Sell, Forrest, Sell!

Did you know that 90% of hiring decisions are made from the interview? That seems reasonable until you factor in that traditional interviewing is only 14% accurate when hiring for sales.

It's important to realize that salespeople are different from every other role in your business so if you use the same interviewing methodologies you do to hire every other function in your company you are going to get it wrong.

And according to the data, you will get it wrong 84% of the time. With those kinds of odds, you'd be better off rolling dice or asking the magic eight ball who to hire.

Of course, you'd never really roll dice to choose a new hire; but let's face it, if you don't have a scientifically accurate and predictive way to select sales winners for your company, then you are doing just that.

Salespeople will out-talk and out interview you if you don't know how to run an effective sales interview. If you lack the skills to effectively screen a sales candidate, you will likely focus on insignificant and unscientific details that will lead you to choose candidates based on the font they use on their resume, how well they are dressed or the words they use to spin their so-called prior sales success.

The end result of all of this is that you'll have no idea if the salespeople you hire have the actual skills you need them to have to perform well in the exact sales role (and there are many different sales roles) you are hiring them to do. And remember the data: 84% of the time they won't.

Salespeople are different from every other role in your business so if you use the same methodologies you do to hire every other function in your company you are going to get it wrong.
Here's how to know if your sales selection process is not working:

• Your salespeople frequently miss their targets
• Your sales managers are still selling to "fill in the gaps" (selling is not managing)
• You don't have enough "A" players
• Your recruiting process brings in too many of the wrong candidates
• Recruiting takes up too much time - yours and your team
• You have too much turnover
• You have too little turnover (yes, this is a thing)
• You wish you could find more candidates like (fill in the blank)

There is a right way - an effective way - to hire salespeople. And you can learn it and apply it in your company. To learn more about driving revenue through salespeople, including how to hire the ones who can and will sell for you click here. And you may want to register to join us for our next live webinar later this month. You can do that here.

I help CEOs, presidents, and entrepreneurs grow their businesses. In addition to providing tools and strategies for exponential growth, my company, Align Strategic, also recruits sales and sales leadership talent with guaranteed results. If you would like to learn more about Guaranteed Sales Hire, click here.

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