Sales interviews have no basis in reality.

LOL dude. How do you think I am biased? What mental position do you think I'm projecting?

I agree that they're tenants of a sales personality, but there's plenty of amazing salespeople I know that are uncharismatic but they are very congruent and centred. I know people which have a low amount of enthusiasm which actually lowers the prospect's guard instead of them reflexively pulling away.

Would you agree that there's more than one way to sell, or do you need to fit into this conceptual framework in order to be success?

You could have all these things and not sell at all if you don't know what you're doing right?

I mean there's plenty of people who have these qualities and don't understand sales at all, but because they have 'Personality', of a salesperson they get hired and bomb out in the first few months. This is the error of attribution I'm pointing out.

Maybe not in every company, but you just need to look at the churn of most sales organisations to understand that people don't know what they are doing; both the hiring manager as well as the salesperson. How many businesses provide proper sales training? How many agents know how to start a call properly? How many account managers actually make prospecting calls at all? Does their enthusiasm, confidence and communication skills make up for this fact? No.

Because personality is SECONDARY, previous success and understanding and applying a consistent sales process would be the primary reasons for hiring someone - at least for me.

It could be ANY kind of personality if they love and breathe sales, these people aren't going to leave the business because sales is their purpose in life.

The point I was making is that there is a wide spectrum of salespeople, and not having a particular trait doesn't hurt you if you do the same things other top performing agents do. It's cause and effect, not a popularity contest. If you aren't funny or outgoing then don't try to be, own who you are. Be very congruent and comfortable with being a bit introverted or serious instead of trying to fit into other people's expectations of you. The paradox is that people will have more respect for you because you are being authentic as opposed to seeking approval by playing a character, and in this case it's called the 'Salesperson.'

The meaning of these traits are all so relative to everything else that they become irrelevant. Saying that one trait gives you an edge over people who don't have them is basically saying that people are all the same; that EVERY prospect will appreciate these traits in a salesperson. This is really just all or nothing thinking.

I appreciate your input.

Soooo...

I think we can all agree...

If the HR person is interviewing you, they are looking for traits they think will make you a good salesperson.

If the sales manager is interviewing you, they will look for traits they know will make for a good salesperson.

See? We are all in agreement.

Let's eat cake.

Sales is 99% about building rapport, trust and people buying from someone who they like. Most everyone has competition, and if the person doesn't like you, they will buy a similar product or service elsewhere.

I would hire a people person before I would hire a person with vast knowledge of our products/services.

I'm glad someone pointed this out. And while your interview was set up that way specifically what people fail to realize on both sides is that all interviews are sales.

One of the reasons I ace most interviews is the fact I am good at selling. I also love myself so it's an easy product to sell.

So my issue with Matthew's original post is that he is too worried about why they are interviewing him the wrong way and on the wrong criteria vs. closing the sale.

The only reason I would care - and IMO anyone should care- about being interviewed based on the wrong criteria is what it says about the culture. If the culture isn't the right fit I don't want to work there.

And of course in my mind the interview is often about selling me on working for them. They may not know that and may not be actively trying to. That doesn't matter because I tend to take control of interviews no matter which side of the desk I am on.

I see no reason why someone outgoing would have a hard time selling face to face. A newbie who is an extrovert will always have a leg up vs. an introvert. But long term introvert vs. extrovert doesn't matter as sales is a skill. Same goes for cold calling.

So if the sales environment is looking to turn and burn sales staff - like call centers do - it makes sense to hire extroverts or introverts who can pretend to be extroverts. That way it is about teaching them the script and how to sell not about teaching them how to talk to people.

Most of my career has been in management - sales and retail - and I have found that hiring an introvert for a people position is an uphill battle not worth having.

I'm not hear to teach you to talk to people. I am here to teach you how to talk to people in a way to sell more. Sounds the same to the untrained person but knowing the difference and hiring people who don't need the first is the best way to maximize training and minimize turnover.

And what do you base this on? I can explain how each could be an asset and a liability but this has to do with how the person uses them not the points themselves. I don't see these as positives or negatives. They are simply things I must be aware of.

This depends on the skill of the interviewer. I am personally confident that 99% plus I know how the interviewee will act in real world situations. The problem is that many people who do interviews are forced to use a script. Those scripts tend to suck in my experience.

Couple that with people who are not good at reading people - #1 Interview Skill - and who have not been trained well and it leads to bad hires.

Is the company successful? If so you are wrong and they clearly know what they are doing. You can judge the success of the interviewer from the people they hired. Walk into any store and you can tell how good the hiring and training process is. Get really good and you can tell rather it was the interviewer or training who is at fault.

I don't mean any offense by this but that kind of line is soemthing I hear from people who can't seem to get hired anywhere. It is their way of stroking their ego. After all it can't be their fault they didn't get hired. It must be the interviewer who didn't know how to find the best candidate.

I will say this with 100% certainty.... When it comes to hiring sales people the skill of the interviewer has little meaning. As long as the final hiring decision rests in the hands of someone with the ability to judge sales skill and potential that is.

A bad interviewer is actually a good test of how well the interviewee can sell. After all not every customer will be a perfect fit. And not every customer will buy your products for the right reasons. Some customers may be completely looking for the wrong things.

Successful Sales Professionals can overcome this and still make the sale. They can sell the prospect on what they want to buy not what they want to sell. And the truly great ones can do that while keeping those two things the same.

It's like selling ice to Eskimos. They don't need or want ice. But a Great Sales Professional can find a need or want that they do have and sell them on how ice can fulfill that.

So while the interviewer may want the smiley happy extrovert that doesn't matter. What matters is your ability to to sell them on why you (the product) is the right fit for someone who wants a smiley happy extrovert.