Customers are increasing. Sales are improving. Profits are rising. It’s time, you’ve decided, to add a go-getter to your sales staff. But how can you pick the right candidate?
The answer’s critical to success. Hire right and the world’s your oyster. Great employees help your business grow by dealing productively with customers.
“The best people are self-motivated, talented and trainable,” says Mel Kleiman, director of Houston-based Humetrics, an employment consulting firm.“They hold themselves accountable and they take responsibility. Those are the people you want.
”Hire wrong, though, and the story’s different. Unproductive employees toss monkey wrenches into your operation and too often quit, leaving you in the lurch.
“You end up wasting a lot of time and money trying to recruit, advertise and cover shifts for the lack of a good hire,” says Richard Avdoian, an employee development consultant in metropolitan St. Louis. It’s much more cost effective to interview well, establish a structured orientation, and maintain an ongoing training schedule so you are continually enticing people to stay. Here’s how:
1. Make a List
Know what you want before you start looking. “The No. 1 mistake is going shopping without a list,” says Kleiman. “Too often employers don’t have any idea about the qualities they are looking for in a new hire.”
What characteristics make a star employee? “Think about the best person who has held the open position in your business, or whom you have seen holding the same job elsewhere,” says human resources consultant Rebecca Mazin, a cofounder of Tarrytown, N.Y.,-based Recruit Right. “Then identify the characteristics that made that person so effective.”
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There’s one personality trait that likely stands out above the rest. “The most important characteristic is enthusiasm,”says Alan Weiss, president of Summit Consulting Group, East Greenwich, R.I. “You’re better off hiring someone with enthusiasm and no expertise than expertise and no enthusiasm.”
And enthusiasm is something you have to buy out of the box, not add to the mix later, adds Weiss. Luckily, you can tell in your interviews if a candidate has the right degree of personal passion.
“Is the person passive and laid back, just reacting to you?”asks Weiss. “That’s not a good sign.”
Unproductive employees toss monkey wrenches into your operation and too often quit, leaving you in the lurch.
Look instead for someone who answers your questions with a story and a laugh, and then follows up with relevant responses. In other words, look for someone who is a master of the conversational skills so valuable when dealing with the public.
Says Weiss: “The behavior you see in the interview is the behavior you get in real life.”
2. Ask Leading Questions
Plan ahead with some questions that can uncover qualities of star employees.
“Ask behaviorally based questions,” suggests Mazin. “Remember that past behavior is the best prediction of future performance. So rather than ask ‘how would you handle a busy day?’ ask ‘tell me about a time when you had a busy day and you got everything done.’ Or ‘a time you were not able to do everything and what did you do about it?’”Ask for specific examples, she says.
Avoid the commonly used questions that are too generic such as “What are your strengths?” suggests Mazin. “Any good candidate has a list of these questions and has prepared canned answers.”
Here are some additional questions andtactics:
- “Have you been involved with groups of people?”
If not, they may not be extroverts,” says Avdoian. “You need people who are not shy with others.”
- “In your last job were the responsibilities you were hired for different from the responsibilities you have today?”
“The best applicants will say that the irresponsibilities were different,” says Kleiman. “Then follow up with, ‘How did you learn the new responsibilities?’ If they answer with something like, ‘I had to figure it out’ that shows motivation.”
- Try a role play.
“Pretend you are a prospect and ask the applicants to converse with you,” says Avdoian. “See how comfortable they are. Dealing with the public is all about approachability and ease in initiating and conducting conversations.”
And while you are talking with the applicant, look for these personal traits:
- Notice if they have good eye contact.
“Because of the Internet more people today are limited in their social interactions, and some even becoming antisocial,” says Avdoian. “The person who is not comfortable talking with you and making eye contact may not be receptive with customers.”
- Notice if they can converse.
“Ask open ended questions and see how well they speak,” says Avdoian. “Can they improvise on the spot? Can they give you two or three sentences that make sense?”
- Don’t rely on one conversation.