5 Tips for Interviewing Strategic Salespeople

How you interview and hire for the role of strategic salesperson will ABSOLUTELY impact your success. Goes without saying, right?

I'll go so far as to say that salespeople are the most important hire you will make. Having all the best developers and engineers and scientists won't mean a thing if you aren't making sales.

Keep this top of mind, too. The bigger the price tag on your products and services, the bigger the risk to you and your business hiring the wrong salespeople will create.

So ask yourself this question: "What experience do I have as a salesperson and as a sales team leader?"

If the answer is little to none, get help.

In the meantime, here are five quick tips to help you screen and interview sales candidates.

1. Define the Role Clearly

Before you begin the recruitment process, it's crucial to have a clear understanding of what you need in a strategic salesperson.

Especially in startups, this role involves more than just selling; it requires someone who can also strategize and align the sales processes to market intel and broader business objectives.

Develop a job description that details not only the responsibilities and daily tasks but also the skills and attributes that candidates must have. Clarity helps in attracting the right talent and sets a benchmark for evaluating candidates before you start screening.

2. Look for Industry-Relevant Experience (but Don't Overrate It)

In the tech industry, having a salesperson who understands the market and the technology is invaluable. When screening resumes, prioritize candidates who have experience in similar tech fields or have sold comparable products. This industry experience means they are more likely to have the contacts and knowledge necessary to hit the ground running.

Appreciate, however, that you're NOT hiring engineers and technicians.

When you struggle — and you will — to find good to great sales candidates with industry experience, you need to remind yourself that you're not hiring SMEs. You and others are SMEs.

What you need in a salesperson is a SMP — a Subject Matter Professional. The reality is that your products and services can be learned. What you need sales to be capable of is learning enough to prospect effectively, earn the trust of prospects, engage them in meaningful discovery, evaluation, and value-based business decision-making, AND be smart enough to know when to bring SMEs into the sales process.

3. Utilize Behavioral Interview Techniques

To understand how candidates are likely to perform in real-world scenarios, ask lots of behavioral interview questions. Ask them to describe past experiences where they had to strategize to initiate and win a big account or navigate a complex sales cycle. Ask them to describe in detail not just meaningful wins but also losses and how they felt at the time.

Gauge how specific they are. What's their body language? Do they talk only about themselves? Their answers and behavior will offer insights into their personality, character, problem-solving skills, resilience, and ability to adapt to complex and often rapidly changing situations.

4. Assess Cultural Fit

"Culture eats strategy for breakfast."

Peter Drucker was and still is right. For startups especially, ensuring that a new hire fits your company culture is at least as important as their skills and experience. A strategic salesperson who shares your company's values and vision will be more motivated and effective. During the interview, engage them in discussions that reveal their perspectives not only on work, collaboration, and innovation, but on the ideals that are core to the culture you're striving to create.

5. Role Play

If you don't take anything else from this list, take this one.

Role playing isn't just a gauge of how well candidates understand you, your company, your products and services, your FBAs (features-benefits-advantages) and your ICPs (ideal customer profiles). It reveals a lot about them and their selling style.

Here's what you do at some point during the initial screening video or phone call. You say to them, "Ok. Let's do some role-playing. I'm [the prospect role you're going to play]. I'll give you a couple of minutes to pull your thoughts together while I refresh my coffee. When I come back, you're going to 'call' me, and I'm going to answer."

What you're gauging is how they react. How comfortable are they — how natural is it — for them to start a dialog?

And, yes, it'll reveal how much homework they did.

If the candidate passes and gets invited to an in-person interview, I tell them that we'll be role playing again; this time with other people involved.

Conclusion

Following these tips will enhance your chances of finding a strategic salesperson who not only drives sales but who also aligns with your company's culture, short-term, and long-term revenue goals.

And if you don't have firsthand sales and sales team leadership experience, please get in touch. Sales is too important a hire to be making if your experience in the role is limited or zero.