Hiring Salespeople? Avoid These 3 Common (and Costly) Mistakes

Hiring the right salespeople can be the difference between explosive growth and months of lost revenue. Yet many companies make the same mistakes over and over again—mistakes that cost both time and money, while their competitors pull ahead.

When we analyze our clients’ recruitment processes, we see a clear pattern. The companies that are most successful in filling sales positions differ significantly from those that struggle. The difference lies not in budget or industry, but in how strategically they approach the recruitment process itself.

After observing hundreds of sales recruitment processes, we’ve identified three critical mistakes that most companies make. These mistakes aren’t just common—they’re also surprisingly costly when you calculate their actual impact.

Mistake 1: Starting to look for "someone who can sell" without defining what is to be sold

It sounds almost ridiculous when you say it out loud, but the vast majority of companies start their sales recruitment process by asking the wrong question. Instead of asking, “What will this person do?” they ask, “Who should we hire?”

Saying that you’re going to hire a salesperson and then start looking for someone who can sell is like wanting to recruit an athlete without first finding out which sport is involved. A table tennis player, a basketball player, and a weightlifter look completely different—and won’t be the best, or even able to perform, in each other’s sports.

Why does this happen so often?

The pressure to fill a position quickly causes many to skip the groundwork. The sales manager is told, “We need a salesperson,” and within a few days, a job posting has been published or a recruitment agency has been contacted. But without a crystal-clear picture of exactly what needs to be done, the result is random.

What seems like a time-saver at first ends up being a huge expense later on. Putting the wrong person in the wrong type of sales role usually results not only in failed sales, but also in frustration, high employee turnover, and damaged team dynamics.

The Real Consequence

When the right person ends up in the wrong sales role, we typically see that the budget isn’t met within 12–18 months. In the worst-case scenario, the person quits and the process has to start over from scratch. For a company with 10 million in revenue, this simple mistake can cost 500,000–1,000,000 kronor in lost growth and recruitment costs.

A complete job description—what we call “the hat”—must include specific details such as the length of the sales cycle, average order size, activity budget, and exactly what results are expected. Different personalities thrive and perform differently depending on whether the sales cycle is three weeks or nine months.

Mistake 2: Focusing on "good people" instead of productive people

This is perhaps the most costly mistake of all. In the interview room, we’re often blinded by charisma, education, or industry expertise, while forgetting the one thing that really matters: Does this person have a track record of delivering results?

A good person isn't necessarily a good person to hire. What determines success in sales is productivity—the ability to initiate, continue, and complete activities with the desired results.

Why This Mistake Is So Common

Many sales managers are former top salespeople, which means they’re fantastic at getting along with people. That’s their superpower. But in the interview room, this strength becomes a weakness when the focus shifts to “getting along” with the candidate instead of examining their actual track record of results.

We see this time and time again: the candidate who made the biggest impression in the interview—the one everyone “liked”—turns out to be a disappointment six months later. Meanwhile, the candidate who may have been a little less charming but had clear documentation of their past achievements goes on to become a star salesperson.

What Productivity Really Means

A productive salesperson doesn’t just have “sales experience.” They have concrete, measurable evidence that they have exceeded goals, increased sales, and driven growth in their previous roles. Equally important: high-performing individuals demonstrate signs of productivity even outside of work. Perhaps they have competed at a high level in sports, led organizations, or carried out projects with demonstrably successful results.

Someone who appears to be “an honest, pleasant person with a good attitude” may turn out to be someone who has never delivered under pressure or taken responsibility for their numbers. Unfortunately, this realization often comes only after several months of underperforming sales.

Mistake 3: Focusing on a comprehensive onboarding process instead of the first order

The third major pitfall concerns what happens after the contract is signed. Many companies believe that the key to success is a “thorough and serious onboarding process.” But this well-intentioned approach fails to understand what’s really going on in the mind of a new salesperson.

A new salesperson has only one thing on their mind until that goal is achieved: closing their first sale. It’s only after they’ve closed their first sale that they truly know they can do it. No matter what they say or how they act, no salesperson feels particularly good until that first sale is closed.

Why Traditional Orientation Programs Fail

When a newly hired salesperson goes through week after week of training, product reviews, and administrative procedures before being allowed to start selling, an unhealthy imbalance is created. The salesperson receives, receives, and receives from the company, but never gets the chance to give back what they’re passionate about contributing: sales.

This inevitably leads to the new employee becoming critical and negative. The curious phenomenon that people who only receive and never give become dissatisfied is well known in psychology, yet it is ignored in most orientation programs.

The Effective Method

What works is giving the salesperson just enough training to start producing results—and then immediately following that up with more training as a reward for those results. This way, the salesperson and the company are in balance, and training becomes something positive rather than a tedious chore.

A new salesperson should not be expected to meet the same sales target as an experienced salesperson from day one. Instead, a ramp-up plan is established in which the targets gradually increase over six months until the person reaches their full sales target. However, the first target should be achievable within the first few weeks.

Why These Mistakes Are So Costly

When we calculate the true cost of bad hires, the numbers quickly become alarming. A bad hire in a sales position not only costs the employee’s salary during the employment period, but also:

• Lost sales opportunities during the period the person would have been productive
• Recruitment costs (including both internal resources and any external costs)
• Cost of a new recruitment process
• Time to train the next person
• Impact on Team Dynamics and Morale

For many companies, the total cost of a bad hire is 1.5 to 3 times the person’s annual salary. For a company that hires salespeople with an annual salary of 600,000 Swedish kronor, a single mistake can therefore cost 900,000 to 1,800,000 Swedish kronor.

The Strategic Difference

Companies that avoid these mistakes have developed a systematic approach to sales recruitment. They understand that recruitment isn’t about “finding good people” but about minimizing risk through a structured process.

Their success stems from the fact that they are just as selective about whom they hire as they are about which clients they work with. They have learned to ask tough questions, request concrete evidence of past performance, and design onboarding programs that enable salespeople to start generating results quickly.

The difference is evident within the first few months. While their competitors are still struggling with underperforming salespeople, they already have a well-oiled sales machine driving growth.

The Next Step Toward Better Sales Recruitment

Avoiding these three mistakes requires more than just awareness—it requires a systematic change in how the recruitment process is structured. This involves developing clear job descriptions, creating structured interview processes focused on productivity, and building onboarding programs that prioritize quick results.

The real challenge lies in implementation. Moving from ad hoc recruitment to a systematic process requires both methodological knowledge and the discipline to follow the process even when time is tight.

For companies that are serious about building an effective sales organization, however, this is an investment that pays off in months of successful recruitment down the line. The difference between guessing and having a proven method is clearly evident in the results.