3 Signs of a Good Sales Candidate

You’re hoping to add some excellent salespeople to your team, and you’ve started setting up interviews with candidates. How can you be sure that a candidate will be a good fit for the sales job? These are three signs that they will be:

1. They’ve Come Through a Recruitment Agency

The role of a professional recruiter is to find the best candidates for job positions. Getting a candidate through a professional recruitment agency means that their skillsets have already been carefully assessed, and they appear to be a strong match for the job you’re hoping to fill. Recruiters have given them their seal of approval.

What recruitment agency should you turn to? If you’re looking to find salespeople, you should connect with the elite recruiters at Sales Talent Agency. This recruitment agency has assisted over 1,500 companies in finding and hiring top-performing sales professionals since its inception. They could help you, too.

2. They Have a Strong Track Record

The right sales candidate will have a track record proving their capabilities. They will have sales numbers and accolades that prove exactly how successful they were in sales.

Why is a strong track record important? It shows you that the candidate took their previous roles seriously, and that they were dedicated to their duties and were a strong asset to their employers at the time. If you hire them, you can count on them to meet your sales expectations and, potentially, exceed them.

3. They Have Great Soft Skills

When you’re looking through a resume, you’ll get a clear impression of the candidate’s hard skills. During the interview process, you’ll have a chance to assess their soft skills.

Soft skills are characteristics that affect how a person works and how they interact with others. A candidate with great soft skills will likely make an exceptional salesperson and a cohesive member of your team. These are some soft skills you’ll want in a salesperson:

• Positive attitude
• Empathy
• Active listening
• Patience
• Professionalism

How can they prove their soft skills? First, see how they present themselves in their interview. Did they dress appropriately for the occasion? Did they show up on time? Do they seem like they are prepared? Do they take notes? All of these are signs that they have good soft skills.

Another strategy that you should consider is asking soft skill questions in your interview. These are questions that will prompt them to discuss instances when they showed skills like conflict resolution, adaptability and confidence.

In the same vein, you can see when a candidate lacks soft skills during their first interview. Maybe they arrive at their interview fifteen minutes late with no credible excuse. Maybe they come in unprepared for the interview, with seemingly no knowledge of the role requirements. Or maybe their attitude seems inappropriate for the occasion — they’re grumpy, agitated and rude.

If you have a bad feeling about their character now, that feeling will likely get worse after hiring them. They could be a difficult person to work with and create a toxic work environment. They could upset customers and lose out on important sales. Trust your instincts when it comes to soft skills.

When a candidate shows these three signs, you can be sure that they will be a great addition to your team.