> Duane wrote: > Has anyone been involved in interviewing sales candidates? I will be > interviewing a couple of sales people next week for an opening I have and > I've never interviewed or managed a sales person before. >
One of the classics is to email them a made-up (or real) product sheet of something you might buy or are considering buying or it's your product and you pose as you typical customer. Then when they show up, they're showing up on the fake sales call and trying to sell you product. Many companies will take this pretty far, even telling candidate that the "interview" begins one week before the day they are to show up. In other words, you're trying to see if the candidate emails you to set up the time, confirms the date, et al. Then when they show up and/or before, you're looking to see if the candidate asks about you: What is your business, why are you interested in the product, how did you first hear about it, what problems does your business have, why do you think this product will solve some of them, where does it fit in / how will it integrate with your business, additional products you could buy for other needs, integration support, does he talk about both the product and the service/customer support he'll provide, does she tell you about the company, does she explain how the product is placed in the market and/or ask if you're looking at competing products, does he ask about the staffing/team you have to support the product, does she ask about the sales process inside of your company (i.e., assess your role: is the candidate research, specification, recommend, and/or budgetary approval). Did they do basic market research about you, the prospective fake client, or are they just showing up? The goal of all of this, of course, is to see your sales candidate on a real sales call. Would you buy your product or the fake product from them? Do you feel like they'd represent you well with your clients having seen them in action? Good candidates will 1.) Understand you and represent you well 2.) Understand the brand 3.) Understand your products - what problems do they solve for companies / how can they be used? 4.) Understand the competitive landscape - who competes with you? 5.) Understand your prospective clients - who are they, who might they be, why do they need your product. It's 3 Cs: company, customer, competition. If they don't know that / show that they won't work out. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~| Adobe® ColdFusion® 8 software 8 is the most important and dramatic release to date Get the Free Trial http://ad.doubleclick.net/clk;207172674;29440083;f Archive: http://www.houseoffusion.com/groups/cf-community/message.cfm/messageid:289843 Subscription: http://www.houseoffusion.com/groups/cf-community/subscribe.cfm Unsubscribe: http://www.houseoffusion.com/cf_lists/unsubscribe.cfm?user=89.70.5
