Interviewing

When asked why he left his previous employment, the candidate gave a plausible reason. When asked the same question at a subsequent interview, however, he gave a different answer. When challenged to explain the differences, the candidate stumbled around, saying that he didn't think it was important, but it became apparent he had gotten caught in a lie.

Asking the same question twice can often uncover a candidate who is being less than truthful. Liars sometimes have problems with consistency of answers because they are often made up at the spur of the moment, whereas the truth is always the truth.

People who lie before they're hired, lie after they're hired. If they lie to get a job, they'll lie to keep one, and they'll lie to a prospect to get a sale.

Is this the kind of person you want dealing with your customers?

If possible, try to interview all your candidates on the same day. Line them up to arrive one after the other at one-hour intervals. I usually allow 45 minutes for the interview, ten minutes to make post-interview notes and 5 minutes between interviews to catch my breath, clear my mind, and get ready for the next interview.

The advantage of this approach is that you can more easily compare one candidate with another. You lose this advantage when you’re interviewing people days or weeks apart. It’s also more efficient use of your time.

Consider having someone sit in on the interview with you as an observer, then compare notes after the candidate leaves. The observer is likely to see, hear, or sense things you miss.

You’ve just finished conducting a job interview with a possible candidate and you have a nice warm feeling about the person. The individual was charming, witty, laughed at your jokes, had a reasonable resume, and seemed to have great listening skills.

But… can he sell? And more importantly, can he sell what you want sold and can he sell in your specific selling environment? Sometimes the only thing some people can sell is themselves! They know what to say and what to do to get the job and then it all goes downhill from there.

So make sure you go beyond the usual conversational interview approach and ask sales performance-related questions. The answer to a question like, “How do you handle price objections?” can give you great insights into a person’s selling philosophy. Or asking, "How would you go about finding prospects?" will give you some idea if the person has given any thought to how he will go about doing the job.

This aspect of the hiring interview is so important that I developed a Sales Interview Questionnaire (SIQ) that not only tells you what questions to ask, but why you’re asking them.

Seasoning is great "on" food and "in" people! One of the things we often look for in a candidate is past sales experience and "seasoning." However, sometimes a seasoned pro comes complete with complacency.

Don’t discount a candidate’s enthusiasm. It’s often better to hire an inexperienced but enthusiastic individual than a laid-back, seasoned person.

To hire an experienced salesperson with a poor attitude is to hire a problem. Remember the old axion, "hire for attitude and train for skill."

If your firm is keen on using a team approach to selling, it might be wise to include some or all of the current sales team members in on the final selection interviews for a new salesperson. If there is going to be a personality or other type of conflict, better you find out before you hire someone than after. Make sure that each of the people on the interviewing team come with one or two relevant questions.

I recommend an informal setting for the interview. You don't want it to turn into a good cop/bad cop thing where the team tries to beat the truth out of the candidate. This is an interview, not a rubber hose interrogation! Keep it light but meaningful.

Another advantage of having this type of interview is that it allows you to take a less active, observer role so that you can see how the candidate reacts to the situation and to the other team members. This is likely the way he will react when dealing with your customers when he first meets them.