He’s a Fake!

Tiffany Fox

How do you hire a good sales rep? How do you spot a faker? How can you tell good from bad in advance?

I've spent lots of time on this topic. Spotting good reps is hard. If you get it right 50% of the time you belong in the Sales Manager Hall of Fame.

Somewhere a GM is scoffing but ask to see their numbers. I rest my case.

Having shared that, there are clues. Here are indicators I found to be valuable.

The Rep wants a big guarantee: We tell ourselves this goes with hiring talent. We want winners and we sell ourselves on a big paycheck.

What this really says, however, is the rep isn't confident. They want your company to assume the risk. They want to be financially safe while they figure things out.

I've hired winners and losers. Without exception, the winners were the most reasonable financially. They are confident they can make your comp model work because they'll sell stuff.

There are no account conflicts: This one is obvious. There are no conflicts because they don't have clients.

This guy/gal is trying to get hired. If they spent more time looking for clients there would be lots of conflicts. You'd be chasing them. They would not be chasing you.

They're currently out of work: Think about it. If they had any sales they wouldn't be without a job. Employers don't dump reps with business. They dump reps that can't get business.

This happened to one of my employers. They wanted to add a new line of products. An equipment company suggested a sales rep.

The guy had no business. He knew where it was and talked about it plenty. He was full of "we can do this" and "we can do that" comments. He was an expert in the area we wanted to enter.

I shared my concern with the boss. We hired him anyway. He did help us set up the new business segment but never sold an order. The people he knew didn't seem to know him back.

If a rep is out of work unrelated to a business closure he doesn't have customers.

The candidate is critical: If the person you're interviewing could "work miracles if his employer would get in gear" run! This guy will be blaming you for their numbers next.

Winners don't complain about hurdles. They expect them. Selling isn't asking for orders. Selling is problem solving. Problems = Hurdles/Obstacles.

I came to it late in my career. I credit David Bennett of Bennett Graphics in Atlanta. He pressed me to use prescreening or testing.

It wasn't our only tool but it did prove to be accurate and valuable. We could see what candidates were best suited for the challenges that go with sales. 100% of the time the test scores supported our interview instincts.

With all of that said, hiring reps is risky. Lives change. Kids come along. Divorces happen. Spouses get transferred. Your sales recruiting and stability is subject to disruption.

These "tips" or indicators helped me improve my numbers. Hiring right is critical.

When you do hire, stay involved. Talk with the rep daily. Set expectations and measure results. Never stop building your sales team.

The preceding content was provided by a contributor unaffiliated with Printing Impressions. The views expressed within may not directly reflect the thoughts or opinions of the staff of Printing Impressions. Artificial Intelligence may have been used in part to create or edit this content.