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Select Metrix
Newsletter |
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May, 2005
Vol. 1, Issue
5 |
Application in Action:
Drilling Down
The initial interview is one topic for which we receive
many inquiries. It seems that most managers are interested in
learning new techniques for interviewing sales candidates. I
have personally seen many styles of interviewing – from
combative to relaxed, informational to tangential. We always
tell our clients to run the interview in a manner that is most
comfortable for them. Our goal is to make sure that the right
information is gathered regarding each candidate. To accomplish
this task, we incorporate the results from the online
assessments to search for key attributes in each candidate.
Drilling Down
The most common task I perform when sitting in on
interviews is asking clarifying questions of the candidates
after they have provided an overly general response. A fluff
answer needs to be drilled down to get to a clear truth. Some
Selling Styles can become edgy when I push them for
clarification while others will continue to spin a yarn.
Whatever the candidate’s style, it is important to pursue the
topic until you clearly understand their answer.
Here are a few drill-down techniques I use:
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“I’m not sure I understand, can you tell me how… (restate
your question)”
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“I’d like to get back to my original question.”
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“Walk us through a specific example of…”
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“Tell me more about that.”
You can see that these techniques are simply words to stay
on topic. I have seen interviews that spiral down to little
more than theoretical discussions of sales strategies. Far
better to pursue tactical skills applied to past successes…and
failures. Use the aforementioned techniques and you will
discover the true depth of your candidate’s skills.
Interview
Questions
Every manager enjoys reading
interview questions in the search for a new one to launch on
their next candidate. We incorporate specific questions based
on the results we receive from the assessments of the candidates
(see last month’s articles on this topic
here).
However, there are certain questions I tend to use in a majority
of sales interviews.
Here are a handful of questions that can be used in almost
every sales interview:
“Walk us
through your typical sales process.”
This one question may be more revealing than any other
one. Do they have a process for selling or do they have a
tendency to wing it? Is there process solid? The assessments
measure their skills through the sales process so it is wise to
delve into their weaker areas to see how they handle those
topics.
“How do you
handle a disinterested, hostile or disinterested prospect?”
The goal here is to see how they handle rejection. Strong
salespeople have the ability to not take rejection
personally.
“What is
motivating you to look for a new career opportunity right now?”
They may be underperforming against their current quota.
They may have a personal conflict with their manager. They may
be a serial job hopper. Or, they may have simply out grown
their current position. Whatever the reason, their response
will be revealing. I can almost guarantee you will need to
drill down on their initial answer.
“What do you
do to ensure that you are accurately listening to what another
person is really saying and meaning?”
If you have to drill down on this one, you have your answer
regardless of what the candidate says!
“What does a
qualified prospect look like in your current role?”
Qualifying is the backbone of successful selling. This is
a good follow up to the first question and will provide clear
insight into their present qualifying skill. Be wary if their
answer is overly theoretical or vague.
Obviously, this
list could be volumes long. I prepare for each interview
individually and determine what 5-10 questions will be most
revealing for that candidate. This preparation allows me
to listen closely to their response and drill down on the
responses that do not clearly answer my question. By the
end of this initial interview, it is fairly easy to rank the
candidates based on the information gathered in this step.
Click here for the next article -
Metrix Medley |
