Sales Management Training on How to Interview a Salesperson
June 24th, 2011In order to hire a top-notch sales rep, there are a number of steps you need to stick to when you are performing live job interviews with sales reps. All of them will assist you considerably in discovering the core qualities of each sales candidate so you can make the best educated hiring selection possible.
1. Take Great Notes in the Margin of the Resume
Make note of statements from the interviewee that you may have any kind of doubts about. As opposed to asking the question immediately, jot the statement down, let them finish off and after that at some point later (this will likely even be in the next interview), inquire your question regarding that statement.
This can be really valuable in jogging your memory on essential statements and detailed information that you may make use of to later challenge and test the mettle of the prospective sales hire. The data you’ll jot down now might seem simplistic and not at all related to the candidate selection process, but later it will make the real difference between making remarkable hiring selections.
2. Shut Your Trap…For Now
It’s exciting to talk about the business, the job, your “management style” and all that good stuff. The issue with this strategy is it doesn’t allow you to hire the right sales candidate.
The idea is this; any time you spend in an interview needs to be spent with you finding out about them, not you telling them about you. Should you keep it that way you’ll reveal much more about your applicants as opposed to you babbling the whole time.
3. Never Reveal Your Hand
Only at the end of the final job interview should you start letting them know the character elements you are interested in in “the ideal sales candidate”. Don’t at any time discuss this at the start.
What you’re looking for is for them to tell you what they’re all about. And then you complement their particular talents and expertise to the necessary skillsets and knowledge necessary to be successful in the job.
4. Use Uncomfortable Silences
In each and every job interview, you will find inevitable uncomfortable silences. Resist the temptation to fill them with words, as a substitute utilize them to your advantage.
If you find an irritatingly lengthy silence, the applicant may feel it more the longer it goes and will want to fill it up with something, for the reason that it’s so awkward for them. Remain silent, see what they have to say instead.
Its in occasions like these that sales candidates reveal their true self because they have used up all their canned answers. What they say next will be unscripted and will provide you with precious knowledge into who they are.
5. Don’t Steer the Witness
When you ask a question and the candidate suddenly seems to lose their train of thought or has problems with the answer to a question you have asked, allow them to have plenty of time to answer.
Whatever you do though, do not answer on their behalf. The purely natural human inclination is to “fill the gaps” and be reasonable and useful.
The response will eventually come and you will want to write this down in the margin to review it later on in the interview. If you feel that the problem they’re having is because of the manner in which you asked the question then simply re-state the question in more straightforward terms.
Start using these five tested ways to interview your next salesman and you will be very impressed at the quality of applicants you’ll then be able to hire.
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Filed under: Hiring by ralphburns
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