Jaarvanvermeer

He wanted to know why certain front-line sales managers do better at hiring top performers, so he spoke with the head of sales of a medium-sized pharmaceutical company.

Before I answered, I wanted to know if he had a system for hiring. Because if there isn’t a process, the ability to select high-performing reps depends on the skills and knowledge of the sales manager. You are more likely to predict success if you have a system in place.

He thought about it and replied: “You are right. What can we do to improve our hiring process?

Here are three crucial steps for selecting the top-performing sales reps with regard to this pharmaceutical executive:

Step 1: Conduct a Fit interview.

The goal of an initial interview is to evaluate fit. This is the beauty of it. Even if a candidate doesn’t have excellent interviewing skills, the sales manager can review a candidate’s resume and ask questions about work history, education, and achievements. It is essential to assess whether the candidate will fit your culture and work environment. If the candidate is a good fit for the sales team, will you be able to work with him/her? Are you sure the candidate is a good fit for a career as a sales professional? Interviews should not exceed 30 minutes.

Step 2: Conducting a behavioral interview

Once you’ve determined whether the potential candidates are a good fit for your company, you bring in the top candidates for a behavioral interview. This interview is more formal and includes structured questions. This interview is structured and includes questions about the company’s core competencies and leadership principles. The list should be used by every sales manager, and each candidate must answer the same questions.

Managers often lack the ability to conduct compelling behavioral interviews. Training may be necessary to help them probe candidates and provide examples of behavior they have displayed. This requires asking open-ended questions and listening attentively to each answer.

The interviewer should make notes for each question and rate each candidate’s answer. Each candidate should be rated by the sales manager after each behavioral interview.

The interview can last up to an hour. Since past success is often a sign of future success, the goal of the interview is to find out if the candidate has demonstrated the ability to function at a high level. Look out for reps who give general answers or simply say “we.” We are looking for evidence or examples that demonstrate the skills you believe are essential to the job.

After all, interviews have been completed, the manager can review each candidate’s skills. During this stage, some companies may also conduct additional interviews with HR and managers.

Step 3: Psychometric Testing

After narrowing down the candidate pool to just 1-3 candidates, psychometric tests can be added value. Two possible problems are: 1) top performers may not always be the most visible in interviews, and 2) poor performers can make a good impression during interview processes.

Psychometric tests bring science to the hiring process. Psychometric tests can predict sales performance by measuring the source traits that are associated with success. These tests are great at identifying red flags in behavioral interviews that may have been missed. This allows the hiring manager to ask more profound questions to validate or deny the red flags. This adds an additional sobering look at the candidate to complement the interview process.

Your sales managers will be able to determine the top performers before making hiring decisions by following a consistent, multistep process.