Recruiting Sales Representatives

At SmartSteps, we understand that recruiting a skilled sales representative is essential to the success of your business goals, particularly in the construction finishing sector.  Sales Representatives plays a key role, combining technical and commercial skills to offer solutions to your clients’ specific needs. Here’s an overview of our recruitment process, designed to provide you with the best talent and ensure the success of your business.

1. Define Needs

We begin by clearly defining with you the responsibilities and skills required for the sales representative position. Once these elements are defined, we write an attractive job offer, which we send to candidates who match your specifications.

2. Meet the Best Talent

Today, posting a job ad is no longer enough to attract the best candidates, especially for high-level technical and sales positions. That’s why we favor the direct approach, a more personalized and targeted method that allows us to reach out to passive candidates.

How does it work?

  • We contact qualified and experienced candidates in your sector.
  • We draw on our professional network and specialized databases to target candidates matching your needs.
  • We approach these candidates in a personalized manner, presenting your company convincingly, which significantly increases the chances of success.

This approach allows us to find talent that isn’t necessarily present on the market, but who can add real value to your company.

3. Candidate Selection

Once we have identified the right candidates, we move on to the selection phase. Here’s how we identify the best candidates:

CV Analysis

We carefully review resumes to ensure that the candidates’ experience and qualifications match the position requirements.

Contact

We contact selected candidates for a telephone interview to verify their potential interest and fit with your company’s needs.

Interview Selection

Selected candidates will have a more in-depth interview where we discuss practical topics such as: non-competition clause, driver’s license, salary conditions including travel frequency and job related experience: Length of industry experience, industry knowledge, the candidate’s reason for entering the market, potentially any shared acquaintances, technical skills, clients typology, mix of B2B/B2C, objectives for opening new accounts, volume, margins, etc., and finally, we discuss professional references.

4. A Proposal and Negotiation

Once the ideal candidate has been identified, we will send you their application and, together with you, we will arrange the interview. We remain your point of contact during the negotiation period and ensure that the candidate’s expectations and those of your company are aligned, to ensure a lasting and fruitful collaboration.

Conclusion

The recruitment process for a sales engineer is a crucial step in the success of your business projects. Thanks to our direct contact approach, we guarantee a selection of highly qualified candidates, well beyond simply responding to traditional job postings. By following a structured and rigorous process, we provide you with talent perfectly suited to your needs. If you have any questions or would like to learn more about our recruitment approach, please do not hesitate to contact us. We are here to help you find the right sales engineer for you.

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This general article aims to offer practical information for people new to working in France. French employment law is complex and evolving. We advise you to research your own personal circumstances. To learn more click on the links in the article.

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Top 10 interview mistakes (and corrective advice)


  • Inappropriate dress: check out the company website, see how people are dressed and dress slightly smarter than they do.

  • Handshake: it’s not so common to shake hands in the post Covid era, however, but it’s extremely common at interview. A firm handshake is necessary. Limp handshakes won’t do. If you suffer from sweaty palms, take some cooling/cleansing hand gel for fresh hands.
    • firm hand shake, take some cooling hand gel
  • Complaining: complaining and negativity are a massive put off. In interview, please remember “less said the better”. A complaint might not be reflective of you as a person, but the recruiter doesn’t know you. A recruiter is not a counsellor, someone with whom you can share bad professional experiences. If you can’t avoid the subject, transform the negative into a learning experience. Keep this part of the interview short, in the mind of the recruiter it shouldn’t be allowed to form the main take away post-interview. Get ideas from your consultant about how to answer difficult or uncomfortable questions.
    • less said the better, turn a negative into to learning experience
  • Over confidence: it’s often difficult to get the balance right from being naturally confident to appearing arrogant. Apart from the fact no one wants to work with arrogant colleagues, if the job is too easy you will get bored and won’t stay long, even if the salary is motivating. There is always some room for personal growth even if it is just adjusting to how things are done and your new team within your future company.
    • there is always room for personal growth
  • No questions at the end of the interview: asking questions at the end of the interview shows that you’ve been listening and engaged. Suggested questions that have likely not been covered would be 1) who is the best performer in this job and why? 2) What is the company culture? Or simply 3) Is there anything else you’d like to know about me?
    • find a general question, “would you like to know anything else about me”
  • Questions about benefits: do not ask questions about benefits, salary, remote working, RTT, sick pay. Your consultant will have the answer to these questions so you should have been forewarned. It’s important to remember to sell yourself first and negotiate afterwards. The biggest majority of clients expect candidates to return for at least a second interview. The first interview is about getting to know you.  It’s definitely not the moment for in-depth discussion of what’s on offer financially speaking. When employers ask for your salary expectations you can consider it a ball park figure, the details/negotiation comes at a later stage.
    • At first interview sell yourself, negotiations happen later
  • Talking too much: be succinct, how does your experience link to the job. if there’s a silent moment, don’t fill the void by rambling.
    • Don’t ramble and don’t be afraid of silence
  • Under preparation: you don’t have to spend hours preparing, but should do a minimum about of research about the company (look at the company website and press articles).
    • If you haven’t prepared, prepare to fail.
  • Arriving late or early: arriving late is obviously a no no unless you’ve got a valid reason. Forewarn the client, pass by the switchboard. Or telephone your consultant. We suggest you arrive 10 minutes early. There’s often time lost at reception.
    • Arrive slightly early thus leaving time for you to refresh yourself
  • Check your tech: First interviews are very often by video. Make sure you’ve got the appropriate software downloaded on your computer and you’ve done a quick check prior to interview. Many recruiters have allocated time slots and won’t be able to extend the interview if there are outstanding matters to be discussed.
    • make tech work before interview

Conclusion

Remember attending interview is time wasted if it isn’t prepared properly. Our advice is always to have quality ‘over quantity’ applications and it starts with the CV and continues through to the end via interviews. Try to keep in mind that there are really only three interview questions. Every single question comes from one of the three points: Do I like you? Can you do the job? How long will you stay? Don’t forget to call your consultant post-interview with your feedback!

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