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In my last post we talked about things that sales applicants need to look for in a potential employer when interviewing for a sales position. Now let’s talk about some important things that a potential employer should look for in a sales applicant.

A sales position is always temporary so you can expect sales professionals to move from job to job every few years. You don’t want to hire someone that has been in the same sales position for 20 years. However, there is a limit to this transitioning from job to job. A good rule of thumb is an average of three to five years per job. If they are moving any more than this you might want to raise the yellow flag.

I don’t think I have ever, with a few exceptions, interviewed a sales applicant that claimed they weren’t either the number one or number two salesperson at all his or her past employers. Please keep in mind that I have interviewed thousands of applicants in my career. If they were ranked so highly why would they leave all those companies? The truth is that most applicants you interview are either mid-pack or below. Have them show you sales ranking charts, awards, etc. that prove their sales position at their past employers before you hire them. Every sales organization normally has all kinds of awards, percent of budget rankings, company newsletters, etc. that could easily be produced to show the interviewer their relative sales position.

Knowledge. Just like with sales rankings, almost every sales applicant I have ever interviewed exaggerated their product or technical knowledge. Virtually every one of them claimed to be an absolute world authority on whatever it was that they were supposed to know. Most interviewers resort to asking a few product or technical questions to get a feel for what the applicant knows. The problem with this technique is that it is totally haphazard. The other problem with this technique is that if the interviewer really likes the applicant they normally don’t want to eliminate them based on limited product or technical knowledge. The way to ascertain an applicant’s product or technical know-how is to create a standardized product or technical test that all applicants must take before being hired. This removes the interviewer bias, makes sure you ask the right kinds of questions and creates an objective measurement.

Interviewing and then hiring successful sales professionals is probably one of the most difficult jobs around. If you avoid applicants that frequently change jobs, those that can’t prove their sales success from prior employers and ensure that you give them a standardized test on product and technical knowledge, you will greatly improve your batting average.

Tags: interviewing

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