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Education
StreetSmarts SM
“Setting up your ISO for success”
WITH
AARON NASSEH
Identifying strong sales agents
By Aaron Nasseh Of course, finding sales talent is not a perfect science, but
Finical Inc. here are five suggestions to keep in mind when recruiting
sales agents.
he merchant services industry has been very
lucrative for quite some time, and just like any 1. Do not rely on the resume. I wish selecting
other rewarding industry, it has become highly new sales team members were as simple as re-
T competitive. ISO owners rely on merchant level viewing resumes and hiring based on that, but
salespeople (MLSs) to do the heavy lifting of soliciting the most useless tool for hiring a salesperson is
merchants and generating new business. In turn, ISOs a resume. However, short of interviewing every
offer their sales agents aggressive compensation plans for person who applies for the position, which often
their efforts. may not be practical, you have no choice but to
start with a resume. If the number of candidates is
However, the lucrative opportunities our industry small enough, interview all of them. When this is
provides have also attracted numerous people who, not practical, keep in mind that most resumes are
unfortunately, do not have the proper training and selling not entirely accurate reflections of the individu-
skills to become successful. On The Green Sheet's online als they represent. You're hiring salespeople, and
MLS Forum, TheCreditCardMan asked, "How do you essential qualities like motivation and purpose
identify which recruits have the best chance for success?" don't always translate well onto resumes.
This article provides advice on how to do just that.
2. Take your interviews seriously. Taking the
Five tips for hiring the best interview seriously does not mean memorizing a
bunch of questions from a book, and asking the
In my professional sales management career, I have had the candidate ridiculous questions such as, "What su-
opportunity to recruit well over 10,000 independent sales per hero would you be?" Instead, try to figure out
agents, also known as MLSs. This includes experienced what an applicant's motivation is. Find out why
agents as well as agents new to the industry. During this the person wants to be a sales agent, and what
period, I have learned quite a bit about recruiting and he or she is willing to do to be successful. Don't
identifying agents that are most likely to thrive in our just share the good stories and the glory with ap-
industry, and how to differentiate them from those who plicants. Share the hard road ahead, and let them
really can't go beyond signing their aunt and uncle's local know there will be many ups and downs. Every-
business. body wants to be a millionaire, but very few are
willing to do what it takes to become one.
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