Hiring great Inside Sales reps has never been harder.

Increased competition for top talent and supply lagging behind demand means that when we land that great rep we have to make their experience with us outstanding! It is as much about retention as recruitment, right?

Our recent hiring infographic noted that 41% of reqs take 45+ days to fill. This is creating quite a revenue gap.

I recently shared my thoughts about how you have to be interesting and different to draw talent to you. But let’s say you are successful, what then?

• How do you close the revenue gap by onboarding these reps as quickly as possible?
• How do you ensure a great experience for them and for the buyers that are going to be working with them?

Let’s start with the underlying problem

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Earlier this week I was lucky enough to listen in on a Focus.com roundtable billed Bigger, Better, Faster: Inside Sales in 2011. Moderated by Chris Snell who lead the panel through a range of topics around Inside Sales & Inside Sales Management. (The recording [MP3 file] has been made available, so you can give it a listen when you have some time.)

I thought it would be interesting to highlight three questions that the panel addressed:

Geoff Alexander over at Geoff Alexander & Company is today's guest blogger. He is kindly sharing an excellent post on "How to hire a superstar inside salesperson".

Garth Moulton of Jigsaw recently wrote on the very same subject: Profiling the Perfect Inside Sales Person-Part One.  What follows is his Myth #2.