Job interviews are artificial environments, and it can be extremely difficult for hiring managers to assess a candidate’s skills and qualifications in a Q&A format. This is especially challenging in sales interviews. Salespeople are trained to sell, and many do an excellent job of painting themselves as motivated individuals throughout the interviewing process.
Interviewers often ask leading questions that reveal their desired answer to a candidate, and hypothetical questions that allow the candidate to craft hypothetical answers. In order to better assess skills, especially soft skills like motivation, behavioral questions are often the best plan of attack.
What are Behavioral Questions?
Traditional interview questions are phrased like this: “What would you do if a customer asked you X,” or “How would you handle it if a prospect demanded Y.” These questions give the interviewee the opportunity to create a hypothetical answer from scratch, rather than concrete answers from specific experience.
Behavioral questions focus on real situations that have happened in the past. They force the interviewee to recall actual events, and explain how they handle themselves on the job. These questions often begin with phrases like, “Tell me about a time when…” or “Give me an example of a time when you…” Asking a sales candidate to present real-life examples can help hiring managers assess their true work ethic, work style, and motivation.
How to Assess Motivation
In order to identify a truly self-motivated salesperson, interviewers should look for some specific cues. Motivated sales people understand the importance of setting goals and providing themselves with rewards for achieving those goals. They may mention that they reward themselves on Fridays with a large family dinner at a nice restaurant when they’ve achieved their weekly goals, or they may tell you about a dream vacation they took after exceeding an annual quota. This shows that they don’t operate on company rewards alone, but instead stay motivated by “treating themselves” to personal rewards for achieving their goals.
A study of the candidate’s work history can also help assess their motivation. If they have made a series of lateral moves throughout their career, this indicates that they are content with the status quo. On the other hand, if each job gave them more responsibility and bigger contracts to manage, it illustrates strong motivation to grow and achieve more.
Asking about outside interests can also help assess motivation. Highly motivated people are typically involved in community or personal activities that require them to push themselves. They may enjoy learning new languages, they may hold leadership roles in community activities, or they may participate in long-distance running races.
If you believe you have a motivated candidate on your hands, the best way to confirm your hunch is through a thorough reference check. Speaking directly with a candidate’s former supervisors and managers will give you a clear picture of what you can expect from that person on the job.
If your enterprise software organization is looking for better ways to evaluate salespeople during the hiring process, the team at Strategic Search Solutions can help. We recruit exclusively for the enterprise software sector, and we have developed a recruiting, interviewing, and hiring plan that will help connect your organization with highly motivated candidates who will drive results. For more information about our proven processes, contact us today.