Gone are the days when a brief, casual discussion about a sales applicant’s job history is considered a sufficient approach to the interviewing process. In fact, to find the best salespeople for your company, one interview simply isn’t enough.

AHS has developed a tried and true four part interview model for hiring top sales performers. The essential interview tips below are from the Advanced Hiring System Four Part Interview document available in full detail for AHS Sales Hiring Course members. We’ll provide here a brief overview of what information you should learn from the applicant during each stage of this four-part process.

What you’re looking for throughout each interview is consistency, in addition to specific information. Do the applicant’s answers in the third and fourth interviews support the answers they gave in the first and second? Be aware of that as the interviews continue and conclude.

The First Interview

The first interview is where you get essential basic information. Ideally before you begin, you have any pre-employment sales assessment test scores and have reviewed the applicant’s answers.

• Ask about the applicant’s background. This is a great first question for the first interview. Leave it open-ended and let the applicant “warm up” by discussing details about themselves with you.
• Ask which of their accomplishments make them proud. You want to know if the applicant is goal-oriented. Someone who lists several awards and achievements of which they are proud is probably motivated to achieve more.
• Ask them to tell you what makes a great salesperson. Determine if the applicant has the values and personality of a top performing salesperson by asking them to tell you what those great qualities are.

The Second Interview

By the second interview you have learned important basics, so you’ll start asking more thought-provoking questions now.

• Determine if the applicant values self-development. Ask what the applicant has done in the past year to improve themselves and their lives. Great salespeople are always striving to get better or be more successful in some way.
• Ask what they would do in your shoes. Top sales performers are always reaching for the top, which means they probably want to be the boss someday. Ask job applicants how they would improve a sales department and team of their own.

The Third Interview

By this time, you’re noticing a pattern in the applicant’s answers, as well as some of their work habits. Are they showing up to each interview on time? Are they dressed professionally? Is their attitude consistently positive and enthusiastic? The four-part interview process is important for learning these details about an applicant’s habits.

The questions in the third interview can get a little broader and more creative.

• If you could be a movie star, who would you be and why? It’s great to find applicants able to come up with quick creative answers for questions like this. You want answers that convey confidence.
• How would you define accountability? Ask the applicant what they think accountability is and what it means to them.

The Fourth Interview

For the final interview, wrap up with questions that clear up any gaps in information you’ve collected so far. You’ll want to ask for references and get more details about this salesperson’s personal selling technique.

• Close with questions about closing. Ask the applicant how they close a sale. Ask if they have more than one technique and how those techniques are applied to certain situations.
• Ask how they handle each “No.” A top-performing salesperson has learned a thing or two about how to turn a “No” into a “Yes.” Ask the applicant to explain their strategies for overcoming sales rejections.

The applicants who complete the four-part interview process with enthusiasm, strong answers and a smile on their face have certainly proven themselves to be very serious about the job. They’ve shown the same dedication to achieve this goal as they likely would to achieve high sales goals for your company.

For full in-depth interview questions and how to properly analyze the responses, sign up for the AHS Sales Hiring Course.

Better sales come from better sales hiring. Your competition knows this. You do, too. Which one of you is taking sales hiring seriously enough to stay on top? Instead of fearing what methods your competition is utilizing to outsell you, focus on what you can do to build the best sales team on your own turf.

Attract the top performing sales people better than the other guy does. Your job posting ads have got to be stellar. Job advertisements need to give potential sales employees the message that your company is where great salespeople thrive. Grab them with powerful headlines. Reel them in with the genuine promise of great benefits and rewards. Take it seriously that better sales depend on employing better salespeople. When your competition is offering better benefits in an enticing way, the top sales performers are less likely to move in your direction. Write great job ads. Include details of great benefits. They will come.

Know that interview questions for sales people are only part of the successful sales hiring equation. Add the sales aptitude test to your sales hiring practices. Better sales come from salespeople who have certain values. Learn what those values are through the AHS Sales Hiring Course. Analyze the sales aptitude test results to make the best sales hiring decisions possible. This extra step can make a company far more successful at hiring top sales performers than their competition.

Always treat top sales performers as some of the greatest assets to your company’s success. When you put together your interview questions for sales people, ask some questions about what the applicant values in their work life. Great salespeople tend to gravitate toward a company that offers them opportunities for money and power. They also want to work for a company that respects them, brags about them and lets them try new ways to make better sales. Treat them with as much respect and flexibility you can to keep them on your team. If you don’t, your competition is out there getting better at learning how to lure them away.

You should always be prepared to interview a great sales candidate, even when you’re not currently planning to hire. It’s possible your competition isn’t doing a great job with sales hiring or keeping their top performers satisfied in the job. Be ready to spot great talent when it presents itself and you’ll definitely have the advantage.

A sales personality test helps you differentiate good salesmen from bad ones, quickly and effectively. For this reason, it’s important that you carry out one when screening applicants for a new opening.

Here’s a brief overview of how to hire salespeople by carrying out a personality test, as shown in the Advanced Hiring System sales hiring course.

Assessing Business Personality

There are several business personality assessment models out there, but AHS believes that Marston’s DISC model is the most reliable of them, and consequently uses it as the basis for its sales personality test.

In brief, the DISC model assumes that human personality is the result of the interaction between four distinct yet closely-related factors: drive, influence, steadiness, and compliance. Understanding each of these factors is crucial when giving a sales personality test, which is why AHS provides a concise overview of what each means.

On top of the four aspects noted above, there are two other aspects relevant to sales managers looking to hire good salesmen: natural style and adapted style, both of which are covered by the proposed model. AHS proposes a highly-effective personality test which takes for its foundation all the aspects and factors noted above, to ensure accurate results.

AHS believes that when using recruitment management software it’s preferable to stick to the DISC model for personality testing, to get the best results.

The Reliability of Business Personality Assessment

Assessing business personality is a technique long used by companies to find the right professionals for the job. And it works. There are huge amounts of data out there that support it, and that should encourage you to use it as well.

A sales personality test, like the one proposed by AHS, is the ideal solution if you want to screen job applicants quickly and effectively. And because of the way it is conceived, the assessments are always highly accurate and cannot be blamed on pressure or any other like factors. That means that in the end, you always succeed in identifying the right people for the job.

Ultimately, regardless of the recruitment management software you use, conducting a sales personality test is essential to hire the best salespersons for your company.

Want to learn more about how to hire salespeople effectively? Check out Advanced Hiring System’s comprehensive 4-step sales hiring course. It will teach you all you need to know to improve your hiring process.