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Did you know that 69% of job seekers wouldn’t take a job with a company with a bad reputation even if they were unemployed? Sounds far fetched but according to a survey by Allegis Group Services, it’s true, and goes to show that when it comes to recruitment, company brand is extremely important.

In the competitive world of sales recruitment, company brand can be said to play an even more vital role. For a top sales pro, whose compensation is heavily contingent on being able to close deals, moving to a company whose reputation is less than stellar is unlikely to be seen a good career move.

Here’s why your ability to attract top sales talent is reliant on having a great company brand and what you can do about it.

Company Brand - What Are Top Reps Looking For?

 All too often, companies believe that it’s customers alone that they must market to when they consider branding. But the truth is, the salespeople that you want working for you are the ones that have done their homework, so it’s important that your branding and advertising takes them into consideration too.

Top sales reps want to work for top tier companies who have a great reputation in terms of products AND in terms of overall consumer perception including customer service, corporate social responsibility and long-term customer support.

First of all, great salespeople don’t want to have to sell poor products that they don’t believe in or that nobody wants. So you have to demonstrate that your goods or services are competitive and in demand.  It’s not just about ego (though that may certainly play a part), it’s just plain common sense that great products are easier to sell which means greater compensation for the sales rep.

Secondly, and perhaps even more importantly, is that today’s best sales reps understand that their own personal brand is key to selling in today’s marketplace. In other words, thanks to social media, their personal reputation is more widely known and acknowledged, and they need to protect it. If your company is associated with poor customer support or negative feedback, that’s not something they are going to want to be tarnished with because it can affect their ability to make sales now and into the future. To attract the best salespeople, it’s important that you advertise your customer service success and positive reviews loudly and clearly.

Company Brand, Recruitment and Sales Success

Obviously, it’s very important that your company is able to attract top sales talent. The appointment of the right sales team is critical to the success of your company.  Being able to secure the right talent has a very clear link to being able to increase sales and improve your bottom line. Therefore it’s critical that before you start the hiring process, you take the time to get a snapshot of your business’s reputation.  Once you understand your brand’s standing and perception, you can plan to either play up a positive reputation in your recruitment campaign or take steps to improve a mediocre or negative one.

What Can You Do About a Poor Brand Reputation?

So you’ve done your reputation audit and found that fairly or unfairly, the perception of your company is not great. What can you do to fix it?

Start by taking an honest look at the situation that has led to your poor standing. Once you understand why your company is viewed negatively, you can put a plan in action. If the poor reputation is unwarranted, perhaps as a result of a handful of unfair online reviews, a marketing campaign highlighting your product success may be enough to fix things.

In situations where there are real organizational or product issues, change won’t happen overnight. Your company will have to put a realistic plan in action to transform the problem areas. This may include small changes in processes or giant shifts in culture or product line.  Whatever the case, you’ll only be able to fix your image once you’ve made demonstrable progress to improve the problems your organization is facing. Until you are able to reach this point, it may be better to put the hiring process on hold. 

About the Canadian Professional Sales Association