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five-year plans, and that scares me.”Barnette recommends that resellers look at avariety of factors when sizing up their sales team.Keep in mind how many customers your sales forcecan reasonably manage. Maintain a 6 percent salesto-expenseratio and adjust as necessary, waitinguntil the upward drift of that ratio signals that it’s timeto bring on new employees. When the decision ismade to hire, plan ahead and ensure that logistically,your company can support new business andclients, especially if the new hire is experienced andcan leverage a long list of contacts.“If we listen to our customers really well, theyoften tell us exactly what we need to do for our business,”says Barnette. “If we’re hearing complaintsthat they don’t see our reps enough or we don’t takecare of them as a company, we need to change.”When hiring, keepin mind how manycustomers yoursales force canreasonably manage.Another important factor to consider whenexpanding your sales force is management, specificallyhiring a sales manager, a critical position.With a well-considered incentive system in place,installing a sales manager can help streamlinesales, assess (and increase) performance, and provideneeded guidance to rookie salespeople.“So many owners say they can’t afford to hire asales manager,” says Barnette. “I keep saying youcan’t afford not to have one.”Talent ScoutSourcing talent should be proactive and takeadvantage of the well-networked sales talentpool. Asking current employees and new hireswhom they would recommend for future openingscan help build a list of potential candidates.gettingon trackPicking the right candidatefrom a deep pool of prospectivehires can be difficult,especially when big box competitorsmay appear to have theupper hand with hiring practices.But United’s TalentTrackinitiative, which compiles bestpractices for finding talentand provides valuable industryresources, helps resellersrefine their message to potentialsales associates.TalentTrack doesn’t endwith recruitment. In additionto helping resellers positionand portray themselves atjob fairs, the program alsoconnects with companieslike Premiere Job Fairs,which organizes over 300events annually in more than30 states. The TalentTrackbinder charts the entire processof building an effectiveteam, from soliciting referralsand discussing compensation,to ongoing training andother ways to retain personnel.Resellers are part of amulti-billion dollar distributionchannel that boasts partnershipswith some of themost recognizable namesin corporate America; it’s acompelling job proposition, ifframed correctly.TRACK IT Ask your United accountmanager for more information aboutthe United TalentTrack program.OFF CEL NE37