SalesRecruiter

Recruiting Director

It's a candidate's market-- what attracts you to other companies?

It's a pretty hot market for candidates right now (I recruit software sellers). I have never seen so many folks turn down great offers or not be interested in speaking about a role here. We have a great reputation, publicly traded, and upper top right quadrant on Gartner for our space so I am inclined to think this is happening everywhere.

I feel like we need to get creative to attract sales folks so what better place to ask than here?! What makes you respond to a cold reach out over LinkedIn? What would make you take another offer right now? Keep in mind, there are some things we CAN'T do to entice you...

☁️ Software Tech

👥 Hiring

🤠 Culture

93 comments

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CoorsKing

WR Officer

Retired King of the Coors Knights

If you send me an email with the following info, I would possibly respond:
1) Role
2) OTE + accelerator structure
3) % of reps achieving 100%+ last FY
4) Who the investors are if private
5) Year over year market share growth
6) 401k matching %

someoneinsales

Tycoon

Director of Sales

Add number of customers to this list as well.

The info around customers is big in my head. If you say you have 50 customers vs 2000 customers, those are two very different sales roles. And two different territories you are prob walking into.

CoorsKing

WR Officer

Retired King of the Coors Knights

True. This helps determine if it is it a hunter patch, farmer patch, or mixed bag. Common misperception by recruiters that all reps have the same patches and skills - the three are very very different processes

someoneinsales

Tycoon

Director of Sales

All 3 different motivators for reps. Some like to tag and bag new logos and others like to take current customers and continue to sell to them.

SalesRecruiter

Opinionated

Recruiting Director

Love it. I have noticed that the templates I use that have more info around performance, they get more response rates. I don't use everything you reference but will certainly seek out the info and do that. Point number 6 is interesting. We actually have an insane 401k matching program that I reference on the call with a candidate but I should add that to my templates. Thank you so much!

ounceoz

WR Officer

US Sales Director

THIS! I am so confused on why recruiters do not include OTE and base and how many people are hitting their number.

justatopproducer

Politicker

VP OF SALES -US

I doubt they know.

recruiterguy

Contributor

Associate Partner

More an more lately for sales roles, my clients will change their comp range for a candidate. Just had a COO tell me he wanted to pay 120 OTE but I sent him the top 3 sales reps from his competitor and he made an offer at 180k OTE... I wish recruiters would just be more real with their candidates and be in their corner. The market dictates comp ranges and no one should be tied to a number for the right fit... this works both ways from the company and candidates.

Covfefe4ClosersOnly

VP of Sales

Where would you find the pay of your competitors top 3 sales reps?

recruiterguy

Contributor

Associate Partner

Through a recruiter that calls them.....

This position was also located in Utah, some states don't allow me to ask.

ounceoz

WR Officer

US Sales Director

@recruiterguy any insight on how/when to address comp? Typically I ask right up front as to not to waste my time but is that correct? Better to ask if there is wiggle room from the stated comp?

recruiterguy

Contributor

Associate Partner

I don't work for the companies I place people at so I want to know up front Base/Draw and OTE. I share that with employers at point of introduction to not waste time if they can't pay.

If you are working with an employer - I would always be up front and honest - don't waste time - never give a number, always a range!!!! When you give a range up front before you know enough about the company, org structure, sales cycle, bennies, blah blah - you have the chance to push higher, take lower once you finish the interview process.

Mjollnir

Politicker

Account Executive

everything you said plus flexibility of work location/ WFH

GlobalLeader

Valued Contributor

Director, Global Accounts

WFH is huge. However, any chance to meet face to face with a client, I'm there. Gotta love company expense reports and your personal points.

GlobalLeader

Valued Contributor

Director, Global Accounts

Equity is a big one too. How many shares are they giving, if any, and what's the vest schedule? Shorter the better.

saashunter2.0

Executive

Mid-Market Account Executive

You can also get this info on RepVue and sort how you want it

CoorsKing

WR Officer

Retired King of the Coors Knights

If it’s a cold out reach by a recruiter, I’m not going to spend my time researching their company. The question was more around what would make me respond to a LinkedIn inmail, and if someone sends me that information upfront saving me time, I might consider responding.

paddy

WR Officer

Director of Business Development

You lost me at "upper right quadrant on Gartner"

But to answer your question, I think more transparency about pay off the bat is helpful. Holding back this info until having a call has always been a big turn off for me.

CaneWolf

Politicker

Call me what you want, just sign the damn contract

I won't even take calls without knowing comp now.

SalesRecruiter

Opinionated

Recruiting Director

Will you even respond to an InMail to ask or just blow off the message? Is that the case for all reachouts or do you make an exception depending on the company they are coming from?

CaneWolf

Politicker

Call me what you want, just sign the damn contract

I'll respond and ask for OTE. And that does mean something. If you're telling me that OTE is X and that's lower than my base, there is 0 point in us having a conversation.

SalesRecruiter

Opinionated

Recruiting Director

I totally agree. Believe me, its not fun our end to have a 20-30 min convo and not match up on comp by the end of the call. I would LOVE to know this upfront as well but I guess I always thought it was too forward. In sales, if you reach out to a prospect to try and set up a demo, do you add in the cost of your product on that message?

CaneWolf

Politicker

Call me what you want, just sign the damn contract

No, but that's a completely different ballgame. I'm trying to demonstrate value to the prospect, which could in theory be unlimited. But if they ask, yeah, I'll give them some sort of answer.

When you're speaking to a single seller, the comp is what directly affects the seller, not the company that the person works for, so it's a different type of discussion.

SalesRecruiter

Opinionated

Recruiting Director

Curious what you mean about losing you in reference to the GMQ. I was just trying to say we aren't a no-name company.

Thanks for your feedback. I can see both sides. If I do a cold outreach and someone asks me via LinkedIn what the pay is in response to my message, I will tell them. Pay is obviously important but typically half of the pay is up to you to make up in commission. That is why I like to frame my messaging around the opportunity itself, the success of the company, etc. I could message you and tell you that we pay a $350k OTE but what does that really mean?

poweredbycaffeine

WR Lieutenant

☕️

"We have a great reputation, publicly traded, and upper top-right quadrant on Gartner for our space"

This ^ I don't GAF about this. Perks are fillers once you get beyond 26.

I want to get paid at or above market rate, I want to work with a team that seems like they "get it" (founders who have sold 1+ companies), and I need to know that I can make an impact on the trajectory of your company. OH, and don't you dare tell me you "prefer office-based work". That's the first sign that your management team is a bunch of micro-managers.

CaneWolf

Politicker

Call me what you want, just sign the damn contract

Second- does anybody really believe that Gartner/Forrester bullshit anymore?

SalesRecruiter

Opinionated

Recruiting Director

This could be a good secondary conversation. I think I will do a poll!

butwhy

Politicker

Solutions Engineer

No. They are so blatantly paid off and their new wave reports are so poorly written, I am not convinced they did any actual digging into the products.

CaneWolf

Politicker

Call me what you want, just sign the damn contract

I know for a fact if you have a big enough name and the right connections, you can appeal and get them to look again at your stuff. But if you are a smaller player, no chance is that happening.

poweredbycaffeine

WR Lieutenant

☕️

Having worked for one of these two firms, representing SMBs who could kick the shit out of a lot of the bigger players who get upper rights (see what I did there)...I can confirm that this is true as well.

SalesRecruiter

Opinionated

Recruiting Director

LOL I wasn't trying to recruit you. I was thinking people may ask if we are a small start-up or how big we are, etc. I was just trying to describe what kind of company we are. I don't frame messaging like that or anything.

Thanks for your other feedback--super helpful! We are not a remote-first company (meaning we do have offices) however in sales, pretty much everyone is remote. It's not something I reference in messaging because I guess I feel like that is the norm but perhaps not.

poweredbycaffeine

WR Lieutenant

☕️

You might not, but lots of companies do, which is why I said I don't care about it.

However, your company should all be on the same page when it comes to messaging. What you say in outreach needs to be the same as what is said across the entire hiring team. I've had countless conversations where the recruiter said one thing, only to be contradicted by the hiring manager later.

CaneWolf

Politicker

Call me what you want, just sign the damn contract

So true. And then you go "nope, they can't even get basic shit together. I'm out."

recruiterguy

Contributor

Associate Partner

Remote sales orgs are not the norm. At least not in Utah. That has been the biggest reason for candidates backing out of positions, for me at least.

poweredbycaffeine

WR Lieutenant

☕️

Remote sales is the future. Hop on the train or get out of the way. CHOO-CHOO.

recruiterguy

Contributor

Associate Partner

Don't disagree with you - I've placed more remote Marketing Leaders in 2021 than my whole career but not a single remote Sales Leader... Hopefully we start seeing a shift in the Utah market.

BmajoR

Arsonist

Account Executive

Money, money, and more money. Clear path and expectations with full transparency on current performance and what to reasonable expect in the first year.

SalesRecruiter

Opinionated

Recruiting Director

Thanks for your feedback! I am always so curious around "reasonable expect in the first year". I get it but at the same time, I can literally say anything but it doesn't mean it will happen. Quota achievement and W2s are so dependent on each person especially if the company has segmentation around company size and who handles what. I almost feel like it would make more sense to reference the % of folks hitting quota.

BmajoR

Arsonist

Account Executive

Take the average of your sales team, and maybe exclude your top and bottom outliers and explain that to the candidate.

I get too many recruiters telling me, ohhhh look our top 10% are making this much!!!! Okay, great - so how many people is 10% of your team? What are the bottom 10% making? Referencing % of folks hitting quota is a great idea. That is one of the first questions I ask if it isn't already mentioned.

I think the more transparent you can be, the better. I understand the recruiters job is to generate interest, but we're smarter than falling for the obvious bait of flashiness.

SalesRecruiter

Opinionated

Recruiting Director

I love it. I don't really learn that type of info first hand but I am sure I can seek it out. Thank you so much for your feedback. Super helpful!

BmajoR

Arsonist

Account Executive

I am confident you'll have a higher response rate if you can give the details that matter.

- What % of reps hit quota?
- What % of quota attainment is required to achieve the OTE offered
- Average deal size
- Remote or in office?
- Average tenure of reps
- Full cycle, or supported by S/BDRs?

These are questions that are important to me when making decisions on whether I interview or not.

SalesRecruiter

Opinionated

Recruiting Director

Amazing. Thank you!

CuriousFox

WR Officer

🦊

Yes thank you! Also, please don't tell me it's an AE role when it's really a damn SDR role.

UrAssIsSaaS

Arsonist

SaaS Eater

This probably wont help you at all, but I dont respond to cold outreach unless it is from someone I know and trust. So from your perspective if you can drop mutual connections saying something like "Hey x recently started with us because of Y" I might be inclined to respond.

Try that or just offer me all of the money and equity you possibly can.

Unicorn.Hunter

Politicker

Enterprise Account Executive

100% agree with this!

SalesRecruiter

Opinionated

Recruiting Director

Thanks for your response! I do try to tailor messages for people I don't know. I haven't thought to reference mutual connections--I like that idea. I usually call out something on their profile to show that I actually looked at them. "It looks like you've been pretty successful at COMPANY NAME" or "I also graduated from COLLEGE NAME".

UrAssIsSaaS

Arsonist

SaaS Eater

I figure your role is close enough to sales and I know if I am reaching out to a prospect and reference someone they know using our platform, our traction is way higher so worth a shot in this world too

SalesRecruiter

Opinionated

Recruiting Director

I will absolutely try this! Thanks for the tip!

UrAssIsSaaS

Arsonist

SaaS Eater

No worries, let us know if it works!

SalesRecruiter

Opinionated

Recruiting Director

I will!

Avon

Politicker

Senior Account Executive

Just accepted a new job and have been getting multiple reachouts a day for months so I feel qualified to answer this.

Biggest thing I look for is product market fit. The job I took is in an industry that everything Ive read says will blow up in the next 5 years. They also have good glassdoor reviews and I have a friend there who could vouch for people hitting quota. I also liked that my new manager said in his words "You can come to the office whenever you want, but if you want to stay remote, I dont give a fuck, you do you just perform". A couple places I talked to said they want people back in the office 2-3 days a week and I just didnt want to commit to that.

SalesRecruiter

Opinionated

Recruiting Director

I love this. Thank you! I think the manager that you will have plays a big part in the decision. Thanks for the Glassdoor callout--I feel like that is the first place people look.

SaaSam

Politicker

Account Executive

Good Glassdoor reviews are important but I pay more attention to the bad ones. It's pretty easy to pick out who is just a disgruntled ex employee trying to cause as much damage as possible and a legitimate complaint about a company. If the ones I judge to be legitimate are things I look to avoid then I won't bother taking a meeting.

Avon

Politicker

Senior Account Executive

Yeah while I hope RepVue grows to the point it can replace it in our field, Glassdoor is still king for the time being. Also base salary matters a ton. I care about OTE but I’ve also seen so many unrealaistic ones. I like to live off my base salary and use my commission for fun/saving/investing. When companies offer a non livable base to “motivate me to sell” I laugh and talk to someone who’s with the times.

SaaSam

Politicker

Account Executive

100% I always go off of base. OTE is nice to know obviously but what I care about is my base because OTE is often exaggerated. I don't care if your top rep is hitting it, OTE should be based on the average rep not top performer.

SaaSam

Politicker

Account Executive

Exactly what I do. I know of too many companies that either force or incentivize employees to leave positive glassdoor reviews. Hell even if the review is legit every new job has the honeymoon faze when everything is awesome, until it's not.

CaneWolf

Politicker

Call me what you want, just sign the damn contract

Why do you see being a public company as a benefit? All that means is my equity is probably gonna end up less valuable unless you're granting me RSUs. Oh, and RSUs are a hell of an interest point for me for public companies.

Openness about how my commission plan actually works before I sign, ability to meet other sales reps, honest answers about turnover, etc., are all things your company could do.

SalesRecruiter

Opinionated

Recruiting Director

We offer RSUs (a nice amount of them too) which is why I referenced being publicly traded but you're right...doesn't always mean you get RSUs. Thanks for your other points as well!

Goku

Director of Sales

I work in Recruiting too. Stop using words like " upper top right quadrant on Gartner ", no one gives a F.

Recruiting is the same as selling. Now even more so. When sending out messages talk about how the role can potentially help them improve their career & ask them more about what they want. Upon them asking about it, you can schpiel on about your company. Like they say in sales, focus your convo on the customer.

I get fills by pipelining candidates ahead of time. I 'interview' casually and am always looking to get on the phone with someone new.

Feel free to ping me if I can share some more suggestions to help you improve.

Gyro25

Notorious Answer

Account Executive

Just my 2 cents, but flexibility is key imo. Remote, hybrid, in person, leave it to the candidate to decide and don't force them in an office if they don't want to.

Obviously, not all companies can do this, but as you said, it's a candidates market and sales people have choices. I turned down recruiters who kept telling I had to commute for a role and I straight up just said no, I'm not interested if there's no flexibility there. Everyone's different, but if companies are unwilling to adapt, they'll be on the losing end of good salespeople.

My top 5 is:
Flexibility
Compensation, reps hitting quota(Give me numbers)
Product market fit
Culture
Mentorship/training

SalesRecruiter

Opinionated

Recruiting Director

Thank you so much! Another person mentioned the flex working stuff. I didn't think it wasn't implied that sales are usually remote. I will for sure be adding that to my templates. Thank you for your top 5!

sav

Valued Contributor

Account Executive (Enterprise)

Recruiter Mail is pretty much a no go for me as most recruiters who email me are contracted and way too vague and generic for me to work with. (No differentiation) I think I’ve only connected with one recruiter mail and the biggest turn off there is they were still stuck in the stuffy office setting and sales for me means I never have to move again. Some people like the adventure but I wouldn’t move to advance my career again. A Recruiter Mail I’d actually respond to is

“Hi I’m ____ at xyz Corp. I’m looking to fill a role you’re listed experience correlates with. I’m curious, what are you passionate about in the workplace?

I love my job at xyz Corp and want others to have the same experience as me.

if you’re open to a new opportunity, we’re hiring for xyz position and I’d love to chat with you briefly to see if our directions align.”

Honestly I can think of at least a dozen recruiters I would have setup an additional call with from a line like this. The typical culture, benefit and space domination dumps don’t catch my attention at all. If i can’t read and appreciate it within 5-10 seconds or it looks scripted, immediate delete.

Prunetracey

Fire Starter

VP Growth

I'm Aussie but we're experiencing the same hot market for Saas sales people.

#1 recommendation is to just tell the prospective candidate exactly what the salary range + OTE is upfront. Do not say "ohhhh it's around 400K OTE".

#2 recommendation. If you can't tell me who the company is, get the fuck out of my inbox. Do not say "oooohhhh it's private until you have 2 x interviews with me to vet you"... You messaged me dickhead, don't waste my time.

draculina

Fire Starter

process development specialist

- offer me a position above my current title, and make sure you're offering me a better salary than my current. i turned down 3 interview offers just because of the title.
- explain all the perks etc right away.
- maybe your reputation isn't as good as you think. maybe, these people who are already in the industry, know that some of your team members are toxic etc. there are places/positions i would turn down just because i know some key people there are assholes and i could never work with them.
- your great offers might not be that great to them. you're hr i think, so you look at the company and think "well, this is good enough". my previous hr thought they did me a service by hiring me despite i had to commute from a different city. i mean, it's all about perspective.

GlenRoss

Politicker

Account Executive

I pretty much never respond if the OTE isn’t in the LI message

someoneinsales

Tycoon

Director of Sales

The biggest thing that attracts me to other companies is the people I sell to. I have made some decent relationships with my buyers. If I feel it is time to start looking, I ask them what space is the new hottness and what companies are they looking at in that space.

If you reach out from one of those spaces, I wont have a call with a recruiter until I know what is the:

- Base Pay
- OTE (How many reps are actually hitting this)
- How many customers
- Why is this role open (did someone leave, get fired or expansion?)
- Equity
- investors if private.

If the space seems to be interesting and all the above align to at least a stating to where I can negotiate even more, then I might take 30 minutes.

E_Money

Big Shot

💰

Money!

E_Money

Big Shot

💰

JK... work-life-balance... and money

ventox35

Politicker

Sales Leader

1. comp. simple, but high potential
2. day to day responsibilities: make your own leads, get fed leads..
3. what's your differentiator?
4. equity ( i like working for startups)
5. company culture

Jewcan_Sam81

Politicker

Account Executive

Money, money, money, and also whether or not they sell a non garbage product

nomdeguerre

Executive

Account executive

Agree with everything said here, but would add the following: tell me the name of the company. How can I possibly tell you if I'm interested if I don't know who we are talking about?

Lc_loo.st

Vendas

Sim, qualquer mercado que atrai lucros eu me interesso. Preciso muito.

SalesSage

Valued Contributor

National Account Manager

I must be doing something wrong, not having sold SaaS in my history and no one wants to touch no history in SaaS no matter how good my sales skills are!

cw95

Politicker

Sales Development Lead

Salary. Salary and a clear ‘ quirky meet the team’ part of the company so you know it’s not going to be a bore and you won’t be working with people that are a million miles away from your personality

Diablo

Politicker

Sr. AE

Honestly, I hate when someone reach out to me on LinkedIn. Reason - Whenever I have responded, in most cases I haven't heard back.

I always look at the job description, salary, company growth and team culture.

recruiterguy

Contributor

Associate Partner

I recruit sales and marketing as well and after struggling through the summer have found a great pool to help...

I am almost exclusively recruiting from direct competitors and one notch down on the ladder. Just placed an Inside Sales Manager that hadn't been a manager, and an SDR that hadn't landed out of college yet but was calling alumni network for donations... Usually we want to find like to like but people want to grow and make more money. If your org can be flexible on this give it a go.

Recruiting out of competitor has been helpful because my clients don't have to teach the product or market, just the specific competitive advantage and what the next level means.

Hope that helps.

salesmafia617

Account Executive

A big trend I'm seeing is not only a high OTE/comp plan, but also an above average base to add in the security piece for sellers. I've been going to RepVue to find the perfect balance of this

MattProvins

Sales Development Manager

What's the OTE? Hundreds of thousands of companies in different industries are desperately hiring, but but is the compensation worth the work?

NoQuarter

CEO/Owner

A clear value proposition and unobstructed opportunity - as defined by ME. Everything else is window dressing. I also expect any company to know why they are being told "no" by prospective customers. Anything else I need to know or any red flags will become apparent during my discussions with the C-suite folks. There is only so much you can glean from a bunch of numbers thrown at you. Discernment and experience are your best tools to figure things out.

SalesRecruiter

Opinionated

Recruiting Director

WOW! I was not on for a few days because work was crazy. Thank you SO much for this feedback. I am hoping I can implement all of these things as we try to bring in great talent.

artofsales

Good Citizen

-1

Sr. Director of Enterprise Sales

Tell me why what your company is doing is so important that I should spend my time selling it... Seriously :)

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SalesRecruiter

It's a candidate's market-- what attracts you to other companies?

93 comments

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