Sales Hiring FAQs for Employers

Last updated: June 2025

→ All answers are written by Mike Basso, CEO of SalesTalent.com — a 6-time executive sales leader and expert in sales hiring and recruiting.

What are the best ways to identify and hire great salespeople?

Start by defining what success looks like for your specific role—do you need raw sales ability or deep industry experience? Then list key traits: hard skills like prospecting and soft skills like coachability.

Build a candidate scorecard based on those traits to objectively evaluate each candidate. Ask for their last three years of sales metrics—quota, attainment, and team rank—and always verify those numbers during reference checks.

What key traits and skills should I look for in top-performing sales reps?

The traits to look for that most top-performing reps have in common are drive, grit, perseverance, coachability, and confidence. In addition, top reps know how to ask relevant questions that uncover buyer pain and/or motivation, and then they listen intensely so they can best apply their solution to solve the buyer’s problems.

What should I include in a sales job description to attract high-quality candidates?

To attract top-tier sales talent, emphasize what high performers care about most, and where your company excels. Strong examples of high-converting job posting language include:

• Strong culture, compensation, and a generous commission structure
• Clear career growth potential and advancement paths
• Whether your company is established and stable, a market leader, or a startup offering impact and greenfield territory
• Your growth stage — such as “hyper-growth mode” or “in expansion phase”
• Strong Glassdoor ratings and average rep tenure, if available
• A compelling mix of security and upside — like: “50-year-old market leader offering startup-like growth roles”

The key is to communicate why your sales org is worth betting on — and what sets it apart from dozens of lookalike job posts.

Where and how can I consistently find high-performing sales talent?

The vast majority of high-performing reps do not apply to job boards such as Indeed. The key to finding high-performing reps is to seek them out. High performers are succeeding in their current role, but a percentage of them are open to opportunities at any given time for various reasons, such as comp plan changes or company decline.

You must actively go after these star performers through passive candidate recruiting on LinkedIn, through your network, or by using internal or external recruiters. External sales recruiting agencies are generally better suited to recruit passive candidates as opposed to internal recruiters who mostly post jobs and screen candidates.

Should I prioritize candidates with industry-specific experience or natural sales ability?

Usually, no. If your product can be learned in under 90 days, prioritize strong sales skills over industry experience—casting a wider net leads to better talent.

If your offering is complex and requires deep domain knowledge, industry experience helps—but don’t overlook sales ability. A rep who knows the industry but lacks sales chops will underperform. And don’t bank on their Rolodex—most contacts don’t convert due to contracts, timing, or fading relationships.

What’s the ideal profile for my first sales hire at a startup or growing company?

You want a self-motivated AE with 3+ years of success, capable of running full sales cycles—prospecting, discovery, demos, and closing—without an SDR, sales engineer, or enablement support.

They should be gritty, resourceful, and thrive in unstructured environments. Bonus if they can grow into a sales leader. Avoid reps from large companies—they often struggle with the startup pace and lack of structure.

What’s the most effective way to structure and scale my sales team?

Your structure should depend on your team size and growth stage:

• Small teams (<4 reps): Use full-cycle reps who handle both prospecting and account management.
• Larger teams: Use a role-specialized model with AEs focused on hunting and Account Managers focused on farming.
• At scale: Add SDRs for lead gen, Sales Engineers for demos, and Sales Ops for enablement and systems.

The key to scaling a sales team is consistently recruiting and never settling for mediocre talent. Partnering with a top sales headhunter can significantly boost the process of building a high-performing sales team.

Should I hire an SDR or an AE first to build my sales organization?

Start with an AE—ideally one who began as an SDR and can run the full sales cycle: prospecting, discovery, and closing. Without a closer, SDR efforts often stall. An AE-first approach drives revenue early and lays the foundation to scale. Later, they can help onboard SDRs and refine your outbound process.

How can I effectively build an SDR team from the ground up?

Start with at least two SDRs—churn is common, and hiring just one is risky. For small teams (supporting 1–2 AEs), hire experienced SDRs and have them report to sales or marketing leadership—no manager needed.

For teams of 6+, start by hiring a proven SDR manager with a playbook and hiring experience. Then bring on coachable, high-potential talent—confidence, grit, and resilience matter more than experience.

When and how should startup founders hire their first sales leader?

Startup founders should hire their first sales leader after they’ve achieved early traction — usually once 2 to 3 reps are in place, revenue is growing, and the founder no longer has the bandwidth to manage sales directly. If you hire too early, you risk bringing on someone without enough data, product-market fit, or team to lead effectively.

Look for a sales leader who can operate hands-on — someone who’s been a top-performing rep and understands how to build playbooks, coach reps, and scale a team. Ideally, hire the first sales leader when there is enough evidence of what is working. The right hire will transition the sales org from founder-led sales to a repeatable, scalable model.

How long should the hiring process for a salesperson typically take?

Most sales hiring processes take around 30 to 45 days. A typical timeline breaks down into: 2 weeks for sourcing candidates, 2 weeks or less for interviews, offer, and negotiation, plus 2 weeks if the candidate needs to give notice to their current employer.

Common delays include too many interview rounds and not having strong candidates early. Working with a specialized sales recruiter like SalesTalent.com can expedite the process by delivering top-fit candidates more quickly.

What are common mistakes to avoid when hiring salespeople?

Here are five costly mistakes to watch for:

• Overlooking red flags – Too charming, “long-talker”, job-hopping, vague metrics, or poor prep shouldn’t be ignored.
• Low-balling compensation – Below-market offers repel top talent.
• Dragging out the process – A drawn-out interview cycle loses A-players.
• Settling for “good enough” – Usually a pipeline problem. Raise your bar.

Hiring great interviewers, not great sellers – Assess real sales ability, not just polish.

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