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Has any one asked candidates to perform a sales presentation/pitch as part of the face-to-face interview?
6 replies
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Carla,
This is a good question, and I am surprised it has not had a flurry of replies. I really don't know how anyone can hire a salesperson without asking them to exhibit their skills in a selling scenario.
If one is hiring experienced salespeople, a sales presentation may be as simple or complex as you wish. A simple setup may result in less detailed info, but takes much less time to complete. I would recommend a two-step approach, with the first step being a simple sales scenario utilizing a common object (pen, calendar, etc.), and look for the basics of sales understanding. Those that pass would be asked to make a more detailed sales presentation in a later interview, likely with an item or service from your organization. The level of detail they are asked to present in the second scenario should reflect the level of detail they will have to present to clients or customers, if hired.
Good luck, and it was a great question!
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Jim,
I concur with your remarks, how can a company hire a salespeson without asking them to exhibit their skills in a selling scenario? Sales Managers are too quick to go with their gut reactions and objective criteria when making hiring decisions and often results in high first year attrition rates.
The same holds true if I need to hire a very aggressive recruiter that I need to perform candidate development and buld pipelines of potential candidates for new sales openings. I want to assess their ability on how they cold call, build relationships, and do competitive recruiting. I will ask them to do a mock recruiting call with me so I see can hear their approach; do they pitch the position or learn about the candidate first?
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Yes, our inside sales reps went through call simulations as part on the interview process.
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Yes I have developed an interview process for inside sales where we do mock cold calls as part of the hiring process, for business development positions candidates had to give a sales presentation based on information we gave them in advanced so they could prepare, and I have also developed a role play scenario that isn't industry specific but rather assess's one's abililty to sell in a consultative selliing environment. Each manager has a set of instructions establishing their role and objective and each candidate is given instructions and time to review materials and start the process by having a fact finding meeting with a client and the process continues from there.
Overall they are very useful; however, should only be used as one of many other criteria you use to assess and make a decision on a candidate.
Contact me if you want some examples for suggestions.
kirk@corporate-staffing-fundamentals.com or call me at (415) 839-2146.
Regards,
Kirk
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Thanks for your reply Albert. Was this done for all candidates interviewed onsite or was the sales presentation only done during the final interviews. For example, if the company narrowed down to two to three equally strong candidates? Did the candidate have a say as to what he/she will be presenting? Were they aware prior to the interview?
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Yes, absolutely. In a couple of different organizations this was a critical part of the hiring process for Sales candidates to a group of employees to gain a better understanding of the candidate's presentations skills and public speaking capability.
Product or service could be real or fictional, and powerpoint presentations etc would be permitted based upon the candidate's requests.
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