Finding the right Field Sales / BDM for an Electronics Manufacturer

[grimreaper]

Hello

I'm looking for some advice please in relation to how best to recruit a Field Sales person to find new customers as well as growing existing business relationships. We Design and Manufacture Electronic Modules for the Automotive industry, as well as having our own product range targeted to the same industry. This perhaps might make our Sales requirements a bit more niche than B2C Sales, but i'm no expert.

We have a couple of large key customers who place their monthly orders with us, however we now want to expand our customer base and grow the business. We have had two attempts at employing Field Sales representatives within the last few years, (or Business Development Managers as they chose to call themselves), however neither lasted more than twelve months in the role as they simply did nothing to improve our Sales during that period. At best, after approaching a year with the company they were attending 1 or 2 visits with potential customers per month.

So, i'd be grateful for any advice on how best to recruit for this role the third time. Any advice on using an Agency to recruit or recommendations to the same?.

Thanks

 

[Ozzy]

This may be a route, or it may be just for research, depends on your sector - but have a look at your main competitors and the people they employ in these roles, and what are their skillsets. You could consider head hunting, or it may help you draft a slightly different job spec to find the right people who may last longer than a year

 

[Mark T Jones]

Are you absolutely clear what you require from these sales people?

Is it fully conveyed during the recruitment process?

Are they getting good, solid back up, both through training, marketing & processing?

 

[Fagin2021]

How many leads/enquiries were you generating each month for these salespeople to follow up on ? If the answer is 'none' perhaps you should look at your marketing efforts before recruiting sales people.

Do you go to trade shows, advertise in trade publications, get editorial etc ? The old days of cold calling around are over (if that's what your salespeople are expected to do).

 

[grimreaper]

Are you absolutely clear what you require from these sales people?

Is it fully conveyed during the recruitment process?

A very detailed description was provided when the role was advertised and it was discussed verbally at each of the two interviews each candidate attended. A Company Vehicle, Laptop, Mobile Phone, Expenses etc were also covered / provided.

Are they getting good, solid back up, both through training, marketing & processing?

They had an initial two months where product training was given as well as being able to use the time familiarise themselves with the business and its existing customer base. We chose at least one of the candidates based on the fact he had not only 30 years experience in Senior Sales roles, but had spent six of them in a similar role in Electronics.

We met every week in the office (Both lived within an hours drive of the Factory) so we could support them with any problems, further training and deal with any points raised by the customers.

How many leads/enquiries were you generating each month for these salespeople to follow up on ? If the answer is 'none' perhaps you should look at your marketing efforts before recruiting sales people.

Do you go to trade shows, advertise in trade publications, get editorial etc ? The old days of cold calling around are over (if that's what your salespeople are expected to do).

To be entirely honest i'm old School when it comes to Sales making their own appointments and setting their own workload, and to be entirely fair both of these employees took on the role with that expectation clearly stated to them, and in fact one of those in the role explained how he used Linkedin to work up the internal hierarchy of contacts to get to the person that he needed to meet with.

If the industry has changed and evolved to the point where Cold Calls are no longer made by the people attending the customer meetings and if we now live in an era where leads need to be made for them then that has been duly noted. Its taking on board feedback and advice like this which was the reason for making the OP.

Thanks for the replies.

 

[AlanJ1]

Previous Sales Manager for an Electrical Distributor where we had BDM for some brands and myself as BDM as Sales Manager for smaller brands we brought in and nurtured.

Cold calling for a brand is difficult when the person on the other end of the phone / email / face to face has never heard of the brand before.

Industry and product specific but in general there are tens of products and brands trying to get into the same space, and the retailer only has one or two spaces for what you are offering (or if it's B2B they can only buy the one product to suit the needs).

Have you had feedback from them as to why they aren't able to get into the places you want them too?

 

[MBE2017]

What your problem screams to myself is poor management. These guys were only calling on a couple of clients per month after a year?

As for where to get a good BDM etc, it comes down mainly to good management, most people can put in the graft, if they are held accountable. You need to set a set of targets, and ensure they stick to the plan.

As an example, how many telephone calls are you looking for them to make? How many new client inquiries per week/month? How much new business in £ per month/year? Most importantly, how to monitor their efforts. Some guys are a cut above, but most salespeople need monitoring on realistic targets.