauge the needs of the prospect. A good industrial sales representative is able to clear the mist and concentrate on evaluating the actual need.
Our recruitment consultants screen candidates for listening skills and only select such candidates who are good listeners.
4. Crafting a ‘Complete Solution’
Industrial products and services are more dynamic as compared to normal products and services. Feature additions, tailoring the product and making specific modifications is very common for industrial goods. Thus, once the sales representative has clearly understood the requirement, he / she is expected to craft a solution that best fits the requirements and environment of the prospect. Such modifications and changes in product characteristics is a day-in and day-out job for an industrial sales person. Thus, there is a huge demand for experienced industrial sales executives who have mastered the skill of crafting tailor-made and comprehensive solutions as against normal sales reps.
JRG Partners and our recruiters have placed various industrial sales executives in different industries with both manufacturing sales companies and engineering sales companies. We evaluate candidates for their capability and skill to craft custom solutions for their buyers before shortlisting them and selecting them for industrial sales positions.
5. Industrial sales Personnel use ‘Relationship Marketing”
As compared to normal sales which is mostly a one-time communication between the sale rep and the buyer, industrial sales usually involves repeated selling to the same clients. Thus, many industrial sales firms employ ‘marketing’ and ‘relationship management’ or ‘account management’ to cater to their clients’ regular needs. Thus successful industrial salespeople need to build a long-term relationship with clients. They know that they are starting a relationship with a new client and can expect multiple and repetitive sales from prospects. Thus, an industrial sales person start rapport building from day one. They have customer service and customer satisfaction at the core of their sales process.
Our consultants always screen industrial sales candidates by putting forth a few queries about relationship marketing in order to understand the level of relationship management the candidate uses in their sales approach. Candidates who appreciate the importance of customer service and customer satisfaction are given utmost priority in the selection process.
6. Best Industrial Sales Executives Sell on ‘Product Differentiation’
Product differentiation is basically differentiating the product from the products offered by the competition. Industrial buyers may take a purchase decision to mainly solve a problem or challenge. Most of the times, it is sufficient if an industrial sales person demonstrates product characteristics and ability to solving that problem. However, there is immense competition and many similar competing products out there which may be considered by the prospect as an alternate. Product differentiation provides the best weapon to the sales rep to highlight the various other features and characteristics of the product so that a purchase decision is in the favor of the product they are selling. Product differentiation can be in the form of additional benefits, competitive prices, higher quality, better styling, better after sales services etc.
In short an industrial sales executive needs to be pro-active and not reactive. Proactive sales executives and much more successful as against reactive sellers. For industrial sales, proactive selling is more a requirement than an added advantage. JRG Partners understands the importance of product differentiation and proactive candidates. We only shortlist those experienced and skilled candidates for our clients who are proactive and can differentiate themselves, the firms they represent and the products they sell.
When you appoint us as your preferred industrial sales recruitment partner, our experienced consultants will screen the top industrial sales talent around the country and will deliver the best and most talented sales team for your firm.