have you ever hired a salesperson who crushed the interview but completely bombed once they started the job or Worse have you ever hired so who talked a big game only having quit after like 3 weeks because the role wasn't what they expected now if you're not in your head right now I'm about to save you hundreds of thousands of dollars in bad hires and lost Revenue today I'm break down my exact seven-step system for hiring top 1% sales Pros the same system I use to build multiple seven eight figure teams with a fraction of the
turnover in the industry now the best part by the end of this video you'll never have to guess if someone's going to perform again hey I'm Marcus Shen former number one sales director at cintos where I led 110% sales force to profitly deliver over 190 million tcv each year and prior to this role I was PR 12 different times hit number one every single role starting as an S&B accounting executive then moving all the way up and now I'm a sales trainer and Coach the fastest growing companies and Reps in the world now listen most
Founders and sales leaders are absolutely terrible at hiring sales people and I get it if you've never done before or if you're desperate to fill a seat or open headcount it's really easy to rush the process make really costly mistakes the problem is most hiring processes are completely backwards they arve almost entirely on the cability to sell themselves in a 30 or 60-minute conversation but here's the truth the best sales people aren't always the best interviewees the best interviews aren't always the best sales people so today I'm going to give give you my complete hiring
Playbook the exact process I use to build multiple High performing sales teams across multiple businesses number one first things first you need to get crystal clear on exactly who you're looking for your ihp your ideal hiring profile this isn't just about experience or skills I'm talking about what specific results have they achieved what type of sales environment have they thrived in what personality trits align with your culture what's their learning an adaptability light now your JD or job description should match this profile exactly don't just copy some generic sales job post you found online or
on chat gbt the clearer you are about who you want the easier becomes a spot them when they show up and here's a pro tip include some sort of prefilter in your application process so for instance if you need someone with at least two years experience make that a mandatory feel that they fill out or when I was talking to one of my clients they kept having lots of inbound applications but one of the key things was they need to have someone who's actually in the office versus remote so literally we just had her insert
into the application like are you open to working in person at this office at this location and if they said no no problem this way people know now by just doing this immediately weeds out people who are just applying to every job that they see step number two once you got your applications the first is a simple screening interview this should be short maybe 15 to 30 minutes long on the phone and it can be done by HR a recruiting partner or even VI you if you're a small team and the only goal here is
to verify are they who they say they are do they meet the minimum requirements to at least move forward so don't waste time on the fancy questions here just confirm the basics and see if they can hold a professional conversation remember this is just the first gate you're not making any decisions yet you're just determining if they deserve more of your time and resources step number three now we're get to the good stuff in this interview you you want to dig into behavioral questions for instance give me example of the time you failed in what
you learned walk me through your biggest sales win tell me about every time you've been ranked number one on your team these person are aligned to behavioral elements you require from your ideal hiring profile also here's where most hiring managers mess up they stop at the questions the secret weapons add an actual live role playay of the most critical skill for the role for instance if objection handing is really crucial throw an objection at them for instance hey the price looks great the product looks great but I need to think about it for a few
days go or if coold call is important say hey pretend I'm the CEO you know my name you know my title but nothing else about me show me how you book a meeting this is Marcus go now here's the key have them role play as if they're still at their current company if they're not still there this way they can use excuse that they don't know your product yet or your company yet don't let them talking hypotheticals of what they would do have them demonstrated exactly how they would do it on the spot this immediately
reveals their actual skill level not just how well they talk about their skills step number four this is a step that almost nobody does but it's absolutely gold and I learned from my last company bring them in for a full day to see exactly what the job is really like when I did this cans would come in on Mond days from 7:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. I know we were bit intense they'd sit in on the sales meeting the first thing in the morning they would hop into the co call block they listen to Live
calls they would make live coal calls they'll meet different department heads they go to actual sales appointments in the field with reps they hang out their reps they would do everything the rep would do in a full regular day and this comples two critical things first they get to see what the job actually involves the pace the accountability the culture everything there is no more this isn't what I expected after they start now second you get to see how they interact with your team how they handle a full day and if they actually fit in
your environment the reality is anybody can act perfect in a 1hour interview it's hard to maintain that all day cuz things will slip out I'm telling you right now this step alone will save you months of headaches and thousands in turnover costs there were times where I had an amazing first interview with them great role play I think they're pretty solid and in the actual day things came out they became tons of red flies they were able to isolate as as part of the process step number five have them interview leaders from other departments this
ideally is on the same day as an inperson day this could be your operations manager your customer success team or some more senior in the sales Org the goal here is to get a different perspective on the candid different people notice different things and this creates a more complete picture again s to be behavioral questions maybe ask some other role plays but that really focus on getting a holistic view of the person step number six the last interview should be someone more see maybe the CEO sales VP or another executive depending on the size of
your company this is less about skills and more about a final culture check does the person align with company values will they represent you well do they have the right mindset can you see them growing and become a future lead in an organization whether it's as an IC or as a future leader maybe other department potentially and by this point if they made as far they probably have the skills this step is just making sure they're a right fit for your specific team step number seven now before making any offer gather everyone who's part of
the interview process for a huddle each person should share their feedback The Good the Bad and any concerns and then ask one simple question will this person make our team better this collaborative approach dramatically reduces the risk of a bad hire because you're not relying on just one person's judgment oh and I almost forgot throughout the process ask for their brag book this is a collection appr proof that's rankings Awards recommendation letters screenshots of results if they don't bring one to the first interview ask them bring it to the next one like a top performer
will have no problem providing evidence of their success if they can't that's a huge red flag so for instance I have interviewed over a decade but I dug out even my bra book his back book that I had I kept adding to that I use for every in get promoted 12 times in 8 years inside I have rankings reports letters from senior vice presidents for being number one globally shout outs for my salesp for Hing number one letters from the senior exec for closing deals like FedEx Columbia sportsware emails from Happy customers recommendations letters from
leader from all roles 30 609 Day plans essentially it is literally inexplicable proof of past success and at the end of the day winners win regards to whatever they do now your candidate may not have a physical bribe cuz this is like over 10 years old if you will but they can bring a digital one this is actually what we tell a lot of reps that we coach directly if they're in for better roles actually just show the proof of how awesome they are all right so if they don't have one ask them for one
so they can go and make it for you and show you now finally once you decide to move forward always do reference and background checks these are your last line defense against a bad hire and there you have it my complete 7ep sales hiring system is it more work than standard 306 minute interview yeah of course absolutely but when you consider that one bad sales hat can easily cost you over $100,000 in salary lost opportunity replacement cost and also just the stress of it all this process is like the cheapest insurance policy you'll ever buy
implement the system and I guarantee your next sales hire will not only perform better but will stick around a lot longer as well drop a comment below let me know which Step you're going to implement first if you found this valuable make sure to smash that like button and subscribe for more acual sales and sales leadership content now if you want to see how to onboard a rep and get them producing Revenue in days not months or quarters check out my exact step-by-step onboarding blueprint right here
