coldcall

Every company wants more skilled sales prospectors, but finding the true hunters requires great interviewing skills.

A rep who says, “Oh yes, I cold call,” isn’t guaranteed to do it. The candidate who assures you, “I know I need to make 50 calls a day,” isn’t guaranteed to pick up the phone. The prospector, who boasts about his Rolodex, can’t guarantee it will turn out qualified prospects.

So what do you do? How can you ferret through these candidates’ promises to find the sales reps who really can uncover new, qualified prospects?

It starts with very specific questions that uncover sales prospecting ability, expertise and motivation.

Next, ascertain if your sales candidate will prospect. Many sales reps know how to prospect, but won’t do it. You want to find out what motivates this candidate and if he sincerely will do the prospecting activities.

Finally, test their prospecting skills. Role-play a cold call where the sales candidate uses the solution he sold most recently. Pretend you’re a prospect that he just reached by phone – and go! Let’s see if he’s as good as he says he is!

When you’re questioning sales candidates about how they sell, you ask questions about every aspect of the sales process. In sales prospecting you want to do the same. Two or three questions won’t divulge ability, expertise or motivation. Spend the time to fully understand your sales candidate’s approach to prospecting and you’ll be amazed how quickly you can separate the imposters from the skilled hunters.

It’s your turn! What techniques do you use to uncover sales candidates’ prospecting ability, expertise and motivation?

Kendra Lee is a top IT Seller, Prospect Attraction Expert and author of the award winning book “Selling Against the Goal” and president of KLA Group. Specializing in the IT industry, KLA Group works with companies to break in and exceed revenue objectives in the Small and Midmarket Business (SMB) segment.