Hiring for Sales? Beware!

There are basically 2 reasons:

• The stereotypical sales personality- While it doesn’t hurt to have someone who is talkative, enthusiastic and outgoing in the sales team, solely relying on these traits for success in sales is a mistake. There are many more personality traits that are needed to succeed in a sales profile.
• Perfect Sales Personality = Perfect Match- Possessing the ideal sales personality alone will lead you nowhere. Success in sales is a combination of personality, skills, knowledge and experience.
• You should know your script and all is set- Having good presentation skills is a must, but not enough. Sales is not about learning a script and presenting your product. It is about displaying confidence, commitment and sincerity while communicating to the client that our product fulfills your need. (Easier said than done, though)
• Hire someone who knows the ‘tricks’ of the trade- What one should have is a thorough understanding of the sales process. Tricks may get you short term gains, but long term relationships are based on winning the trust and allegiance of the customer.

Relying on inefficient tools to pick out the right sales-person is a blunder. Relying on insufficient tools is a crime. Just a personality test, however well standardized, will not help. What you need is a comprehensive test that not only assesses personality but also tests a candidate’s level of skill and knowledge about how to sell what and to whom.

Many times, a good sales team is what differentiates a profitable organization from the unsuccessful ones. Investing in the right tools and busting the often-followed myths is all that is between your company and the perfect sales team.