Sales Interview Advice: How to get the Sales Hiring Manager “Hot” for you?

HOT Hiring Managers!

Do you approach your interviews by uncovering what turns on the hiring manger or do you bore them to death with irrelevant information? If you are not spending the time to truly understand what makes the hiring manager "HOT" you are going to lose out on an opportunity with another client.

Many sales candidates walk into the interview and spend the entire time speaking to their resume, talking about their prior employers and spouting out metrics. This scenario often leaves candidates wondering what went wrong and asking why the client isn't interested when their background seemed to be great on paper. The truth is their background may be perfect but the hiring manager is looking for evidence of their soft skills not just verbiage.

The hiring manager wants relative information that will help them understand what is under the sheets; to see if you have what it takes to close the deal in their sales environment. The only way to truly demonstrate your ability to get the sales job done is to ask the key questions that will enable you to really turn them on by understanding what matters most to them.

• What is the greatest challenge for this sales position?
• What qualities do they view as important for this position?
• What specific skills from the individual you hire would make your life easier?
• What would you like to see the successful candidate accomplish in his first 6 months?
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Sit back and listen at this point to understand what will get the hiring manger HOT for you. If you can establish yourself as someone who has already seen and lived similar situations, your perceived value will skyrocket. If you don't, you will be deleting another phone number from your list of HOT clients.

Take the information the hiring manager shares and position all of your responses in a way that leverages your relevant background to be successful in THEIR environment. Hearing the relevant information will excite the hiring manger to get that warm fuzzy feeling about you becoming successful in their organization. They will now feel that personal connection; they will see you as more than a bunch of words on a sheet of paper and can visualize you selling successfully because you have the qualities they are looking for. This is what will drive a hiring manager to become HOT for a now relevant sales candidate.

Now go out there and approach that interview as if you are on your first date with the hiring manager. Dress for success, look them in the eye, relax, be yourself, be genuine and speak to exactly what will get them HOT for you.