We work with customers from around the country who sell in a myriad of markets. Some positions are far more difficult to fill than others. I am speaking in terms outside of the position itself. Some hiring managers provide difficult roadblocks to sales hiring success.

One of the most important reasons for running a hiring process is to remove biases. Biases are the single largest detriment to successful hiring we encounter. We released an article last week that speaks to these gut-level decisions. There is no accounting for these biases. There is no repeatable measurement for these biases.

We preach this approach constantly – run a hiring process that pushes the gut-level decisions to the end stage. There is less chance of bias entering a process if you phone screen candidates first. The next step is to send them to an objective, online assessment. After that, bring them in for the face-to-face interviews and explore some of your findings. At that point, when you have reached your final 2 candidates and accumulated much objective and subjective data, let your gut lead you in the decision.

Please remember: The best time to get rid of a bad salesperson is before you hire them.

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It is hard not to trust Dan Seidman when you learn his is the founder of SalesAutopsy.com. Selling Power has an article titled DQ and Move On which highlights some of Seidman’s approach.

I am not familiar with his work, but his advice is spot on. If I could have only one skill in a salesperson, it would be qualifying. It is the backbone of sales success. Every other stage hinges upon strong qualifying.

Seidman hits on an absolute truth (my emphasis):

When reps don’t qualify well, they spend too much time in front of prospects who aren’t ready or able to buy and that has a direct effect on the revenue they bring in. Your ability to disqualify first and fast will keep you in front of buyers who are ready, willing, and able to pay you for your products and services, Seidman points out in his book Sales Autopsy: 50 Postmortems Reveal What Killed the Sale (Kaplan, 2006).

Absolutely true. We see this problem constantly in sales. The problem becomes magnified when you have a extroverted, schmoozing salesperson. Many corporate dollars have been spent on fine wine, fancy meals and rounds of golf for prospects who will never close. It is far easier for the salesperson to spend time (and expense money) on a tease of a prospect as opposed to spending their time prospecting for a new opportunity somewhere else.

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From a cover email of a technical person looking for nights or weekend work:

PLEASE – no recruiters, insurance agents, or other gimmicky type people. I’m gainfully employed and simply want to put my name out to keep my skills tuned.

For some reason I get a kick out of edgy cover emails. I thought this one might be a funny way to start your Monday (was for me).

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