Behind every successful business is a productive and impressive team. A group of people who each know and perfect their individual role to contribute to the success of all of them. Choosing these team members can be a daunting task. Even those associates who might seem like they will play a minor role in your business should be meticulously picked out, like choosing the perfect card for that special someone.
An ISA, or Inside Sales Agent, could be the missing piece of your team puzzle. They play an essential role in the success of many businesses, as they are directly responsible for turning leads into clients, and keeping current clients content. Because an ISA is the contact point for your customers, they need to be someone with poise and be polished in their communication and organization skills. Like the perfect card, your future ISA should be right for any occasion, say just the right thing at the right time, and make people appreciate you and your consideration. The following steps will help you find the best ISA for your business.
1. Wait for it
You wouldn’t want to send someone a “congratulations on your new job” card before they even landed an interview, so before you hire an ISA, make sure your business is ready, willing, and able. If your business is in its beginning stages and gaining a foothold in the industry is your main priority, then you should probably wait a while before hiring an ISA (but by all means, come back to this article when you do!). An ISA is most effective, and most necessary when your business starts to snowball in productivity. Their job is to keep the momentum moving without forcing your other team members to feel overwhelmed.
An Inside Sales Agent will contact leads, schedule appointments to turn those leads into active clients, and then keep in touch with clients to ensure customer satisfaction and continued growth. That way, buyer’s agents can worry about being buyer’s agents, and other admin can worry about being other admin, and everyone can do their specific job to the best of their ability.
2. The Personality Test
If your grandmother is extremely proper and scorns comedy, don’t send her a birthday card with a silly picture of a cat speaking with incorrect grammar. We’ve all spent hours in the card aisle at the local convenience store reading every single birthday greeting until the perfect message magically appears on the last one. Why would you use any less care in deciding on an employee? An ISA could play a pivotal role in your business, and can determine a significant part of your customer satisfaction rating, so they truly need to be practically perfect in every way.
A DISC assessment is a personality test developed by an industrial psychologist which can be an extremely helpful tool for establishing a baseline understanding of the person you want to hire. The DISC assessment uses four categories of behavior characteristics to describe a person’s work habits and preferences. The test assigns the letters D, I, S, and C to the characteristics decisive, interactive, stable, and cautious, giving the subject a percentage of how their personality reflects each trait. Many businesses look for people with high D and I behaviors, as the ISA will spend a majority of time talking to people on the phone.
However, Artesian Title prefers people with more dominant D and C personalities, as an excess of I could mean long phone conversations and lower productivity. Decisive people are typically fantastic problem solvers, and having a prominent cautious side usually means that the person is good at following procedures and rules. A person with a D C personality can usually be counted on to be efficient and reliable.
3. Search and Recruit
You would never go to Foot Locker looking for a baby shower card, so make sure that you are engaging the correct audience when seeking an Inside Sales Agent. Use legitimate job posting sites where professionals seek employment opportunities. Also, make sure to clearly express both the details of the job, expectations of your business, and the type of individual you would like to employ. Be specific but not boring, so that you engage potential employees and prepare them for the opportunity to be your next ISA.
4. Looks Good on Paper but…
Once you’ve found a fantastic candidate for your ISA position, bring them in for an interview. They will be part of your team, so it’s important that they mesh well with you and your other employees. Even though an ISA usually speaks with clients on the phone, they will have to speak with you in person, so their face to face interactions are also an important consideration. Make sure that your future Inside Sales Agent does not just look good on paper by asking critical thinking and situational questions which require them to formulate a unique response and F decisions on the spot. They should be dynamic, organized, and exude efficiency so that you can be confident in their ability to handle anything from the start. It is important for your business and for the moral of your entire team that you are sure of your new ISA and do not take a gamble on someone who might not work out. Choose the absolute best the first time and rest assured that your business will thrive.
5. Training Camp
Every member of your team is an important part of the overall success of your business, so it is critical that each individual receives consistent, superior training. The simplest way to ensure the quality of your employee’s training is to do it yourself. Have a vested interest in the support and education of your team, and they will return that interest in their work, as well as the success of your company.
Give your new ISA a script or a list of helpful phrases as well as a sheet of important business information that they should know about your company. Doing so should help them to feel confident and ensure that they will not hesitate or appear misinformed to your current or potential customers. Perfect practice makes perfect, so get involved in perfecting the practices of your employees by training them correctly yourself.
