Sales Interview Techniques That Work

I'm helping a company hire their first sales person.  They are looking for a great mid-market seller.  HMU if you want some more information, but we were talking about some of our favorite interview questions. For this type of role (2nd sales role, few years of closing experience, mostly mid-market / SMB type of SaaS deals) - here is what I'd focus on and the questions that I'd ask and why. I focus on three things for these types of candidates - curiosity, attention to detail, and grind.  If you have these three things, somewhat early in your career, you're likely going to go far in life. Curiosity: Do they ask more questions than you? - - - Remember, 2-ears, 1-mouth for a reason. Do they ask smart questions about the business, the space, the buyer?  - - - Or do they ask less smart things about enablement, OTE, holidays, stock, whatever. Attention to detail: Explain the product that you’re currently selling to me like I was 5 years old. - - - Can they articulate complex topics in an easy way?  Is it a bunch of word salad or do they actually do this?  Does their description pass the grandma test? Tell me about the ideal buyer you sell to. Why is that person ‘ideal’? - - - What do they actually know about their customers and why it’s important to sell to that customer?  Do they understand their customers' pain points or are they just processing orders? If you were CEO of your current company, what would you change starting tomorrow? What would be the impact of that? - - - Shows that they know about their own business and how they think. Tell me about the deal you closed that you’re most proud of? Give me all the details about it. - - - Every good sales person knows all the details of the best deals that they closed. If they can’t describe details about their deals, they aren’t real Grind: Tell me about where you grew up and how you got here.  - - - Shows what they came from, where they want to be. - - - Are they a silver spoon person or did they hustle to get to that interview? - - - You're looking for hunger What is the most difficult challenge, personally or professionally, that you’ve ever had to overcome and what did you do?  - - - No joke, I once had a candidate tell me that the biggest professional challenge that they ever had was that they had to work on a Sunday to get ready for a customer meeting Outside of work, tell me what you do competitively? - - - Every sales person will tell you that they are competitive, but very few actually are - I’ve heard everything from competitive sailing to competitive birdwatching - red flag if they’ve not done anything in a few years Will those give you the most ideal candidate?  No guarantee.  But, anyone can fake questions like “Tell me about your strengths and weaknesses.” and other BS things to ask.  These are a bit tougher to fake and give you better insight into how the candidate is going to work on a day to day basis.  Good luck.  LMK if I can help.

"I'm great at building relationships." Cool. So is the other sales rep bringing Starbucks. I cringe every time I hear that line in an interview because I’ve heard it hundreds of times. Being likable isn't enough to be a top performer. You’re not interviewing to be voted “Most Friendly” or "Most Popular." You’re interviewing to be trusted with a territory, a quota, a brand, and a P&L that someone’s getting grilled over in a boardroom. Saying your great at building relationships in an interview is vague. It’s safe. It tells the hiring manager nothing. Here’s what hiring managers are really asking themselves: How do you approach prospecting in a saturated market? How do you analyze a territory list and prioritize top accounts? What’s your strategy for turning cold leads into warm conversations? Can you build a go-to-market plan—or do you just wait for marching orders? How do you handle pricing objections without discounting your value? What’s your process for managing a long sales cycle without losing momentum? What’s your post-sale strategy to drive retention and upsells? ✅ “Strategic” > “Friendly.” Every. Single. Time. If you can't explain your sales process, you're not ready to own it. So next time you’re tempted to say, “I’m great at building relationships,” Remember—that's just the baseline. What’s your real differentiator? 👇 I’m curious, what’s the most overused phrase you’ve heard in interviews? If you're ready to position yourself as the top candidate in your next interview—send me a DM. Let’s talk interview coaching. #medicalsales #sales101 #interviewtips

I spent over 35,000 hours learning to interview salespeople successfully — because I didn't learn it in school. Here's salesperson interviewing boiled down into 7 simple steps (that you can start using today): 1️⃣ Create Job Characteristics. No, this isn't a job description. If the job was to speak to you, what would IT tell you it needs for superior performance? Write down 10-12 must-haves and nice-to-haves. 2️⃣ Define the Characteristics There's nothing worse than two interviewers disagreeing on the meaning of the word "Coachable" or "Optimistic." Write down the specific definitions in your benchmark. 3️⃣ Develop Behavioral Interview Questions Behavioral interview questions ask about how they handled past situations. Real stories. Tell me about a time when you... Come up with 3 per characteristic. Add to your benchmark. 4️⃣ Develop a Fast, Thorough Interview Process Great salespeople aren't going to wait months for you. Multiple thorough steps that take 2-3 weeks tops to get through. And not too quick either. "Offers on the spot" raise red flags. 5️⃣ Actively Source Candidates Yourself Sales leaders must always be recruiting salespeople themselves. Don't trust Recruiting to do it all for you. Get on Linkedin yourself and pull candidates into the process 6️⃣ Conduct a Respectful Interview You're not trying to trick them. Create an interview with them that makes them feel comfortable so they can open up to you. Don't be a jerk. Sell them on the job too! 7️⃣ Do Backdoor Reference Checks It's too easy to find people that your candidate used to work with/for. Seek them out. Knowing what they know now, would they hire them again? If you do these 7 dead simple things, you'll be on your way to conducting world-class interviews that attract A-player candidates to help you crush your goals. And one more thing, if you want to see what a sample salesperson hiring benchmark might look like, download my guide here: https://lnkd.in/gZD9GXTP