We have all experienced this . . . the exciting, charismatic candidate who looks great, sounds great and blows us away with his energy and enthusiasm during the interview. We are so excited to have found this superstar. He's hired! But then . . . nothing. Eventually, we realize, it is not going to work out. And we find ourselves asking the following question:

“I KNOW this person can sell because he sold ME perfectly. Why isn’t he crushing it in the marketplace?” 

Let’s talk about this frustrating but all too common conundrum in today's episode. 

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At SalesDrive, LLC, we help companies perfect the salesperson hiring process by offering a variety of tools, like a sales assessment and psychologically-based interview guides, that aid companies in never hiring a bad salesperson again. SalesDrive was founded in 2005 based on the single biggest frustration many companies face, selecting sales candidates who interviewed well, only to flame out when placed on the line. Dr. Croner reviewed more than 90 years of academic research as well as his own work in conducting intensive behavioral interviews and discovered that high-performance salespeople shared three innate personality traits. After identifying a gap in the marketplace, he went on to develop The DriveTest® sales assessment. The only sales assessment to measure the three non-teachable traits necessary for new business acquisition.
 
 If you are hiring salespeople, request a free DriveTest assessment today: https://salesdrive.info/free-trial-request
 

 

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[00:00]  Katherine Abraham: Hello and Welcome to the Sales Psyched podcast, where we discuss strategies for leveraging psychology within the world of sales. Each episode is hosted by Dr. Chris Croner, who has a PhD in clinical psychology and has spent his career helping companies around the world build stellar sales teams.

[00:20]  Let's get started.
 
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[00:30]  Chris Croner: Dr. Chris Croner here to tell you why some candidates look like The Rock in their interview with you but then let you down after hiring.

[00:38]  We've all experienced this . . . the awesome interview, the exciting, charismatic candidate who looks great, sounds great and blows us away with his energy and enthusiasm. We're so excited to have found the superstar. We roll out the red carpet, he shows up and then . . . quiet. Follow up meetings, more support, monthly pep talks and gradually we realize it's not gonna work out. And then we find ourselves asking the following question, "I know this person can sell because he sold me perfectly. Why isn't he crushing it in the marketplace."

[01:18]  Let's talk about this frustrating but all too common conundrum. There is a monumental difference between people who can sell and people who will sell. This is so important to your recruiting process that I want to repeat it.

[01:34]  There is a monumental difference between people who can sell and people who will sell. Here's what I mean.

[01:41]  Delivering one great performance or in effect, acting, requires a completely different personality and skill set than long term authentic sales achievement. Yes, the actor was able to summon great energy for his performance to you. But, sustained sales achievement requires a much more complex set of challenges, including handling rejection, solving new problems on the fly and without rehearsal, and the daily discipline to execute a plan over many months and years.

[02:15]  We come back to Need for Achievement – which you'll hear me refer to often in our talks. Need for Achievement drives a person beyond one, outstanding performance to repeat it again and again and again [snapping] because that is what provides him or her with the very essence of their lives.

[02:35]  But, some sales candidates can use their acting skills to wow us in an interview but then flatline after hiring because they were not being authentic. They are low in Need for Achievement and they will not sustain performance.

[02:51]  Sales assessments are the best way to get beneath the performance and into the real personalities of the people that we're considering for these all important positions. Their algorithms don't fall for charisma.

[03:03]  Once we determined someone has the underlying traits to sustain performance, then we can start to get excited about his energy and enthusiasm, actually translating to closing business over time.

[03:19]  See you next time. 

 

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[03:22]  Chris Croner: Thank you for listening to the Sales Psyched Podcast. If you haven't already, please be sure to click the subscribe button and leave us a five-star review. If you found this information helpful, please consider sharing it. We'd love your help in spreading the word.
 
[03:40]  Until next time, take care!