Common comment from clients, colleagues and contacts: sales managers do not know how to conduct an interview.
“All she did was talk about herself”, said one client.
“The manager asked no questions that would allow them to know anything about me that my resume doesn’t already state”, said another.
Attention managers who hire sales professionals: you need to improve your interviewing technique.
The “tell me about yourself” and “why should we have you join the team” are weak excuses for insightful questions.
Long ago, as I struggled to improve my skills, I bought a book called The Manager’s Book of Questions: 1001 Great Interview Questions for Hiring the Best Person (when I bought the book there were only 751 questions!)
From it I have adapted and honed 10 questions that I have asked every sales related applicant, regardless of position, for more than 10 years.
Do the questions guarantee a good hire? Oh heck no.
Do they get all the information you need to make a decision? No.
Do these 10 questions give you an excellent starting point to open an interview, ‘peel the onion’ of an applicant, and get better decision making points than the “winging it” method?
Oh yes!
