10 Tips On What To Look For in a Good Salesperson

Thursday, August 28, 2003

JS Group, http://www.thejsgroup.com

Hiring talented sales people is key if an organization is to move forward. Finding the right sales person for your organization is a difficult skill, one that takes study, practice, time and patience. Below are 10 specific suggestions that might be helpful when making that search.

1. Look for someone who has had selling experience and sees your position as a next step. Not someone who is willing to "take a pay cut"; they will resent you later. Not someone who use to be a manager and "likes just selling”. If you do that you always run the risk of a conflict between the "new" person and the level above them (i.e. sales manager/owner.)

2. You might even want to get a "salary history". Be aware of not only of what they say, but how they talk about that history.

3. Ask them about the last job or one that they left after a short time. Be aware of how much they take responsibility and how much they "blame" their last employer or the market. Even though there are bad companies and slow market places, be sure that you don't hire a "blamer".

4. Look for someone who has done research on your company. Have they checked out your web site? Have they specifically looked up information about you? A salesperson that does their homework is more likely to be a success story.

5. Notice if candidates ask questions about your company and find your "hot button" as the interviewer. Are they able to "sell" you on the "product"?

6. Look for someone who is interesting to talk with but, does not go on and on and on. Interesting people will get the product/service story out.

7. Get the candidate to tell you a war story - see what they consider "good selling".

8. Notice how they develop rapport with you. Are they busy trying to impress you or do they always wait for you to bring up a question?

9. A good sales person is always learning; you might want to ask "How did you learn to sell?"

10. Take a close look at their resume. Is it clear? Well written? Is it brief? This might give you an insight as to how the person thinks.

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