fbpx You’ve put your heart and soul into your business to create an inviting atmosphere, but what happens when you’re not on the sales floor? Hiring employees who have the same vision and work ethic as you is incredibly important to your bottom line. If you don’t have the right employees in place, they might be falling short of your expectations and in turn, costing you sales. So how do you put the right people in place? Read on to find out three things to look for when hiring your sales team.

Are they passionate about what you’re selling?

In retail, people who are passionate about the products they are selling sell the most. If they don’t believe in what you’re selling that might prevent them from encouraging additional sales and helping customers find the right add-ons to their purchases. When interviewing sales associates, make sure they have some interest in the products that you’re selling. Someone who enjoys running will probably be more interested in talking about the benefits of compression socks in a specialty run store than someone who hates running.

Are they a good cultural fit?

Outside of being interested in your products, it’s important to determine if they fit in the culture you’ve created. This is important from a business and customer standpoint. If you hire a person that doesn’t get along well with the rest of the team, it might create a riff among the staff and discourage the upbeat environment. For customers, an offbeat salesperson could create a different experience from the last time they visited your store. This might not seem like a big deal, but what if the customer interprets the second experience as bad? You might have lost a returning customer.

Are they reliable?

When you’re running a business, it’s imperative that you can count on the people you’ve hired to help you. If you’ve hired a person who is often late, doesn’t try to meet their sales quota, or speaks negatively about your store, you risk losing a lot more than sales. But how can you tell in an interview if someone is truly reliable? For starters, their arrival time to the interview can give you a glimpse into their future reliability as an associate. But past that, asking for (and calling) references can help you determine what kind of employee they have been in the past. Hiring your staff, even part-time staff, is a huge investment on your part. If you hire the wrong associates, you mind find yourself losing time from training and losing money on lost sales. It’s important to determine what the top qualities are that you look for in your sales team and vetting out those who don’t have those qualities during your interview process. Check out more tips for retailers in this free guide!