Always Be Recruiting

Those of us who are long in the tooth remember the old ABC of selling “Always Be Closing.” When you’re a sales manager, it’s ABR “Always Be Recruiting.”

You never know when you’re going to lose a good salesperson, or a bad one for that matter, and the toughest time to find a salesperson is when you need one!

Because of this, you should always be on the lookout for prospective salespeople. Here are a couple of ideas that will help.

• Keep a file folder with the names, business cards, and/or resumes of potential candidates who impress you.
• What about the salespeople who call on you? Which ones stand out in your mind? Never mind that they might be from a different industry. People are trainable.
• How about salespeople from other industries that you meet in your daily travels? Do any stand out? If so, drop their business card in the file folder.
• Keep an eye on people within your own organization who might be ready to take on the challenge of sales.

It’s prudent to ABR because you just never know when you might need to replace or add a salesperson.