Sales management · Recruitment and selection
Find out which of your last hires came from where before you pay for the next advertisement.
A recruiting source mix is the plan for where sales candidates come from: referrals, job portals, colleges, WhatsApp groups, apprenticeships and the rest. This page covers how to judge each source on cost, volume, quality and days to hire from your own last year. It ends with a source plan for the next round.
Scope, fee, reporting and term are agreed in writing after we have read your brief and spoken to you.
In one paragraph
A recruiting source mix is the plan for where sales candidates come from: referrals, job portals, colleges, WhatsApp groups, apprenticeships and the rest. This page covers how to judge each source on cost, volume, quality and days to hire from your own last year. It ends with a source plan for the next round.
A sanitaryware distributor in Belagavi posts on Naukri and gets a flood of applicants and meets four. Two months earlier the best hire came through a customer's cousin, at no spend. Nobody wrote down which was which, so next time the owner pays for the portal again.
The source mix is the list of every place candidates have come from: staff and customer referrals, reps from competitors, portals such as Naukri, apna and Indeed, trade and local WhatsApp groups, your own website, college placement cells, apprenticeship schemes and part-time trainees. For each one you enter last year's figures and decide how much to lean on it.
The sales manager keeps the sheet and the owner decides the spend. It replaces the reflex of posting where you posted last time. It follows the qualifications statement, since the source depends on who you are looking for, and comes before the hiring funnel tracker, which counts what each source brings in.
If you hire one rep every two years, skip the analysis. Ask five people you trust and see who knows somebody.
Where this sits
Topic 4 of 14 in sales management: recruitment and selection. Hiring salespeople through a repeatable process.
- The topic before
- Sales force design
- The topic after
- Sales training and development
If you want this done for you
The last three hires interviewed well and could not sell.
The work
What this is actually like.
“The cheap source costs more than it looks”
A referral hire costs a reward and a favour. It can also bring a friend who leaves the day the referrer does. Write the cost honestly, including the manager's days, and rate the hires by who is still there after ninety days.
“Quality needs a definition before the data does”
Rate each hire from one to five at ninety days, not at the offer. Use attainment against target and the manager's rating. A source that brings applicants who interview well and leave in a month is not a good source.
“College and apprenticeship pipelines are slow and quiet”
Placement seasons run once a year, and the candidates arrive without a sales habit. They also stay, and they cost little to train. Apprenticeship schemes carry rules on registration and stipend that differ by state, so ask your adviser before you start.
“WhatsApp groups are quick and leave no record”
A message in a trade group can produce a candidate by evening. It also leaves a phone number and nothing else. Copy every name into the candidate sheet the same day, or the speed is wasted.
What we do
What you end up with.
The documents this topic produces, what each one is for, and how you know it is finished.
Source sheet
One row per source: applicants, interviews, hires, spend, days to hire, ninety-day quality rating. The sales manager fills it from the last twelve months.
Result: Finished when every hire of the past year sits in one source row.
Cost and speed summary
Cost per hire and days per hire for each source, worked out on the sheet with your own figures.
Result: Finished when you can name the cheapest source and the best source separately.
Source plan
Which two sources lead, which one you test, which one you drop, and the budget line for each.
Result: Finished when every source in the plan has a spend line, even if it is zero.
Referral rule
The reward, when it is paid (after ninety days of service is the common sense point), and who is eligible.
Result: Finished when your staff can state the rule without asking.
Campus and trainee list
Named contacts at each college placement cell, the season dates, and a one-page description of a part-time trainee role.
Result: Finished when each college on the list has a named person and a date.
Why us
Why owners pick GullySales over an agency.
Marketing and sales, as one job
Most agencies stop at the enquiry. We also fix what happens after it: the reply, the follow-up, the quote and the CRM.
The person on the first call does the work
No account managers in between. You are never handed to someone you have not met.
A baseline before anything starts
Your numbers are written down on day one, so every later report compares against something honest.
The fee in writing, split three ways
Our time, your media spend and production on separate lines. You always see what goes to us.
No guarantees we cannot keep
The term is agreed in writing and never a default twelve months. We never promise a ranking or a lead count, because nobody controls those.
One office, and we say so
Nagarbhavi, Bengaluru. We work across India by call and WhatsApp and travel when a session needs to be in person.
#257, 3rd floor, Sri Nanjundeshwara Complex, Nagarbhavi 8th Block, Outer Ring Road. How we work.
Your brief
Tell us what you need, and we will read it before we call.
Eight short steps about your business, what you want and who decides. Most questions are a tap, and you can skip any you would rather answer on the call.
FAQ
Questions owners ask before they call.
Not here? More answers, or ask on WhatsApp.
Which job portal is best?
Are recruitment agencies worth it?
How many sources should we use?
Where do we keep candidate details?
How much does it cost?
How long is the contract?
How soon will we see results?
Who will actually do the work?
What do you need from us?
What if we are not happy with the work?
Where to go next
The work that carries this topic further.
The rest of recruitment and selection
Or read all of sales management.
Your next practical step
Tell us what you are trying to grow, and we will read it before we call.
Eight short steps, mostly taps. Skip anything you would rather answer on the call.