What to ask when interviewing a salesmen?

We have gotten to the point where we need to hire a couple strong salesmen based on commission.

I know the obvious questions to ask during an interview, for example, experience, previous employers, resume, etc.

But when interviewing a salesmen, I want some out side of the box questions, maybe ask them to sell me on a specific product?

Any suggestions would be great, as this will be my first time interviewing anyone.

Thanks guys.

I'm not sure you should hire them based on an interview process but based on a trial process of selling the product.

But I guess that would take some time because you'd have to educate them all on how to sell your product but I suggested that because you really don't know how good they will be until they're actually out there selling.

Someone that didn't impress you that much might be your best seller and someone that over impresses you might be terrible at it.

Hand them something tangible and tell them to sell you it on the spot; that will show their selling skills and their ability to work under pressure.

If they can't convince you, they can't convince their prospects.

GrizzlyAdams said:

I'm not sure you should hire them based on an interview process but based on a trial process of selling the product.

But I guess that would take some time because you'd have to educate them all on how to sell your product but I suggested that because you really don't know how good they will be until they're actually out there selling.

Someone that didn't impress you that much might be your best seller and someone that over impresses you might be terrible at it.

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I've thought about this as well.. It may be a bad idea to base hire off of an interview, but I really don't want some Joe blow selling my top of the line service.

BassTrackerBoats said:

Hand them something tangible and tell them to sell you it on the spot; that will show their selling skills and their ability to work under pressure.

If they can't convince you, they can't convince their prospects.

Click to expand...

That's a great idea.

Does anyone have an idea on industry standard for paying salesmen on commission (if their is one) also our services are a monthly subscription. Do I pay the salesmen per month per client they sign on?


Any and all suggestions for having salesmen selling our product would be awesome. Thanks!

That was mentioned earlier.

I think before we dive into hiring salesmen, we need to come up with a commission plan, which is hard for smaller clients.

May need to jack the prices up a bit.

You'll know a good salesperson the second they walk in the door. It's hard to explain specific traits, but they're the type of person you would gravitate towards in a social atmosphere.

You won't need to think out an interview, the conversation will just flow. That's the one you want.

Reasonable commission rates for any service based biz are between 5 and 10%.

5-10% seems really low.

Do as BTB said and focus on the ones that sell the benefits. For example, hand them a pen and tell them to sell you that pen. The ones that say this is the best pen, you're going to love this pen, blah blah don't hire. The ones that say this pen comes with 60 days of ink, has the smoothest flow, and will never break down on you or I'll personally come to your office and replace it. Hire that guy, that's a fucking salesmen.

Oh I forgot to mention, knowledge of a product doesn't necessarily sell it. It's the charisma that sales it. If you put a geek and a charismatic salesmen in the same room with 1000 people at a conference, even though the salesmen doesn't know jack shit about how your motors actually work, he will outsell the engineer who built them every time. Also, big boobs sell product as well. If they are selling over the phone, female voices can also be a great seller.