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How to Interview an Inexperienced Sales Candidate

Hiring managers often look for sales candidates who are fresh out of school and/or inexperienced in sales. A key benefit in doing so is finding a new recruit who has not developed bad habits and can learn the company’s sales process fresh. During the interview phase, it’s important to understand that the best predictor of future behavior is previous behavior. That’s why hiring managers use behavioral interview questions, which ask the candidate to provide several examples of his/her previous behavior in a variety of situations. But how do you use behavioral questions when you interview an inexperienced sales candidate? How
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How to Hire a Salesperson for a Vacant Territory

One of the most frustrating challenges that hiring managers face is how to hire a salesperson for a vacant territory. The loss of revenue and opportunity costs can make the temptation almost overwhelming to quickly fill the territory with the first candidate they can find. However, although settling for just any salesperson may relieve some of their anxiety in the short term, it will inevitably cause even greater problems down the road. How to Hire a Salesperson for a Vacant Territory was last modified: November 6th, 2014 by SalesDrive, LLC
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Salespeople Who CAN Sell vs. Those Who WILL Sell

It’s a million dollar difference. There are many salespeople who can sell. They have the intelligence, the wits and the charisma. But there are far, far less salespeople who will sell, in a sustained way, over time. The difference? Drive. Salespeople Who CAN Sell vs. Those Who WILL Sell was last modified: September 18th, 2014 by SalesDrive, LLC
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What Questions Should I Ask in a Salesperson Phone Screen?

After reviewing sales candidate resumes, hiring managers often add a phone screen to determine whether to move the candidate forward into the testing and interviewing process. This 20-30 minute phone call helps bring the candidate’s resume to life and provides some excellent clues about whether he or she has the characteristics the company is seeking. Since the time is short, hiring managers often wonder about the best questions to ask. Here is a salesperson phone screen protocol, we use and recommend, to help you determine whether a candidate is likely to be successful in the testing and interviewing process.  What Questions Should
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Why is Optimism so Important to Sustained Sales Success and Why Can’t it be Taught?

Optimism is critical to sustained sales success for two reasons: Most sales calls are rejected. Rejection, when personalized, can lead to depression and diminished performance. Salespeople who are high in innate optimism do not personalize rejection. Like strikeouts in baseball or missed shots in basketball, they see it as part of the game and do not expect to get a hit every time. In other words their optimism protects them and allows them to put their job in a healthy perspective. Knowing that sales is a numbers game that includes both hits and misses, optimists see a miss as simply getting
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When is the Best Time to Use a Sales Test During the Hiring Process?

Hiring managers frequently ask “When is the best time to use a sales test during the hiring process?”  Some managers are initially inclined to wait until the very end, after they have “fallen in love” with the candidate, and hope the test reinforces their opinion. However, waiting too long to administer a sales test to a candidate carries a big risk . . . the longer we wait to test a candidate’s underlying personality traits, the more we risk wasting time with a candidate more motivated to get the job than to do the job. Many candidates are clever and
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