We talk to business owners every week who are frustrated with their sales hires. They posted the job, picked the person with the most experience, and it didn’t work out. Now they’re starting over.
After years of placing sales professionals, we’ve learned that the things most people look for in a salesperson are not the things that actually matter.
Ignore Resumes
This sounds strange coming from a recruiting firm. But a resume tells you where someone worked and for how long. It does not tell you if they can sell.
Some of the best reps we’ve placed had resumes that wouldn’t impress anyone. Some of the worst had polished ones with big company names all over them.
What we do instead is ask candidates to walk us through a deal they closed. Start to finish. How they got the lead, what they said, where it stalled, how they got it across the finish line. If they can’t tell that story clearly, that’s a red flag.
Ask for Numbers
A good salesperson knows their numbers. Making quota, close rate, average deal size. They know because they live by them.
When we ask a candidate what they closed last quarter, we’re not just checking the number. We’re checking if they know it without looking it up. If someone hesitates, they probably weren’t tracking it. And if they weren’t tracking it, they probably weren’t hitting it.
For junior candidates who don’t have a sales track record yet, we look for competition. Former athletes, restaurant workers, anyone who’s had to perform under pressure and came back for more.
Watch for Coachability
This is one of the biggest things we screen for. You can teach someone your product, your process, your CRM. You cannot teach someone to take feedback well.
We ask candidates about a time their manager corrected them. The answer itself matters less than how they talk about it. If they get defensive in the interview, they’ll get defensive on your sales floor.
Test for Grit
Sales is a grind. The person you hire needs to be comfortable hearing no all day and still making the next call. We’ve found that the best way to test this is to ask about the hardest stretch they’ve had in their career. What happened? How long did it last? What did they do?
The good ones get specific. The ones who give you a vague answer about staying positive are usually the ones who quit when it got difficult.
Don’t Skip Culture
We’ve seen great closers get hired and then make the entire office miserable. They hit their numbers, but nobody wants to work with them. That creates a different kind of problem.
Before you bring someone on, think about your team. How do they communicate? What’s the energy like? Will this person add to it or disrupt it?
Final Thoughts
Hiring takes time. Doing it well takes even more time. If you’re running a business and trying to recruit at the same time, one of those things is going to suffer.
That’s what we do at SalesBountyHunter. We find the right people so you can focus on running your company.
If you’re looking to fill a sales role, reach out to us. We’d be happy to talk through what you need.