Sales Hiring: How to Conduct the Perfect Interview Process

“Two sales professionals walk into a bar”……

Are you waiting for the punch line? Well, I’m sure we could construct a bad dad joke if we wanted. Instead, let’s replace “bar” with “video chat” and we basically have the beginnings of a corporate interview process to fill a sales position. And like any dad joke, the results could be very disappointing, and ultimately a waste of time.

PSA: *No dad’s feelings were hurt in the making of this metaphor, as I secretly love a good dad joke*

All jokes aside, finding top talent is incredibly hard these days, and finding sales talent might be the toughest of all. 2021 has seen not only the “Great Re-shuffling”, but it has also been a flagship year for a lot of revenue generating professionals due to a bevy of post-COVID factors. This means the talent pool is smaller than ever and competition for that top talent is at its’ peak.

But fear not, because here at Husk Talent, we have over 25+ years of sales recruiting experience, and we can shed some light on what an ideal interview process looks like. We’ve seen good, bad, ugly, and downright comical. We’re here to share it all, because nothing, and I mean NOTHING, can turn off a good sales candidate than a clunky, inefficient, and long interview process.

The Blueprint: 

Step 1: Identify the Role

This might seem like an obvious first step, but it’s not one to causally overlook. Map out the position, title, territory and quota.

Evaluating locational preferences and work-from-home policy is crucial in this day and age. Being flexible here is always going to widen the candidate pool, but if you are of the belief that the person needs to be in the office every day, you need to flag that early and often. Then you can figure out how to fix your time machine so you can go back to 2021 😊.

Step 2: Develop a Scorecard

Creating a candidate scorecard will save you, and every other interviewer, a ton of time during the interview process.

Define the 3-5 things that are most important and develop a scale to measure those characteristics. We’ve seen companies put things such as Industry Knowledge, Culture Fit and Quota Attainment on their evaluations, but it all depends on what you really need/want in the candidate.

If you’re partnering with a trusted recruiting partner *insert shameless plug here*, then work with them on putting one together so they can use it for their initial screenings.

Step 3: Hiring Manager Video Screen

After the candidate has been deemed a good fit on paper, or by an internal recruiter or third party resource, hop on a 30 minute video call.

Video chats are here to stay, and it’s amazing we didn’t think to leverage them as much before the pandemic forced us to do so. It’s a great way to connect with a candidate “face-to-face” while also making it easy on schedules. Nothing beats an in-person meeting, but video calls are as close as it gets. Human brains are wired to decipher facial expressions, so why not use those innate evaluation skills to our advantage? Invest time in training yourself and the rest of the interviewers in best practices for video calls. Technical difficulties can really put a damper on a conversation.

Make sure you spend at least one-third or even one-half of the allotted time here to sell the candidate on the opportunity. A lot of sales leaders are worried about wasting time in the interview process with a bad candidate and therefore want to spend the entire first call making sure that the interviewee is even worthy of the next conversation. However, nothing can be a bigger waste of time than putting a strong candidate through the entire process and finding out ultimately that they are not interested in making the move over.

Don’t be afraid to put it out all out there on the first call or two so the candidate knows what they’re getting into. If it’s not for them they will know so early and bow out instead wasting everyone’s time. This is especially important for strong passive candidates.

Plus, if you followed Step 2, you already have a strong candidate scorecard that will weed out bad candidates before Step 3 anyway.

Step 4: Another Hiring Manager Conversation

This might sound crazy but we’re big believers in “running it back” and having a follow up call with the hiring manager again. At this point the candidate is interested enough to take their time out of their day to have another conversation, and the hiring manager has seen enough of the candidate to think they would be a good fit. Have that “2nd date” where you can really build chemistry instead of passing it off to someone else who will likely ask the same questions.

This also allows both parties to really get into the weeds regarding sales process, motivations, and all the X’s and O’s they weren’t able to get to on the surface level interview. After all, the hiring manager is going to be the person working with the hire day in and day out. Building that rapport is the most important thing in the entire interview process so let’s find out early if it’s there.

At this point, we recommend covering compensation at least at a high-level. Sales people are more comfortable talking about compensation than most, and they will want to know if this opportunity provides more earning potential than the one they are currently in. You don’t have to lock down a number, but make sure you are in the right ballpark, and the candidate knows your general pay structure, accelerators, top earner comparisons, etc.

*Your friendly neighborhood recruiter should also have this information for you early, but it’s good to confirm directly even if that’s the case*

Step 5: Peer or Cross-functional Peer Conversation

This is a great opportunity for the candidate to speak to someone else at the organization who will be in a similar role or work cross-functionally with them. Have them chat with your top sales rep if they’re a customer success candidate, or perhaps your most tenured customer success manager if the candidate is in sales. These folks will have to get along for it to be a good hire anyway, and it will give the candidate a lot perspective into how they will fit in amongst the team. 

Diversity – this is also a great opportunity to have some diverse thought and representation of the company. A study done by Workplace Intelligence showed that “70 percent of job seekers said they want to work for a company that demonstrates a commitment to diversity and inclusion”. If every person this candidate has spoke with comes from the same demographic, than they will probably pick up on a lack of diversity within the company or at least the sales team.

Not only does having a diverse interviewer panel help show the candidate you have an inclusive workplace, but it also opens the door for diverse thought and varied perspectives when evaluating if the candidate is a good fit.

Step 6: Presentation (optional)

Ah, the dreaded presentation. As a recruiter, I can assure you no candidate is excited for this step in the process, but they should understand why it’s necessary. If you are committed to having candidates do this, do it after a few conversations when they are bought into the opportunity and have had a chance to learn about the company, product, etc.

We would advise having them pick a topic that they are familiar with instead of having them pitch your product/service to yourself. It’s extremely difficult and intimidating for someone to sell a product they know very little about to an audience of people who have worked at that company for years. If you allow the candidate to choose something they are knowledgeable in, then you can really see how they present and run through a standard discovery process, negotiation, etc.

If you have a strong on-boarding and training program, you shouldn’t be worried about their knowledge of your offering at this point in time. Evaluate them on their technique, not how much time they spent scouring your website and regurgitating information from it.

Step 7: Hiring Manager/Recruiter Call to Wrap up Process

At this point, you should know if this person will be a good asset to the team and an offer should be discussed. But keep the champagne on ice, because there is still no guarantee they will accept. As I said before, competition is FIERCE. They might have another offer (or 3) that you’re competing with.

Make sure either the hiring manager, or internal/3rd party recruiter uncover what you might be up against. Are there any commissions this person would be leaving on the table? Equity vesting considerations? There is lots to check off here so make sure you have all the facts before constructing the…

Step 8: Offer!

We always recommend having the hiring manager call and deliver the good news. Nothing gets a candidate excited like their future boss reaching out and reinforcing how excited they are to take someone under their wing. This also provides a good opportunity to explain any commission or bonus structure and the expectations while the candidate ramps up.

So there you have it, Husk Talent’s guide to the sales hiring interview process. No system, or anything for that matter, is “perfect”, but we can all strive to get there. Naturally this will evolve for firms as they grow, especially for VC-backed companies scaling as they go from seed -> Series A -> Series B-> Series C. Hopefully it can serve as a good template in engaging the revenue generating talent you’re going to need to get to the next level. Oh, and if you’re going to tell a dad joke during the interview process, you better land the punchline! 

Written by Corey Getzoff,

GTM Recruiter and Partner at Husk Talent