Hiring a Sales Manager: How Do You Assess Creativity and Real Skills in Interviews?

Dear Members,

I've recently joined a start-up company. We are now recruiting a Sales Manager. Please guide me on what qualities I should check for while interviewing them. In the past, we have hired a few sales managers who talked a lot during interviews but were unable to perform once they joined, resulting in all our efforts going to waste. My superior wants to assess the creativity and out-of-the-box thinking of these salespeople. The organization is involved in manufacturing and sales of water treatment plants. Could any member please suggest an exercise to evaluate this?

Your valuable suggestions are eagerly awaited.

Regards,
Deepali Rastogi

I have a background in sales and switched to recruitment. The basic and most important quality for a sales manager is 'Attitude'. A salesperson will surely be able to sell themselves.

Let me share my thoughts...

1. At the beginning, you must be very keen to listen to them with a smile, which will help you assess their presentation skills.

2. Gradually try to pressure them to see how they handle stress.

3. Ask them to market their product to you directly during the meeting and pose questions from a negative angle to compare their product with competitors. This will help you understand their knowledge and confidence level.

4. Give them an exercise where you highlight the negatives of the product and ask them how they would market it in a highly competitive market.

5. Inquire about their working hours. If they provide an exact time period, be cautious. A good sales manager will never mention a specific time as it depends on the customer's convenience.

6. Ask them how much business they can bring in if hired, and why they believe they can achieve that.

7. Inquire about their salary expectations and other benefits. Offer them double incentives and half of their salary expectation as the base. Explain that it's not the final amount but a hypothetical offer to gauge their response.

8. Obtain details of their top three clients with contact information.

9. After these initial steps, relax and then ask them to prepare a sales plan within 48 hours. Reviewing their plan will help you evaluate their planning skills and implementation scope.

The strategy I outlined is a negative one based on my experience. If you are interested, let's communicate through email.

Dear Deepali,

A person who has handled sales should not have a problem conducting an interview with another salesperson. As I see it, there are two aspects to the interview - one is to check their managerial competencies, and the other is their sales competency.

To assess sales competency, behavioral interviewing should prove useful. Ask a simple question - "What sales process did you follow, and what was its effectiveness?"

The response to this question is quite comprehensive. A seasoned interviewer should be able to ask the right supporting questions.

Additionally, there are a few CV-specific questions to consider.

I conduct training on "Behavioral Interviewing." It is a 1 or 2-day training program (depending on your availability). By taking up this training, you will be equipped to handle interviews not only for sales managers but also for all other managers.

For your reference, I have attached my Training e-brochure to this post.

Dinesh V Divekar

dineshdivekar(at)yahoo.com