Growing A Diverse Sales Team Across Countries, Cultures, and Continents | Jerry Brooner - 041

Dec 7, 2021

Sales is a fundamental element of businesses. Without it, companies wouldn’t generate revenue! And with hundreds of thousands of niches and topics for sales professionals, do you think it makes sense for all salespeople to look and act the same? In today’s episode of Selling in Color, Donald is joined by Jerry Brooner, President of Global Field Operations at Enable, to discuss diversity in sales and how you can take steps to a diverse team in your organization.

Finding and keeping good talent is a warzone.

• To be clear, there is no shortage of talent. But many hiring managers are just not looking in the right places or for the right type of people.
• For example, hiring managers who look only in major U.S. cities completely ignore the rest of the country (let alone the rest of the world.) 
• In reality, there are intelligent and capable people no matter where you go, and they all bring different perspectives to a team.

Jerry’s strategies to recruit more diverse talent:

• First, think about what’s important for the company and the sales team. In most instances, that does mean a wider array of diversity and experiences.
• Jerry’s team goes to different states and countries, but not the major areas. So, for example, when recruiting in the UK, they checked places besides London.

Planning a diverse recruitment strategy: 

• Work backward. Look at your customers, your team’s territories, and the industries those territories fall in, and look for knowledgeable people in those areas.
• Make entry-level jobs entry-level. Determine if the number of years of experience you’ve selected is essential. Most of the time, it isn’t.
• Look for accomplishments rather than years of experience.

Addressing and creating diversity in his own company:

• Jerry believes that diversity is his company’s biggest asset. But you have to put a focus on it. Focus on it in terms of country, gender, and especially race.
• Don’t look to fill a quota; look to fill roles with good people. And you simply can’t get the best people by only looking in one location.
• If you’re looking to hire entry-level BDRs, don’t just go to the same colleges. Instead, broaden your selections to find the best people at each of those institutions.

Jerry’s final word of advice? The sales profession is made better with a diverse group of people. In the long term, we’ll all be better for it. For more information or to contact Jerry, reach out to him at [e-mail].

This episode is brought to you in part by Skipio.

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Audio provided by Free SFX and Bensound. Other songs used in the episodes are as follows: The Organ Grinder written by Bradley Jay Hill, performed by Bright Seed, and Produced by Brightseed and Hill.