Five Common Misconceptions About How to Hire Sales People

Think you know what to look for in top salespeople and how to find them? Test your knowledge with our five questions below. You might be surprised that you share some of the most common misconceptions about how to hire a great sales team.

1. A salesperson’s skills matter more than their values. True or False?

That statement is false. Skills are important, but they can be learned. Values are what motivate top sales performers to keep striving to succeed. Make sure your sales applicants have similar values that top sales performers do. What are those values? Keep reading.

1. The top two values a great salesperson should have are commitment and confidence. True or False?

No doubt, those are two important qualities in a top sales performer, but they aren’t the values at the very top of the list. You want to hire salespeople who value money and power. When they strive for great wealth, they bring great wealth to your company. When they work toward the power positions of sales performers at the top of their game, these salespeople will do what it takes to achieve success for your business.

1. Only interview new salespeople when you have a job opening. True or False?

You should always be interviewing new sales talent with potential for greatness. Hiring the best sales performers means being open to finding them even when you don’t have job listings posted.

1. You can learn a lot about an applicant’s abilities and value to your company through their resume. True or False?

Though handy as a quick reference for the applicant’s experience, the resume itself is worthless in determining a salesperson’s value to your business. You must interview and perhaps even test the applicant for the values, personality traits and skills the sales job requires. For more information about conducting a proper job interview, become a member of the AHS Sales Hiring Course.

1. Your goal isn’t to find people who sell themselves to you. Instead, you want applicants with an entrepreneurial spirit who can overcome adversity and keep their emotions in check. True or False?

This statement is true. Great salespeople are leaders who can face challenges without taking things personally. We call these salespeople “A Players” and you want them on your team. Pay more attention to those qualities than to whether or not they “sold” you on themselves in the interview process.

To hire successful salespeople you need to be willing to do it differently than your competitors. Move past the old misconceptions and you’ll have a much better sales team for it.