1. I feel you have to ‘objectify’ your hiring criteria and hiring process. I have 29 specific observation points I try to collect data to assess. No, it does not take much more time and often the data is discovered by observance verses a direct question. Avoid the ‘hire by gut feeling’ since I have never meet a sales representative I did not like. Hire someone you like that—has a measurable record verses someone you like without a record that after 6 months you still like but they have not produced.

2. Check references—check references—check references! Not peer or associate, not neighbors, not college friends, not clients from 8 years back, call the candidates last 2-3 direct managers for references. Be firm on this one. Be alarmed if you get any push-back from the candidate or any feedback that is not in lock-step alignment with the data points you have collected pre-reference check. Sales people have great abilities to adapt/change persona when necessary. They are selling themselves.

3. Unlike the disclaimer for the stock market, with sales, prior perfromance IS an indicator of future performance. Any sales person that does not know their production numbers (profit NOT revenue or the delta) in the front of their mind or on a production report is not your best candidate. Successful sales people are proud of what they do. They wear production numbers like badges of honor. Example: the sales guy with his last few years of W2 gross earning amounts to the penny and the correlating PROFIT production numbers on his resume. The numbers are the scorecard for success. Find a person who knows their numbers (and the numbers are above average) and you are much more likely to have a ‘game-changer’. Successful businesses are measured by actual profit created not revenue or the amount of improvement. We has all seen ‘…increased sales by 50%.’ Fifty percent of what? Fifty percent of a fraction of the quota you have not hit for past 2 years?!

4. Assess personality traits. We use the Asher Training CPQ personality assessment. The CPQ measures 9 core personality traits and the alignment of those traits for the ‘hunters’ verses ‘farmer’ roles. Here at Intellect we feel the successful sales person is much more from the ‘nature’ side of the ‘nature or nurture’ argument than the ‘nurture’ side.

I realize there will be a few people who will take issue with my contribution here. I am open for any conversation and encourage anyone to give me a call on the topic. Last key point: remember the population of sales people is just that, a large population. By the laws of statistical probability the best people in any occupation or sport will be in the top 16% of thier population of peers. Find ways to determine if the candidate is in the top 16% of their peer group. By their nature top performers are rare. Be prepared to ’say no’ until the ‘game-changer’ is discovered. A lesson I learned the hard way.

Sincerely,
Joe Welbourn
Vice President of Recruiting Delivery

Intellect Technical Solutions, Inc.
Bay Vista Complex
15950 Bay Vista Drive, Suite 235
Clearwater, FL 33760

Toll-free: (800) 599-8781 x2005
Office: (727) 533-9797 x2005
Mobile: (813) 928-9887
Fax: (727) 533-0685
jwelbourn@intellectcorp.com
http://www.intellectcorp.com

‘Drive Your Business, With Ours’

I have seen some great interview questions posted in this thread, and my favorite is, ‘Tell me what you think the difference between business development and sales is as it relates to bringing on new clients?’ Depending on your business, industry and cient base, I believe the way the person answers this questions can provide you with a lot of insight to how they think and what they think of others, and how they might fit into your organization, if at all…also, it’s really hard to lie on this one, try as they may.

As a resume writer I found your article right on target. As former Sales Manager I love working with sales professionals but have found that they are the ones most comfortable with stretching the truth. I advocate providing factual, verifiable information and will often ask for copies of performance reviews and goal/quota reports. I too have caught people in outright lies which led me to wonder if they’ll lie to someone working on their behalf, what might they say to an employer. We all have a responsibility to keep the integrity in the hiring process.

That is all good stuff. What frequently happens in companies is that they are looking for some magic bullet – some ’superstar’ to come in, get on the phone or pick up accounts and generate tons of business. You see this in small businesses moreso, so they see impressive credentials or a book of business (name accounts, names dropped) and hire the guy. Couple months later, the guy is fired for not making numbers because his ‘book’ was a diary of calls he made.

The other thing to add is CONTEXT, which I mentioned before. There is a difference between a salesperson who achieved, but had a huge marketing/sales support organization behind him and a person who sat in a small start-up generating business with zero marketing support. What type of environment was the person working in…ask HOW did the quota get achieved.

To your point, I knew of a situation where a company hired a VP of sales. Turned out the person was largely an individual contributor who had very little to no real management experience. The team quit after being to subjected to some of the worst micromanagement and disrepect! Making a bad sales hire can RUIN a company, I cannot emphasize how important these points are – especially in a Small/Midsize Business!

As always, salesguys are trained to sell whether they have natural talent or training. They will sell you – separating the ’sales pitch’ from the true value is the onus of interviewer or hiring manager.

Sales people are adept at making the truth be whatever the customer wants it to be; that is their stock in trade.

All sales people will tell you they are number one, sold the most anyone ever has at the company, and has the largest repeat clientele ever seen in the sales profession. If these things are true, why are they leaving their jobs? Sales people are highly motivated by being #1. If a candidate is already #1, what is the real reason s/he is leaving? Granted, sometimes the company cannot support the aspirations and ambitions of sales people, but most companies will bend over backwards to retain a seller who produces good sales and has great customer relationships.

Of course, retail selling is very different than b2b or outside sales, but the core skills remain the same-the ability to build and retain real, meaningful relationships, and the ability to provide the customer with products that meet the customer’s needs, not the salesperson’s. Winning is not all, being #1 is not all-satisfying the customer time and again, is.

By the way, I was rarely the number one seller on my team. Too much pressure, And,being 1st was less important than truly satisfied customers.

Is the candidate more effective at new account development (hunter) or account management (farmer)

Is the candidate effective not just at selling product but selling solutions

Does the candidate simply make quota by selling x amount of product or are they effective at selling business that is profitable for their employer

Does the candidate have success with specific clients, industries, solutions

Does the person work well as part of an account team or are they individually driven only by their own personal goals