#Nextchat: HR, You're Now In Sales

HR professionals are finding more and more that they are in the sales business these days, as their focus has shifted from sourcing to selling. 

In the Society for Human Resource Management Conference Daily article “’You’re In Sales’, Pink Tells HR,” speaker and author Daniel Pink argued that “sales is the most important part of anyone’s job—especially for those in HR.” He said that “people typically spend 41 percent of their time on the job trying to persuade others.”

When it comes to talent management, sourcing has become much easier with the advent of social media and access to thousands of potential candidates through sites like LinkedIn. Candidate assessment methods come and go, and every recruiter or organization will have their own tried and true processes for measuring if a job candidate is a good fit.

The stages of the talent management process that now require the most attention are those where sales skills are most valuable: selling the organization’s culture, creating an attractive job description, and also when extending an offer to a candidate.  

Additionally, by partnering with the sales arm of its organization, HR can learn about important aspects of selling—like rapport building, listening and effective presentation skills—and how these can be applied to the talent management process.

How can you use sales skills to optimize your talent management process?

Please join @weknownext at 3 p.m. ET on November 5 for #Nextchat with special guest, SHRM's Kim Lambert (@kimlambertSHRM). We’ll chat about why it’s important for recruiters and HR to be focusing on sales skills now. 

Q1. In what areas of your job as an HR professional do you find yourself doing more and more sales?

Q2. What are some simple but proven approaches HR pros can use to successfully sell prospects and candidates?

Q3. What questions should HR ask during the interview to sell the job to the candidate? (What will it take? ...Are we close?)

Q4. Should you ask candidates for their job acceptance criteria or “deal-breaker lists” to personalize your selling approach? 

Q5. Why should HR use “company sell sheets” to list the advantages of working for their organization when talking to a candidate? 

Q6. Why is it important for HR to study offer-trend data (specifically why recent offers were accepted or rejected) before closing a deal with a candidate?

Q7. Is a three- or six-month salary “reopener” an effective sales tool for HR when trying to recruit talent? What are the advantages and disadvantages to this approach?

Q8. Why are customized and targeted sales approaches important when selling to executives, innovators and those in technology? 

Q9. What types of questions should be included in post-recruiting surveys to learn the root causes of your successes and failures?