Insights — Sales & Commercial Recruitment — 3 min read
How to Tell Whether a Salesperson Is Actually Good (Before You Hire Them)
The most charismatic candidate is not always the highest performer. Here is how to look past the presentation and verify a salesperson's actual ability to produce results.
In short
To tell if a salesperson is actually good before hiring them, you must verify their claimed performance against the context of their previous role, assess their prospecting and closing skills through structured roleplay, and look for evidence of a repeatable process. Do not rely on charisma; look for a candidate who can explain exactly how they achieved their numbers, who they sold to, and how they handled rejection.
In most professions, what you see in an interview is a reasonable proxy for how someone will work. In sales, the interview is the job — or at least, one very specific part of it. A candidate who is excellent at selling themselves to you is not necessarily excellent at selling your engineering services or software to a sceptical prospect.
Telling whether a salesperson is actually 'good' requires looking past the rapport and the polished presentation. It involves verifying their past performance, testing their technical sales skills in a controlled environment, and understanding the specific mechanics of how they have generated revenue in the past.
The 'Interview Persona' vs. Commercial Reality
Salespeople are professionally trained to build rapport and handle objections. This makes them naturally 'good' at interviewing, but it can mask significant gaps in their actual sales process. A common mistake is hiring the person you 'liked' most, rather than the person whose evidence of performance is the strongest.
Verifying Sales Performance
You cannot simply take a '£1m portfolio' at face value. You need to understand the environment in which those results were achieved. A salesperson who hit a £1m target in a business with a massive marketing spend and inbound lead flow may struggle in a role that requires cold prospecting.
- Ask for specific figures: What was their target, what did they achieve, and what was the average deal size?
- Ask about the source of leads: What percentage were inbound (marketing) vs. outbound (self-generated)?
- Request evidence: While GDPR and confidentiality prevent them from showing you CRM data, they can often provide redacted league tables or performance reviews if they have permission.
- Check the context: Did they inherit a territory, or did they build it from scratch? The former is account management; the latter is business development.
Assessing the Three Core Competencies
A 'good' salesperson is rarely equally strong at everything. You need to identify where their true strength lies and whether it matches your role requirements.
| Competency | What it looks like | How to test it |
|---|---|---|
| Prospecting | High activity, resilience, ability to find and qualify new leads. | Ask them to build a mock prospect list for your business and explain their approach. |
| Closing | Identifying the decision-maker, handling objections, and asking for the business. | A roleplay focusing on the final stages of a complex sale. |
| Account Management | Retaining customers and identifying upsell opportunities. | Ask for examples of how they grew a specific client over 2-3 years. |
The Roleplay: Non-Negotiable
If you do not see a salesperson 'sell' during the process, you are hiring on faith. A structured roleplay is the most revealing part of a sales interview. Give them a brief in advance — perhaps a simplified version of your actual product or service — and see how they handle a mock discovery call.
Look for whether they ask more questions than they give answers. A weak salesperson will 'show and tell' (presenting features immediately). A strong salesperson will 'diagnose' (asking questions to find the pain points before proposing a solution).
Interview Red Flags
- Blaming the product, the market, or the manager for missed targets.
- Vague answers regarding their sales process (e.g., 'I just have a way with people').
- Not having done research on your company or your competitors.
- Focusing entirely on the commission structure before discussing the role.
- Failing to 'close' you at the end of the interview (e.g., not asking about next steps).
How Many Interview Stages?
Too few stages and you lack data; too many and you lose the best candidates to faster-moving competitors. A three-stage process is usually effective for mid-level sales hires:
- 01Initial Screening: Cultural fit, basic experience, and motivation for the move.
- 02The Deep Dive: Detailed review of past performance, sales process, and technical understanding.
- 03The Assessment: Roleplay/presentation and meeting the wider team or MD.
Conclusion
Recruiting a salesperson is a commercial investment. You are looking for a return, not a new friend. By moving away from rapport-based interviewing and towards a structured, evidence-based assessment of prospecting, closing, and past performance, you significantly reduce the risk of a 'bad' hire. If you need help defining the role or running the assessment, Evans Sales & Commercial Recruitment starts with the commercial requirement rather than just the CV.
Recruiting a permanent sales or commercial hire?
Evans starts with the commercial requirement — what has to be sold, to whom, through which channel and against what target — and writes the role specification from that.
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