Interviewing for a Sales Evangelist: The Wants and What Not’s of the Methodology

 

I am continually asked by peers, managers, and other sales people of every ilk, what are the key things to look for when hiring a sales person? Often I am also asked if there are different things to look for when hiring sales people for a startup. Our feature article today and next month will relate my methodologies when hiring sales people for companies emerging in new sectors. While several of the following points could be leveraged into the interviewing of any employee of a company, today the intent is to share unique points for hunting down evangelists. The seven key areas are:

 

1.      What questions to ask

2.      What answers to look for

3.      What to expect them to say

4.      How the meeting should go

5.      The key elements of their personality

6.      DISC testing

7.      The feeling you get and trusting your instincts

 

In this article we will discuss 1-3 and then next month we will look into 4-7.

 

1.      What Questions to Ask and 2. What answers to look for:

 

Let us begin with the key piece of the puzzle. If you are not asking the right questions, how can you expect to get to understand the way your prospect thinks. There are five key areas to uncover when looking for a great sales evangelist:

 

A.    Ambition – The candidate must have drive and goals beyond being a sales person in your company. Look for hungry individuals with an entrepreneurial sense. Two great questions:

 

a.       If you were not in sales, what would you be doing? Look for an answer that involves leading or owning something. The desire to learn or educate is also a big plus.

 

b.      What is your greatest personal accomplishment? Look for an athletic or academic achievement, the next best is something that involved making large sums of money. While buying a house, simply finishing school or getting married are great accomplishments, they show a security side of character. We want desire to over achieve. Graduating top of your class, or winning a tournament championship, that is what the sales champion remembers.

 

c.       Tell me the story of your best sale to date. Look for names of companies, people in the process; a great answer starts with, “Oh that is when I sold XYZ to Jeff over and ABC company…” This is the answer of a winner.

 

A couple to avoid:

 

d.      Where do you see yourself in five years? If you cannot give a perfectly rehearsed answer to this question that involves moving up the ladder, you have not been in enough interviews for sales jobs. Try question a. in it’s place.

 

e.       Tell me what motivates you. Again, brace yourself for the most typical of responses. How can you extract creativity from a candidate if your questions are lacking of it?

 

B.     Ideals – INTEGRITY IS #1! The modern day sales person must be a pinnacle of business morality. Questionable activity eliminates trust, and in today’s business relationship this is very important. Your sales people are representing your company. The integrity of your team will create the perception of your own integrity. No matter what else is in play, or how much you like someone’s abilities or personality, if you sense a dishonest nature, do not make a hire. Now place on top of this standard opinion that of the evangelist. Your prospects have to trust the sales evangelist to be a business partner with a valuable new idea. There is a greater perceived risk in a new company and a new industry. Without the trust there are only uphill battles. Most of a person’s tendency to be honest can be solicited from how the interview goes. Look for physical behavior as well as asking a basic question.

 

a.       Eye movement. There is much to debate in this arena, but I am one who believes. At some point early in the interview, determine if your candidate is left or right handed. This should be easy, as they should be taking notes. If not, you have other problems to address. When you ask a question, examine which way they avert their eyes. Look for long looks up and to the opposite direction, or quick looks to the opposite direction without moving up or down. These are signals that the person is constructing their answer. Long looks to the direction of their writing hand means they are remembering something…this is good.

 

b.      My favorite question to ask an interviewee is simply, “Is it OK to lie?” The instinct for anyone asking this question is to say “no”. We have been taught that lying is wrong and usually it offsets people to be asked this question so frankly. There are definitely times it is not just OK, but better to lie. Your wife asks if she looks fat in her new dress, or perhaps your three year old wants to know more about Santa Claus. These lies are actually helpful, as they avoid damaging someone emotionally. If your candidate emphatically says no, they are lying and you can start to wind down your interview. If they say yes too quickly, there is again danger that they have a habit of telling lies to accomplish their objectives. Even someone who is prepared for this answer, the evangelist we are looking for will wrestle with how to answer this question. They should answer it like answering a difficult question honestly. Example: “Well in business it is usually unacceptable; there are times when it is necessary to lie. When my wife asks me if she looks fat…” This is the person you want answering the questions of your one day or current customers. This is a person of integrity.

 

C.     A quick wit – I read an article the other day that gave sound advice. It suggested at some point during the interview to talk about the product and then propose to present some common objections to the candidate. The great sales candidate will handle those objections, the mediocre will attempt and fumble, and the poor will say they do not know enough. The key is not to ask questions that are too specific to features, and more in the realm of issues related to perception. Examples:

 

a.       “Your product is too expensive.” Look for the Feel, Felt, Found answer to this and any other objection. It may be as old as sales itself, but it is empathetic and very helpful in relating other people’s experiences. When it comes to price, sharing how others have felt it paramount.

 

b.      “We just do not have the time to deal with something like this right now.” Try to avoid those who talk respond with, ‘You can not afford to put this off’, or ‘ you should really reprioritize.’ These statements are more or less telling the prospect that they are not making intelligent decisions. A good salesperson will again empathize with the constraints their prospect are under and learn more about what the assumptions are in time and effort. Usually this objection is bred from an unwillingness to learn more, not a lack of time.

 

c.       “We do not see value in doing (What you offer) instead of (The status quo).” This will be the toughest for the candidate as some knowledge of industry and product will be essential. If they did any preparation for the interview, they should be able to give an acceptable response.

 

3.      What to expect them to say: This is particular to the evangelist and not necessarily every great sales representative. My recommendation is that you look for candidates that openly want to discuss certain details of your organization. Please let them bring these up, do not ask questions that solicit these particular areas:

 

A.    How did the company start? They should be looking for the story, the goals of the founders, and what kind of work environment they will be working in. They will usually follow up this question with:

 

B.     What are the goals of the company? They may monetize or quantify through expected hires. The bottom line is they should be checking your pulse for realistic growth expectations.

  

C.     Who are your partners? They are going to want to know who else you are working with as this helps them see that others have respected your potential.

 

D.    They should also ask and want to know about your management and sales philosophy. Without a clear understanding yourself this will be hard to define. KNOW THIS BEFORE HIRING SALES PEOPLE. If you do not, start by hiring the person who’s role it is to make these definitions, or send me a note and we can work on this together

 

To be continued….

 

Tags: , , Ask the Coach, startup sales mentor

This entry was posted on Monday, May 26th, 2008 at 2:20 pm and is filed under Brilliant, Sales Process, Sales Training. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.