five things to keep in mind when hiring a temporary sales force.

Given the flexibility that provisional workers bring to the company, hiring a temporary sales force can be a tempting proposition. But hiring temporary sales staff comes with its own set of challenges. For one thing, the sales talent you hire should support your critical business needs. Working with an experienced recruitment firm can help you identify the right talent who can win customers and meet sales targets. The other challenge is the temporary sales force should be readily available to meet fluctuating business demands. Here too, a recruitment firm with dedicated and well-thought out sourcing strategy can help you gain instant access to the right candidates and also help you understand which roles are best suited for temporary staffing and which are not.

Here are five things to keep in mind when hiring a temporary sales workforce:

Engagement matters:

The importance of employee engagement, even if it is temporary sales staff, cannot be emphasised enough. The reason: high quality provisional sales people are hard to come by. If you are looking to plug the skill gap with talented temporary staff, tell them they are valued. Understand the reason they want to work with you. Once you know the reason, set expectations and make them feel part of the team by inviting them to meetings, involving them in group discussions, and adding them to the team email list.

Hire an experienced sales manager:

Your temporary sales force needs to hit the ground running, so appoint an experienced sales manager who can effectively train them in your company’s products and services. With sufficient product training, temporary sales staff will be able to identify specific client issues and serve them better. This will increase their chances of meeting targets and keep them engaged and motivated to achieve more.

Pay well:

Competitive compensation can mean the difference between a temporary sales staff that wants to stay and one that wants to leave at the first opportunity. When hiring a provisional sales force, don’t be tempted to pay less than market standard. The reason: if you do not pay competitive wages, you risk attrition. Instead, become the company of choice for regular as well as flexible sales force by paying employees adequately for the value and talent they bring.

Provide a sense of security:

Emphasise the fact that the temporary sales team’s work is important and more work is in the pipeline. If you plan to keep your sales consultants longer, this is a great way to instill a sense of work security. Appreciating a job well done helps motivate the staff to perform better and stick to your brand. #Keep your recruiting process on: If temporary sales employees leave suddenly, you should be able to hire other talented salespeople immediately. Keep your recruitment process on and search for talented sales people through alumni network, industry events and business meeting, so you are not caught off-guard.

The key to successfully leveraging a temporary sales workforce is simple. Connect their individual goals to larger company goals and partner with them in their personal success journey, to generate more value and achieve lower turnover.