We’ve been working with clients to hire top performing salespeople for 16 years.  In truth, from time to time, I feel like I’ve said it all.

And then, I read an article on LinkedIn and realize, once again, why more than 3 out of 4 sales hires fails.

First of all, focus on what you are looking for in an interview. In our System, we profile sales applicants before we meet them.

Because we do this, we know  the values and personality style ahead of time. We know the applicant matches the values and style of most top salespeople.

In the interview you’re looking for the applicant to give examples in their lives  of:
•    Stick-to-ive-ness
•    Follow through
•    Ability to overcome adversity
•    Entrepreneurialism

Second, structured interviews get you high quality answers. Never “wing it” in an interview. Have all your questions planned and prewritten.

Third, ask the same questions, in the same order, of each applicant. By nature we tend to like people we “bond” with. But we’re not looking for a friend here.  We are trying to determine if they applicant is tough enough to do the hard work of selling.

By asking the same questions in the same order,  you are able to compare the applicant’s answers.  This is a key point.

Finally, never ask the following questions that Afa Front in the LinkedIn article suggests. They are too open-ended. You won’t get any information that will help you pick the best applicant.

1. Tell Me About Yourself
This is a horrible question. It gives the applicant to take control of the interview. If you believe that is what selling is about, you’re bound to hire duds.

2. What’s Your Greatest Strength?
Another bad question because you won’t be able to compare the answers you get. One applicant will tell one lie, another applicant will tell another lie.

3. Why Should We Hire You?
What would be a right answer? Exactly there is no way to score this answer. Skip it.

4. Do You Have Any Questions for Us?
Can you imagine a lawyer asking that of a witness in a court room? Bad  question. Only gives up control of the interview.

Delivering a structured, scripted interview for every sales applicant puts you ahead of 3 out of 4 sales hirers – and is one of the keys to successful sales hiring.

Video Rant #2

My client Tom has used our service to build a team of solid sales pros.

He laughs a bit and tells me the 3 words he’s SO thankful to get from us, because they’ve saved him SO much time and SO many headaches. And the 3 words are…

“DO – NOT – INTERVIEW!”

When you get THAT message from us, it means the prospect profile testing shows an applicant who does NOT have the values or style of a top salesperson.

And that means the chance is sky-high if you hire that person, they’ll cost you time, money, and headaches. They’ll flame out. And then you’re back at the beginning. You have to start all over again.

I’m telling you now, you MUST NOT INTERVIEW any applicant who has not passed our profile testing.

And it gets tricky, because if you DO interview these guys, they often really impress you in the interview. But then, you pay the price later. You’ll NEVER build a solid sales team when your applicant pool is full of people who are not money-motivated. They can fool anybody in the interview. But they can’t fool our testing.

You GOTTA understand how crucial this is. I can’t tell you how many companies have come to us in bad, bad shape. And when I profile their sales force, it turns out their sales team is a bunch of people who are NOT motivated by money and power. THAT is the kiss of death.

Look. I know it’s hard for you and me to believe this. But the vast majority of sales applicants are happy JUST to earn a living. Oh, they may have wet dreams about kicking butt revenue-wise. But they just will never make the effort necessary to make it happen. They will NOT put themselves in front of a consistent stream of qualified prospects, day after day, week after week, month after month. They can’t handle the rejection. It’s too much PAIN for them. So they go into hiding. Those guys will NEVER bring home the bacon for you.

Our profile testing identifies WHICH of your applicants are clones of legendary salespeople, and which ones are hoping you’ll be their next sugar daddy.

You NEED us to test every applicant you have. It will change your life.

This is Alan Fendrich at Advanced Hiring System. Give me a call.

You know what it’s like. You meet them and after less than 10 minutes you know it – they’re the killer you are looking for.

So what happened to them after you brought them on board? Why did they fail so bad at doing what you told them would work to sell your product or service?

I am a sales guy, sales manager, company owner and entrepreneur. And for 20 years I’ve studied the sales hiring process because that is where the money in any business is.

Do you want to know why your “super pick” – destined for sales greatness, screw up so bad?

It’s not your fault, but your process for hiring salespeople is no process at all. It’s one step above the fog the mirror method of sales hiring. Gut feel ends up too often to be a pain in the gut.

Because in truth all people have so much going on beneath the surface. And if you don’t get a way of figuring out who your sales applicants REALLY are, you will hire too many duds.

And what’s worse is today, finding out who they really are, is so easy that not doing it is just dumb.

I discovered this fact 20 years ago and back then it was hard. There was no internet, there were very few computers. But I had 200 salespeople and the losers were costing me a fortune.

To find out how easy it is click here. We’ve created a free online tool that you can use. My CFO says we should lock this tool away in our Member Area, so do it today before he has his way.