Sales Vacancies And The Importance Of Getting It Right

If you get it wrong with sales vacancies you may find yourself spending more time putting it right afterwards, than helping your people sell. I have recruited for all sorts of roles, but have found sales vacancies to be the most difficult of all. Why? Good sales people are simply good actors, that's what they do, put on the most suitable mask for a given situation and act out the scene. They can do this in an interview too.

The answer is to follow a tried and tested interview process structured to reveal the truth about whether or not someone can really sell.


Many of the roles I have recruited for outside of sales it is more a mechanical case of establishing technical capability, which a simple check of the CV will normally indicated, for example, that someone has successfully performed a technical accounting role before to the required standard. For sales vacancies, the issue is very much complicated by the weighting applied to the candidates motivation. They can be the most capable sales person in the world, but without motivation, it simply doesn't work. In some cases, they are capable with motivation, but the motivation doesn't last long enough for it to be worth it.

There are a whole basket of factors which can dramatically effect the motivation of candidates who are otherwise capable of a sales role. A bereavement of change on personal circumstances can be devastating to for some. Poor health, divorce or simply boredom are other common factors.

To fill sales vacancies you need to look carefully at someone's past history and follow the golden rule, history has a habit of repeating itself. Predicting bereavements and other adverse events is impossible, however, a candidates response to previous trauma will be a good gauge of a future response to adverse conditions. If they have a habit of quitting tasks or jobs due to what may appear unavoidable issues, you may be walking into trouble. Dig for previous adverse events, what effects did they have on their work, how stable were they when the going got tough. Ultimately, did they continue to deliver sales results.

If you have no experience in sales yourself, filling sales vacancies is particularly
tough. Many sales people have charisma and flare but no real ability. Write a clear list of what you want, sales ability, honesty and integrity, determination etc and ask specific questions for you candidates to provide examples of having these attributes. Did these examples lead to a demonstrable impact on sales?

Ultimately, if you're not sure, don't do it, it'll be more trouble undoing it if they are wrong. If you're struggling, find somebody with experience filling sales vacancies to help you and try again.

Good luck