Creating a modern selling team requires a modern approach to prospecting and recruiting new sales hires. 

The article below, suggests that there are "secrets" to hiring and finding the best salespeople.  Let me share an open secret, legacy techniques of recruiting salespeople are losing relevance.

Sourcing candidates was usually conducted in a couple of ways. 

Firstly we could ask a recruitment consultant to source, sift and propose candidates from their own network of contacts.  This was a bit like giving a brief to an estate agent for a 2 up 2 down semi, but they send you the details for the mansion instead. 

Secondly, we relied on our own network, ask a few clients who the best salespeople are and take it from there.  This worked quite well, but a client's perspective a good salesperson might be very bit different from the organisations.

Each in my experience resulted in finding a range of candidates that went on to make (mostly) successful hiring decisions.  It is a time consuming and a risky business.   

Hiring is guessing. Firing is knowing.

So, how can you mitigate the risk and improve the odds that the next hire is going to be an intrinsically motivated employee?  

Well, the open secret is to check their Linkedin activity and profile.  What does it say about them?  Is it just an online resume, with a list of target achievements over the years, or does it speak to who they are? 

Are they producing content that resonates with their target audience? 

Do they have an extensive network and regularly contribute online?  

Are they following industry hashtags?  

Do they belong to relevant LinkedIn groups? 

Is their page just static? 

If it's the latter, I'll let you into a secret - proceed with caution.