Hiring a new salesperson? 3 essentials for hiring a winner!

Finding a great salesperson who has a fantastic attitude and a history of great results can be difficult. Companies have to fight the competition for top talent and sometimes conjure up extravagant benefit packages to lure away premier talent from their current employers.

It’s often easier to avoid those elite candidates in favor of those who show sparks of promise and are ready to be groomed – but how to make sure you’re not hiring a dud? Companies have to vet candidates carefully during salesperson hiring in order to choose a real winner. Here are the essential things that should guide the hiring decision.

  1. Testing for Aptitude

Salespeople can improve through company training, but training can’t make up for poor aptitude. Aptitude reflects a natural intelligence for understanding the dynamics of sales and a natural talent to excel at the job. Those who perform well on assessment tools, such as the 75-question CPQ test, can reduce a company’s training expenses and predict what candidates will consistently dominate in sales, fit into the company culture and have a long-term future with the sales team.

The CPQ, which tests both for ability and sales personality, examines eight personality traits using 75 questions.  After conducting interviews and reading resumes to create a candidate pool during the salesperson hiring process, a recruiter can use the CPQ to reduce the field to the very best finalists.

 2. They listen to you more than they talk during the interview

An interview is in essence a mock sales presentation. The candidate is trying to sell the product of himself. The personality, approach, past milestones and experience are the features that make the “product” seem valuable to the recruiter. However, just like when presenting to a customer, a winning salesperson has to be a good listener, because selling is all about finding out the needs and desires of a customer and then appealing to those factors.

By listening, a job candidate is able to discern concerns and provide appropriate responses, creating a give-and-take atmosphere that builds relationship, just as one will with a customer. A salesperson who is not willing to listen more than they talk during an interview will likely behave the same way in the field with prospects — losing sales due to never having heard what the prospect really needs.

 3. They demonstrate self-motivation

 Self-motivation involves more than rekindling of a positive outlook. Self-motivated salespeople are also self-teachers who are always seeking new knowledge and sharpening their tactical skills.   Self-correctors determine what they are doing wrong and find innovative ways to improve behaviors.  Self-selectors have the vision to go after the major contracts and big deals.

To find these candidates who don’t need hand-holding, recruiters in charge of salesperson hiring should ask how the prospective job hire acquired and cultivated leads in the past and what type of preparations or grooming they had to land major accounts.

Also, directly ask what motivates the candidates during sales droughts.  Ask what they do in the aftermath of an achievement; the right answer for a self-motivator is that they don’t rest, but seek greater trophies.

If candidates do well on the above criteria, all recruiters need to do is verify the salespeople have personal charisma and a natural empathy for the customer. Then, they’ll be winners, for sure.