Five key things that your competitors are doing to win top talent

The sales industry faces a number of challenges. One of the key difficulties being that there aren’t enough top sales professionals on the market to meet the demands of the sector. Attracting top talent can be difficult at the best of times. Therefore, it is crucial for businesses to enhance their offering and brand reputation in order to get top sales professionals invested in their business.

Some of the reasons that businesses struggle to attract top talent, outside of the more obvious causes such as salary and location, are things like reputation, progression, culture, and competition. All of these elements have a huge part to play in whether or not a business is desirable to work for. 
Glassdoor, Feefo, and word of mouth can have detrimental effects on a company’s reputation. If top talent hears bad things about a business, it is very difficult to reverse that perception. For example, if a company is known to have a ‘hire and fire’ culture, fewer people will want to work for them. So, what can your business do to attract and retain top talent? 

Five things that make businesses stand out

  1. Culture
Positive company culture is crucial for top talent. Candidates want to feel happy and positive whilst at work, they don’t want a dictator or a rigid manager who isn’t open to change or being challenged. Candidates require training and mentoring, as well as the opportunity to bring their own ideas and ways of working into their respective role.
  1. Progression and development
Top candidates need to know that if they work hard and perform well in their workplace, there is an opportunity for them to step up to a more senior role in the future. If a candidate doesn’t see a long-term future with the business, it is likely they will look elsewhere, or won’t stay with the company for very long.
  1. Flexibility
Flexible or dynamic working is becoming increasingly important to candidates. Due to a busy daily life, if a candidate has the option to work from home or vary their hours slightly to suit their lifestyle, then this can be very appealing to them.
  1. Salary, bonus, and commission opportunities
A competitive salary, bonus, and commission structure are important as the top professionals in the market want to feel valued at work, and earn the remuneration that they deserve.
  1. Reputation
If your organisation has a great reputation, it will show in the types of candidates that are keen to work for you. Top talent wants to work for exciting businesses that they are proud to tell their friends and family about. If a company has a bad reputation, it often scares the best candidates away. 

Perfecting your offering

Perfecting your recruitment processes is crucial in today’s candidate-led market, as exceptional candidates are hard to come by. Dependant on the seniority of the position, an interview process is normally two or three stages long. This should ideally take around two weeks to complete. If your interview process is beginning to take up to three or four weeks, you are likely to lose your candidates to a competitor when they become disengaged with the process. 
Recruitment companies and internal recruiters will be contacting them, and they will eventually have their head turned. It comes back to the age-old saying: “time kills deals.”
Global FMCG brand, Coca Cola, has an outstanding brand reputation that they have built over many years, they highlight this on their website:
“There’s something special about our company. There’s a sense of pride that comes from building brands people love and making the most of ourselves as a company and as individuals. 
"In one way, you’ve known us all your life. Perhaps you even think of our brand as an old friend. But old friends can grow in new and exciting ways. Surely you have. And so have we.”
There is a range of different things that are important to top talent. Increased flexibility, progression, development, and leadership opportunities are all elements that top candidates look for from a business. Top talent is generally extremely ambitious, and eager to develop their career to become the best they can be. 
If you are interested in discussing your recruitment needs with one of our specialist consultants, please get in touch today. Alternatively, if you are interested in learning how to spot a great sales professional from their CV alone, why not read our article ‘What does a great sales CV look like?’ to explore how to assess a candidate and hire the best talent on the market.
Jon Dolbear
Business Manager, Michael Page Sales
T: +44 118 955 9052