How to Build a Success Profile for New Hires

(This blog was originally posted on OpenView Sales Lab's blog. Read the original post here)

When it comes to sales hiring, many managers may be basing their decisions too closely on how candidates have succeeded elsewhere, when they should be focusing on identifying strong indicators of success on their own teams.

Past performance in a different context almost always comes with caveats. Managers are better off determining exactly what it takes to be successful at their own companies, isolating the individual competencies and behaviors of their own top performers, and then looking for those things in new candidates.

The easiest way to do it? By building success profiles for each of your sales roles. Not only will having them documented help you make more effective hires that yield more impact and better results, they’ll help you do so more consistently as you scale.

Watch Managing Partner John Kaplan explain how to build a great success profile for new sales hires. 

How to Build a Success Profile for New Sales Hires

Key Points

• Two key components of a success profile: 1) Competencies: the attributes of success in a particular sales role; 2) Success behaviors: those attributes in action.
• Identify the reliable indicators of success at your company: The best thing you can do is look within your own company and highlight the bright spots. Really dig into the attributes those people have and ask yourself what do those attributes look like in action. Then build out a profile of the competencies and behaviors that can serve as predictors of success at your company.
• Don’t get tempted by “all-stars” who don’t fit your profile: Just remember, sometimes the “best talent available” isn’t the best available for you. Resist the urge to roll the dice and stay true to your profile.

 OpenView Labs is a team of highly skilled industry professionals dedicated to building great companies.As the operational consulting arm of OpenView Venture Partners, the Labs brings industry standards, functional expertise, and best practices to OpenView’s portfolio of expansion-stage companies.