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Strictly Sales Episode 6: How to Hire the Right Sales Reps
When it comes to hiring the right sales reps, there are certain qualities that separate the best from the rest.
If you’re at a growing tech company then you’re likely on the hunt for top sales reps — constantly. Of course, the only thing worse than desperately needing a new sales hire is dealing with the costs associated with making a bad one.
How can you ensure you’re hiring fast and smart? In this episode of Strictly Sales with Jeff Hoffman, Jeff outlines three crucial qualities a candidate must have to be hired, and why lacking them can be so detrimental to you as a manager. He also covers the key questions you need to ask during an interview to cut through the crap and pick out a winner.
Listen Here
Or Listen and Subscribe to the Podcast on iTunes
Key Takeaways
“No matter how good you get at hiring, it’s still a bit of a fool’s pursuit. You’re going to basically make a decision from a few minutes of interaction with someone. Great managers shouldn’t be judged by how they hire, but rather what they do with bad hires.”
— Jeff Hoffman, M. J. Hoffman and Associates
* There are three things that I look for in a sales rep:
* Are they a closer? [1:45]
* Are they intellectually curious? [2:15]
* Do they have a history of achievement? [2:50]
* You don’t need to throw curveballs to decide if someone is a good rep. It’s more important to see how they prepare. Forget the “pop-quiz” — even consider giving them the questions ahead of time. [4:00]
* Ask for references of previous customers (within the last 6 months). They can be incredibly telling and show how the rep handles their customer relationships. [5:20]
* Close them at the interview. Don’t give the best prospects another chance to get a better job. This means you must be prepared to hire before the interview begins. [8:35]
Transcript
Announcer: This is Strictly Sales with Jeff Hoffman and CeCe Bazar. For more information go to OpenView Labs or mjhoffman.com.
CeCe: Hi everyone! And thanks so much for joining us today with Strictly Sales with Jeff Hoffman. Jeff is back and we’re here to talk to the sale’s managers this time. We’re getting lots of questions. We’ve done a bunch of podcasts recently geared right for the BDR’s. But managers are starting to get wind of this, their teams are talking, and now they have some questions, so we’re here to answer them.
One question that we get all the time Jeff, is what should the interview process look like when I’m bringing in sale’s individuals or sale’s candidates? And what questions should I be asking them? Are there three that I can boil this down to, or is there a whole list that we need to look at?
Jeff: I’ve been interviewing and hiring sale’s people for a long time, and I think we all kind of know what we want as far as the vision of the profile of this hire. We all clearly know the importance of making a good hire. But I have learned a few things on the interview process which have helped me, which I love to talk about.
I will say this, though, no matter how good you get at hiring, it’s still a bit of a fool’s pursuit. You’re going to basically make a decision, on a grand total of 60-90 minutes interaction with someone. And I don’t really think that great managers should be judged by how that they hire. I think that great managers should be judged with what they do with bad hires. I mean that’s really what you want to focus on.
But certainly the interview process, there’s some things that I care about, and I want to blog about this.
View all episodes
When it comes to hiring the right sales reps, there are certain qualities that separate the best from the rest.
If you’re at a growing tech company then you’re likely on the hunt for top sales reps — constantly. Of course, the only thing worse than desperately needing a new sales hire is dealing with the costs associated with making a bad one.
How can you ensure you’re hiring fast and smart? In this episode of Strictly Sales with Jeff Hoffman, Jeff outlines three crucial qualities a candidate must have to be hired, and why lacking them can be so detrimental to you as a manager. He also covers the key questions you need to ask during an interview to cut through the crap and pick out a winner.
Listen Here
Or Listen and Subscribe to the Podcast on iTunes
Key Takeaways
“No matter how good you get at hiring, it’s still a bit of a fool’s pursuit. You’re going to basically make a decision from a few minutes of interaction with someone. Great managers shouldn’t be judged by how they hire, but rather what they do with bad hires.”
— Jeff Hoffman, M. J. Hoffman and Associates
* There are three things that I look for in a sales rep:
* Are they a closer? [1:45]
* Are they intellectually curious? [2:15]
* Do they have a history of achievement? [2:50]
* You don’t need to throw curveballs to decide if someone is a good rep. It’s more important to see how they prepare. Forget the “pop-quiz” — even consider giving them the questions ahead of time. [4:00]
* Ask for references of previous customers (within the last 6 months). They can be incredibly telling and show how the rep handles their customer relationships. [5:20]
* Close them at the interview. Don’t give the best prospects another chance to get a better job. This means you must be prepared to hire before the interview begins. [8:35]
Transcript
Announcer: This is Strictly Sales with Jeff Hoffman and CeCe Bazar. For more information go to OpenView Labs or mjhoffman.com.
CeCe: Hi everyone! And thanks so much for joining us today with Strictly Sales with Jeff Hoffman. Jeff is back and we’re here to talk to the sale’s managers this time. We’re getting lots of questions. We’ve done a bunch of podcasts recently geared right for the BDR’s. But managers are starting to get wind of this, their teams are talking, and now they have some questions, so we’re here to answer them.
One question that we get all the time Jeff, is what should the interview process look like when I’m bringing in sale’s individuals or sale’s candidates? And what questions should I be asking them? Are there three that I can boil this down to, or is there a whole list that we need to look at?
Jeff: I’ve been interviewing and hiring sale’s people for a long time, and I think we all kind of know what we want as far as the vision of the profile of this hire. We all clearly know the importance of making a good hire. But I have learned a few things on the interview process which have helped me, which I love to talk about.
I will say this, though, no matter how good you get at hiring, it’s still a bit of a fool’s pursuit. You’re going to basically make a decision, on a grand total of 60-90 minutes interaction with someone. And I don’t really think that great managers should be judged by how that they hire. I think that great managers should be judged with what they do with bad hires. I mean that’s really what you want to focus on.
But certainly the interview process, there’s some things that I care about, and I want to blog about this.