An individual, who has been an administrator in your business and shows the flair and communication skills required in sales, is clearly an obvious choice as they are a known quantity, have a good knowledge of the business, and can train and gain the necessary qualifications whilst in their role, which is very cost affective.
But how do you go about finding potential candidates if they are not known to you?
Social media can work well, especially considering most of your target audience will be under 30.
Start with creating a business Facebook page, and then either post the vacancy on this page, or ideally build a separate page that profiles the trainee position and program, and identifies the type of candidates you are seeking. A similar process can be followed with Twitter and Linked-in.
Also post your vacancy on Reed and with universities at the appropriate times and target certain professions such as the armed forces, and sales based roles.
It’s not easy to attract high calibre trainees, so it’s worth spending time explaining the role in detail, how you will support them, and your plans for the business. An £18k salary will be expected in many areas on top of which you have Cmap costs, with salaries often needing to be higher in the south east.
At that cost you will understandably want to have your trainee selling as soon as possible, but you just can’t afford to cut corners.
We would expect a trainee to be making their first observed mortgage sale within 3 months, but it very much depends on the level and intensity of training and development being provided.
In addition to somebody within the business taking accountability for the trainees development, having an adviser as a mentor for at least the first six months + is essential
Observing successful advisers is a must, but make sure those observed are very strong on cross sales and follow your prescribed sales process to the letter, as this is the opportunity to build the right habits from day 1.
There will be supervision implications so make sure these have been considered fully as part of the development plan.
Putting a trainee in an environment where leads levels are poor will almost certainly lead to failure.
They need practice and so plenty of opportunity to meet with customers, and worrying where the next lead is coming from is not the answer.
Trainees will cost significantly more compared to paying a recruitment fee, however they can become a tremendous asset, and can be top producers in your business.
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