Rapid Network

In business, we learn far more from our mistakes than we do from our successes. And what do we learn? We learn that entrenched attitudes, blinkered vision, and anachronistic thinking generally lead to failure.  

So why, when we have a sales opportunity that is of an entirely different nature and requires a fresh, dedicated workforce, do we stick to the recruitment methods that were appropriate to last year or even the last century?  

Usually opportunities in business come along fast and under our noses, and if we are to take full advantage of them we need to adopt a rapid deployment philosophy to maximise the potential. Fail to do this, and by the time we have marshalled our forces and got them into order, the battle will have been lost and the competition will be racing ahead.  

So, what do I mean by Rapid Deployment? Imagine you are given a task such as setting up a sales contact centre or replacing a channel sales network with a direct sales team. You cannot afford a dip in your day-to-day business, but you need to get the new project going quickly and you need to be sure the new team is up to the job. So you need good people, lots of them and you need them to be effective fast.   

Why Can't I do it Myself? If you think this is something you can do in house that's fine, but just be aware of the scale of the task. If you need 20 or even 2 new sales people within a three-month period you will need to start by advertising and attracting at least 400 applicants to be in with a chance of getting the right level of suitable candidates. You will then need to whittle this down to 80 individuals to go through a comprehensive assessment programme - the last thing you can afford is to rely on a quick 20-minute interview that results in a poor workforce.  

But think about it - how are you going to conduct assessments for 80 people in the space of say three days? Then you need to get the 20 job offers out, allow for people finding other jobs in the meantime and find replacements. After the ups and downs of the selection process you then need to get them on board and trained in a week to perform the new role with maximum impact. This is a mammoth task and you have to ask what happens to the rest of your business in the meantime. Can you afford to put business as usual on hold?  

Critical Mass One reason to use a specialist for your outsourced sales recruitment drive is that they have access to a database of thousands of individuals, be that graduates - our own area of expertise - or more senior sales professionals - which can be drawn down at any time. In my own firm we spend a substantial amount every year just attracting this pool of graduates into our system.    You may have in-house skills in assessment and interviews but you may not be able to scale them up to bring on 20 new starters in a month. An assessment company can parachute in a fully trained, focused team of assessors at a moment's notice letting you carry on with day-to-day business, while your new activity is safely being nurtured.  

Let's break some rules Many companies will have HR policies that stipulate a structured recruitment cycle that takes up to six months to see through, with press adverts, internal discussions about the CVs, first interviews, followed by further internal pow-wows about the best way forward. When finally a decision is made, the references need to be checked, and there may even be relocation to be considered. By the time you have hired the new sales team you have missed the boat.   

The problem is that too often you can't find experienced people at the drop of a hat. You may have new developments and opportunities crying out to be driven forward, but before you can do that you have to check out new recruits carefully in case of a potential sting in the tail.  

Rapid Deployment Philosophy asks: why do we need experienced people for this role? Trainees with accelerated product training may be more effective and you can develop them in line with your own company culture, vision and values. In short, don't stick with what you know. Done properly rapid deployment is fast, efficient and hugely effective - it just needs the courage to break the traditional HR recruitment rules and look beyond the expected. There is plenty of high achieving, motivated talent out there just waiting to be discovered.  

Top Sales Graduates are Spoilt for choice Once you have made your choice and adopted Rapid Deployment, don't hang around. Graduate talent is spoilt for choice in terms of career opportunities, so if you like what you see put it in writing with a firm offer. 

Even when they have accepted, don't sit back - you need to keep them sold on the opportunity or you run the risk of them accepting other offers. It is one of the major frustrations of the graduate recruitment business that employers fail to take into account - graduates are fresh talent and they're in demand. Keep them interested and they'll arrive with passion and hunger to achieve for your business - fail to do this and the relationship will stop before it starts.  

Plan Ahead If you are serious about rapid deployment you cannot run the programme at the normal business rhythm. You need to plan carefully with all the focus of a military campaign.   A sobering thought is that with a two-week delay you will lose 30% of your applicants, meaning you may have to start the whole process all over gain. 

Rapid deployment has to be exactly that - rapid, focused and committed. Get it right and you can recruit a motivated, talented team who will make a real difference to your performance - get it wrong and you'll go back to the recruitment woes too many of us know