Why HR Should Partner With Sales & Marketing

August 25, 2022

It doesn’t matter what industry you’re in—you need the right people to drive your organization to success. Without the talent you need to meet your goals, you’ll find yourself with a whole new set of problems.

Of course, recruiting the right people is much easier said than done. After all, your HR team already has their hands full. They’re writing job descriptions, vetting candidates, and conducting interviews. They shouldn’t have to rely on gut feelings to make key hiring decisions. 

So, what’s the solution? You need to establish a partnership. Recruitment doesn’t (and shouldn’t!) end with human resources—and your sales and marketing teams have equally important roles to play. When done right, a cross–team partnership can be an incredibly valuable asset for your company.

It’s time to partner with sales and marketing to source the right people, maximize sales force effectiveness, and retain top talent. Here’s how to align your resources to build an effective recruitment strategy.

 


 

Why Should HR Work With Sales?

They’re different departments with different responsibilities, but your sales team should be on good terms with human resources (and vice versa). No matter what their relationship looks like right now, both teams need to work together to grow your organization and boost your recruitment marketing efforts.

Why? You’ve heard it before, but your people are your biggest asset. And when it comes to hiring, you need to make the right decisions for every department, from your sales team to your logistics managers. To make that happen, your HR employees need to understand exactly what sales managers want from new hires. It’s that simple.

 


 

How Sales Managers Can Simplify the Hiring Process

You’ve added cross–team collaboration to your recruitment priority list. But what does it look like? When your HR team needs to fill sales positions, they should work with sales to hire the right people. Your sales managers should communicate what they’re looking for, with specific parameters for each position that needs to be filled. 

Sounds simple enough, right? With cross–team communication, HR and sales can work together to simplify hiring.

Here’s how your sales managers can expedite the hiring process.

    • Sales managers should provide detailed job descriptions. You need to hire the right person, and that starts with a detailed description of the ideal candidate for every open sales role. If you’re filling multiple positions, your sales managers should provide several descriptions instead of giving your HR department a laundry list of requirements for every job.
    • Sales managers should provide background on sales positions. Most HR teams don’t have a ton of background knowledge about sales positions. Your sales team can explain the differences between different positions, identify gaps in hiring, and build an effective onboarding process. By working together, HR and sales can work to bridge gaps and improve the hiring process for sales candidates.
    • Sales managers should participate in the interview process. When sales managers play a role in the interview process, they’ll have the final say over the type of candidate they want to hire. Even if your sales managers don’t have enough time to sit for interviews, they can help HR ask the right questions to evaluate candidates.

 


 

How HR Can Build a Powerful Sales Force

Let’s face it: Quick fixes to boost sales performance usually over–promise and under–deliver. Your sales team needs a long–term solution to meet department goals and boost productivity, and that’s where HR can make all the difference.

Before you dive into hiring, your sales managers and HR team need to be on the same page about sales roles. After all, you can’t drive real results without talented salespeople. Here’s how to transform your human resources team into a strategic sales partner.

  • HR should understand sales strategy before making assumptions about talent requirements. HR can only support sales when they understand the organization’s sales strategy. When HR knows the ins and outs of your company’s products and services, they’ll be one step closer to identifying the type of talent needed, where to source it, and how to acquire it.
  • HR should understand the types of sales roles required and how they work with each other. Not all sales roles are created equal, and your top account acquisition salespeople might not be equally successful at customer service. At the same time, HR should understand how different roles within the team work together to recruit the right kinds of talent.
  • HR should deploy the right people for the right roles. One of the best ways to boost sales effectiveness? By auditing your team. When HR conducts an audit to evaluate whether the sales force is optimally deployed, they can identify areas of improvement and new growth opportunities. If you’re not sure where to start, use an objective assessment to score salespeople based on their fit across different sales roles.

 

And remember: The role of human resources doesn’t end with hiring. After you pour time, money, and resources into recruiting the right people, you need to retain them. 

Your sales team wants to know how your organization will help them succeed, the benefits of what they’re selling, and the core values that drive your company. HR and sales should partner to communicate an impactful employer value proposition—the combination of benefits, culture, opportunities, and work environment that attract top talent.

 


 

Next Steps: Amplify Your Recruitment Strategy With Effective Marketing

Once your sales management team gives HR the information they need, HR can partner with marketing to attract and recruit qualified salespeople.

Marketing and human resources aren’t as different as you might think. Your organization needs to attract customers to boost sales. At the same time, hiring the right people is critical to your long–term success. Just like your marketing team markets your brand to sell products and services, you need to market your employer brand to recruit top talent.

Ready to kickstart your recruitment marketing strategy?

Here’s how marketing can help you reduce hiring times without sacrificing the quality of your candidates.

    • Marketing should help HR attract the right candidates. Even when times are good, you need to get hiring decisions right the first time. The best way to attract top talent is to align your HR strategy with your business plan. Start blogging about your company values, workplace culture, and employee successes. Spread the word about your open positions on social media and show potential candidates what sets you apart from the competition.
    • Marketing should communicate your employer brand. Your products and services aren’t the only parts of your company that need marketing. To attract top talent, you need an amazing employer brand to boost your reputation. Your ideal candidates want to work with a company that boasts a positive workplace culture, a strong mission, and great employee benefits. With the right marketing strategies, you can show candidates exactly why you’re worth working for.
    • Marketing should keep up with the latest market trends. Markets change, and so do employee expectations. Just like brands have to evolve to maintain their competitive edge, your employer brand has to stay up–to–date with the latest industry trends. Your marketing team can help HR stay on top of basic trends, like salary data, but you should also keep track of what benefits your competitors are offering. When you tweak your employer brand to compete with the top places to work in your field, you’ll attract your top picks and keep your current employees happy.

 


 

Align Your Sales & Marketing Resources with HR

What’s the secret to hiring success and sales force productivity? Cross–team collaboration. If your teams can’t be candid about potential candidates, you risk building an ineffective team filled with the wrong people.

It’ll take some work, but a solid partnership between sales, marketing, and HR can have a major payoff. So, what are you waiting for? Download our self–audit checklist and set up a discovery call with our team to drive top talent with powerful recruitment marketing.

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