Are You Making This Mistake When Interviewing Sales Candidates?

One of the areas that I focus on with clients is their process to screen sales talent. In 99% of the companies I work with, there is a critical flaw in their interview methodology.

Most companies interview the candidates, ask them to participate in an assessment process and some other evaluation steps. If the candidate is successful with those steps, they make them an offer to join the company. This seems like a sound approach, doesn’t it?

Well, something major is missing. At what time did you give the candidate the opportunity to evaluate the company, the opportunity, and their fit in the organization. Sales managers are so focused on their screening agenda that they forget to afford the candidate the opportunity to conduct their own due diligence.

Consider this… Would you rather hire a sales person who three months on the job quits because the roleisn’t right for them? Or, would you rather that they withdraw from the interview process before you ever make the flawed job offer because they determined that it was not a good fit? Hint…one of those keeps you from a costly hiring mistake.
See you next time on the Sales Management Minute.

 AUTHOR:  LEE B. SALZ

Lee B. Salz is a leading sales management strategist specializing in helping companies build scalable, high-performance sales organizations through hiring the right salespeople, effectively onboarding them, and aligning their sales activities with business objectives through process, metrics and compensation. He is the Founder and CEO of Sales Architects, Business Expert Webinars and The Revenue Accelerator. Lee has authored several books including award-winning,  best-seller “Hire Right, Higher Profits.” He is a results-driven sales management consultant and a passionate, dynamic speaker . Lee can be reached at lsalz@SalesArchitects.net or 763.416.4321.