The Phone Interview

[burbuja0512]

Hmm.. Yes a sales person needs to get the deal, but are you looking for them to check the box on knowing closings?
Maybe it's just me, but in my experience for the last 10 years, any sales person doing hard closes is desperate.
If you interview someone and your not convinced by the end, a closing obviously won't help them, but if your convinced at the end, and they don't close you, you wouldn't hire them?
You said you would think twice? Really? because they didn't? I don't get that in todays social society. Sure you might get sales, but buyers remorse from high pressure closings is far more detrimental than even a bad product release.

Sales is psychology, and using closing statements reminds people of the old used car salesmen. What people want are relationships, they want to know your there when things go bad, they want to know you care.
I am in some definitions a pre-sales engineer as I help sell technology solutions. I have been to several formal sales training systems over the years, and the most successful was where only 1 close was allowed.
Never close the customer, always pre-close the customer with the up front contracts and one thermometer type statement. Anything more and your perceived as the slimy sales.
The 4 years my sales guy and I ran that system, our lowest year ever was 160% of quota. We were a brand new product with intense competition, yet he and I went to presidents club 4 years straight until we were sold to Dell, where we subsequently left. Then hooked up with another sales person running the same system at a much smaller company, we still crushed it. No less than 140%.

I am not sales but still get commission and brash enough that I bring my W-2's to the on site interviews, show them my salary vs. my commissions. I bring my quota sheet as proof.
Between the interview and that, if it isn't enough, then I don't worry about not getting that job, as I would have a low chance of success working there anyway.

Not trying to be argumentative, but just offering different views.

I agree with quite a bit of what you're saying and I think it takes skill to do a "hard close" without it sounding rough or pushy. Anyone will get turned off by a pushy sales person and this is not the type of person I want to hire. I want to hire someone who is not afraid to ask for what they want yet manage to finesse the conversation enough in order to ask a direct question without sounding slimy or too aggressive.

In the companies I have worked for, the type of people I tend to get fall into two categories: 1) Customer service type or 2) WAY too pushy. So, what do I want? I want the customer service-oriented personality but this often tends to be a person who will go to great lengths to help the client yet at the end of the call or visit, they are too timid to ask for the sale or secure solid next steps. I can't hire this person or I won't meet my goals without doing a LOT of babysitting.

I also can't hire the people who are push push push, but these guys are EASY to spot in an interview. I don't have to worry about them closing me because they're going to close me and then pester me for weeks after the interview. They don't get the job.

So I guess what I'm saying is that I can tell in an interview that I have someone with the right personality to take good care of the client, but the question is, are they applying for the right job? Would they be happiest in a customer service or a training position? Are they excellent with the client but not diplomatic enough to push through a deal in a way that allows them to create a win-win situation? At the end of a sales call, will the salesperson be able to tell me exactly what happened and whether the customer is interested in the product? Or, did they just give a lot of information and good service and hope that the client will call them back and place an order?

This is why I need to see someone who is going to close an interview appropriately. It doesn't have to be phrased in a certain way... just something that matches the person's style (we all have our own style and I don't want to change this) and that leads to solid next steps.


Hopefully this helps explain my perspective better. I don't believe that pushiness has a place in any serious B2B sale, especially since the decisions can't be made on the spot. There is absolutely nothing to gain from forcing a decision and everything to lose. B2C for smaller deals on the other hand can push people to buy.. I don't like it, but it happens. B2B at the price point that I sell at is a lengthy process, ranging from 3-9 months or more and there can be no pushiness. However, we do need to be able to ask for what we want in such a nice way that no one is offended, yet we are clearly moving forward. If the candidate I interview just gives me a bunch of info and leaves without solid next steps and some sort of a close, it does make me assume that this is the same way that they will behave with an important sale on my team.


P.S. I do think we're both saying the same thing - we don't like pushy sales people.. I just interpreted the original comments differently perhaps.