YOU WERE SO SURE Have you ever wondered why the latest “be-all to end-all sales superstar” that you hired six months ago now performs more like the guy sitting at the next desk that you may be terminating next week? You think back and re-run the interview in your head. He had presence, humor, talked a great game and seemed to really have a grasp on what it takes to be a terrific sales rep. He was able to answer your questions with confidence, gave you great scenarios on how to handle difficult sales transactions, how to deal with strong competitors and how to manage sensitive customers. You were so sure. Now that you’ve re-played that interview focusing on what that sales rep said, perhaps you should now re-play the interview and focus on yourself! Honestly! Deep breath……. You started with the normal warm-up questions. That’s OK. You then got into the meat of the interview. You’re thinking, “Show me your stuff kid.” You dig in. You ask, “Tell me how you would handle a deal when the competitor is the incumbent dealer and already has a good relationship with the customer?” He thinks a moment and then comes up with a great answer. So you move on to the next question. You ask, “If getting the sale were to require complex and/or creative packaging, how would you go about building the deal?” Once again, he comes up with a good answer. So why the gap between what he said and his actual performance? What went wrong? What went wrong is that you were asking hypothetical questions versus behavioral based questions. The difference is huge. Behavioral based questions are those that require a candidate to give you specific examples from their own experience. When you ask questions that begin with “What if” and “How would you,” you open up the opportunity for a candidate to tell you what they think should be done, not what they have done. This distinction is significant because what you really want to know is what they have done based on real life scenarios. You are looking for real versus ideal. Aside from references from people you know and trust, which are rare, the interview is really your only opportunity to determine their actual experience. Unless you are asking behavioral based questions, you will never know if they are qualified or not. Here is the good news. It’s really pretty simple. All you need to do is phrase your questions differently. For example, instead of “How would you…?” You ask, “Give me a specific example of when you were in a deal and the competitor was the incumbent dealer with a good relationship with the customer. Walk me through what you did.” Or: “Tell me about one time when you had to create a complex deal. Give me the specifics on how you created it.” These questions force the candidate to provide you with real examples, from their own experience, of what they have done. When you build an entire hour plus interview with hard hitting, specific behavior based questions that solicit example after example of what they have done, you will have a much better ability to assess their capabilities. Further, if you ask your entire candidate pool the same exact questions, you will be able to make informed decisions. Now you can be sure! u Jane Lemmon is the Managing Principal of Human Capital Sales Search ( www.humancapitalsales.com ), a niche recruiting firm dedicated to sourcing top quality talent for the managed print services and copier sales management spaces. Previously, Jane spent over 23 years with IKON Office Solutions as VP of HR Operations with responsibility for over 20,000 employees. In addition to managing over 140 HR Professionals, she managed a dynamic recruiting organization. Jane’s recruiting team hired over 5,000 employees per year, of which over 1,500 were sales professionals. Jane can be reached at jmlemmon@humancapitalsales.com  or 610.889.1084.