Sales Recruiting Blog

Documenting sales performance

If you have done much interviewing in medical sales or pharmaceutical sales you have probably been asked for a copy of your brag book or documentation of your sales success.  Unfortunately for alot of sales reps, they aren’t given stack rankings or formal printous of their sales performance.  As a recruiter, I understand this and advise you to find other ways to document your sales success.  Often, your manager will send you an e-mail congratulating you for a job well done.  Perhaps you receive plaques and trophies for your sales accomplishments - simply take a digital photo of these and have them printed out at Kinko’s on one of their laser color printers.  If you don’t have anything at all you still are not without hope.  Provide w-2s that show income history.  These can be especially powerful if you have a copy of your pay plan which shows how much you should make at 100% of quota and you have earned higher than that.   Another way to document performance is through a letter of recommendation from a previous hiring manager.  Instead of having them write about how motivated you are have them document what you accomplished while at the company.  They can spell out each year’s accomplishments, promotions, rankings, contests won, etc.  In addition, have them spell out how you were able to accomplish these feats - activity levels, creativity, etc.  When I have a candidate that can’t provide any of the above when given some time I really become suspicious about their sales performance.  Don’t let a hiring manager have the same concern - document everything!