A few months back we posted on an article from CareerBuilder.com titled Top 10 Interview No No’s. One of the top 10 “no-no’s” is a topic that we discuss with our clients regularly. It is:
2. No Opening Monologue – It is often tempting to have a monologue at the beginning of your time with a candidate. Giving too much information about the type of candidate you are seeking, or providing a substantial amount of information about the position and responsibilities can be detrimental. Giving too many details upfront leads a candidate to tell you what you want to hear, instead of what he/she actually thinks. Do simple introductions and quickly move to your list of questions, allowing the candidate to do the majority of the talking. Feel free to share more information at the end of the interview.
Opening monologues are extremely detrimental when hiring salespeople. Why? Let’s put it into application – imagine your salespeople in their role calling on new prospects. Do the prospects open up with a monologue about their troubles, how much they have to spend and whether they can approve this size order or not? In most instances they do not. Your salesperson must ask good qualifying questions to unearth this information.
This qualifying, questioning ability is what we want to see in action in the interview stage.
If you start off interviews with a data-dump monologue, stop doing that. Let the sales candidate dig to get this information out through the interview. Pay special not to their rapport, questions, clarifications, structure and ease of ability. I assure you that you will have a much better understanding of the candidate’s qualifying process and abilities.