We will be hiring additional sales members to our team (at least 2 more) and I always struggle finding the right sales talent.

Our company uses LinkedIn and Indeed however we frequently lack quality candidates. I work for a Houston TX based oil and gas service company with a primary focus in offshore O&G.

Are there specific recruiters, or websites that would focus on this area that would be great to find candidates?

Are you looking for entry level, mid, or senior sales personnel?

With the lack of talent these days, its been best to either identify outgoing personalities in their early career or just pay the piper for an established seller. Have you looked at different industries to pluck personnel from? How technical is your product?

Good sales personnel will pay for themselves 10x.

ForeverAg said:

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We will be hiring additional sales members to our team (at least 2 more) and I always struggle finding the right sales talent.

Our company uses LinkedIn and Indeed however we frequently lack quality candidates. I work for a Houston TX based oil and gas service company with a primary focus in offshore O&G.

Are there specific recruiters, or websites that would focus on this area that would be great to find candidates?

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Get a subscription to Linkedin Recruiter Lite, search for sales candidates from your competitors or similar industries, message them and ask them if theyre interested, and thats pretty much it. Someone in your HR department should be able to do this for you.

Anyone good is most likely working for someone else. You won't find good people. Good people find you. Create the opportunity that good people want to come work for.

Like others have mentioned, you either have to pay someone a ton to come work for you

Or you train the average people to be great. Invest in your people and get them some sales training.

Agree with this. In my experience, folks with ambition are never against having a conversation about new opportunities. Up to the hiring firm to create a structure that attracts and retains top talent.

Do you have any details on the company/role?

birdman said:

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Your competitors

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This

I'm more downstream than true O&G, but in my experience most good sales reps hired externally are stolen from competitors

In your perspective do they have to have O&G experience? In commercial real estate I'm less concerned about experience with a specific asset but rather intelligence, drive, and so forth. I think you can find an intelligent sales pro and have them learn the specific nuances of an industry better than just sticking to one pool.

Company I worked for used to hire marine recruiters. Those guys could sell and always got more respect coming from the military. They were also completely nuts, but a lot of fun to be around.

I get messages every week on linkedln from recruiters. My last two sales roles found me when I wasnt looking.

ForeverAg said:

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We will be hiring additional sales members to our team (at least 2 more) and I always struggle finding the right sales talent.

Our company uses LinkedIn and Indeed however we frequently lack quality candidates. I work for a Houston TX based oil and gas service company with a primary focus in offshore O&G.

Are there specific recruiters, or websites that would focus on this area that would be great to find candidates?

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The "offshore O$G" is likely your biggest problem. O&G is full of brother in law salemen. Offshore O&G is full of my salesman is my brother.

I'd recommend approaching a trusted client and say "We are looking to bring on a new salesman. Who do you like best."



Never hire a salesman without friendly contacts. Pay for the contacts.

I left O&G several years ago after a decade in it. Our sales guys there came from other companies, or our sales guys actively sought work at other companies. So, I agree with starting looking at your competitors. As it turns out, selling girls scout cookies, O&G sales, roofing sales….all the same thing. I still find my best sales guys from competitors when I'm out working. It usually doesn't take much to get a sales guy to jump if he's good and you can offer something a little better. Good luck in the search, it's tough.

If we hire out of LinkedIn, 3% end up average, 1% and up in our top 10 nationally, the rest either quit or don't sell anything. Those percentages are much higher when recruited from a competitor, so I definitely think that's where I'd start. Again, good luck with the search!

All, forgive me I have been a bit out of touch lately. The role we need is not overly technical or complicated as long as you are good at building relationships, being genuine, and following up/through. Effectively your ability to have some basic knowledge of mechanical, pneumatic, and hydraulic operations and you can cover just about everything we would need. I feel you can teach someone the technical, however the intangibles are drive, effort, ability to build relationships, and self motivation are the items managers can rarely build if the candidate does not internally posses some of this.

We have looked at our competitors however we are fairly niche so it is sometimes difficult to lure those people away from their current roles. What I mean by this is our competitors (as a metaphor) focus on selling the whole car, where as we built our success selling the car engine. In our field it is essentially us and 2 other companies, we are the smallest.

A lot of people have reached out to me, I promise I will begin replying today so please forgive me.

Please shoot me a message rpbenson81@gmail.com

I am currently entertaining the idea of making a significant career pivot. I have been a Realtor for 13 years and would love to explore the idea of transitioning to a more structured and stable sales role. Please reach out at whhaley@gmail.com. I would love to connect and have a conversation about how I might be a fit for your organization.

I'm in medical device and capital equipment sales and in Houston

I'm always willing to listen to

I would love to talk about the role

birdman said:

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Your competitors

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Bingo. Bingo. Bingo.

The best sales guys come from other companies most of the time. Identify longer term guys, pay them a little more than they make now. And it doesn't take much to make most jump.

But also, we'll motivated folks that WANT to work. Probably have some good talent above.

Please email me at nlmathes@hotmail.com


I have someone who would fill this role amazingly.

I have sales experience and looking for a new roll. Would love to hear more about the opportunity. Send me an email at jacob.kirkpatrick@gmail.com

Hi ForeverAg! I have a job board specific to companies just like yours looking for sales, operations, managers, etc. I have a number of very talented people looking for O&G jobs also. Please reach out to me, Kellie, at kbinkley@idcareermatch.com, I'd love to show you a demo.

Please reach out to me: cameron_oconnell@yahoo.com

If I'm you in that industry, I'd cross over into the ag industry looking, folks there usually will understand hydraulics, pneumatics, and really value relationships.

I was in construction for 15 years and made my way to ag almost 10 years ago. I can say, I've hired a few sales people but never any from outside of Ag because of the understanding of how things work and relationships.