Here is a typical article about interview technique titled How to Keep Your Cool In the Interview Hot Seat from CareerJournal.com. The article promotes common advice regarding how to keep your nerves during an interview.
Personally, I appreciate a candidate who has some nervousness in an interview. Granted, I don’t want them to curl up in the fetal position on the floor, but a bit of nervousness tells me that they have a desire to do well. Implicitly I then believe they are most interested in the position (not always true but a good way to hedge your bets).
Now, here is the advice in the article that we derail in our interview process:
Since you tend to panic during interviews, running through the basic questions a couple of times before turning on the television is not good enough. You need to be prepared to the point where you can list your best qualities in staggering detail while parallel parking a Cadillac in a tight spot.
That approach may work in other positions, but not sales. Salespeople who come to an interview with a pre-canned shtick are most annoying . . . and appear phony. Imagine this salesperson representing your company in the market and sitting before your best prospect. What if he or she simply runs their pre-canned presentation whether it resonates with the prospect or not? You’ll be able to remove that prospect from your forecast. That day.
The better approach for sales interviews is to keep the candidate off guard. Don’t ask common questions. Don’t ask leading questions. Ask questions that require specific answers and then drill down on their answers to get the unvarnished truth. You can even gently interrupt them to keep them on topic.
Sales is a tough position that requires people with a unique and rare skill set. Your best bet for making the best hire is to see the salesperson in action during your hiring process.
If you need assistance with this process, we can help.