Sales is a contact sport.
In the last post, we focused on building a disciplined selection process, but even the best process falls apart if the interview itself does not reveal how a candidate actually performs. In sales hiring, the interview process should function the same way, not as a conversation, but as a way to observe how candidates perform under pressure.
I do not use many sports analogies, but this one fits. The NFL Draft recently wrapped up, and I was struck by how much scrutiny these young athletes face before a team makes a decision. Teams invest millions of dollars in the hope that a draft pick becomes a productive contributor for years to come.
Beyond talent, teams worry about how the player will work with coaches, teammates, the media, and fans. The decision is debated, second-guessed, and often judged long before there is enough evidence to know whether it was the right call.
With that much at stake, it makes sense that teams spend months, sometimes years, scouting players in real performance situations.
Not long after that thought, a client called me looking for help choosing between two sales candidates.
They had interviewed each candidate for an hour, held a short debrief, and concluded that both had strengths and weaknesses. Either one, they felt, could be successful. They wanted me to meet with each candidate for an hour and help break the tie.
The situation reminded me of the NFL comparison. We want to feel confident in our hiring decisions. We want new salespeople to withstand the pressure of the role. But most sales interview processes do not give us enough evidence to know whether a candidate can truly perform.
You may not be making a multimillion-dollar investment like a professional sports team, but hiring the wrong salesperson is still expensive. In many organizations, a single sales hire represents a significant financial and reputational risk.
If sales is a contact sport, then your interviews should scout for performance.
As discussed in earlier posts, effective interviews require preparation.
Before the interview begins, you should have:
Once that foundation is in place, the interview itself should focus on what candidates can and will do in real selling situations.
In other words, make them perform.
A strong sales interview process is designed to reveal how candidates think, prepare, and respond in real selling situations, not just how well they talk about themselves.
You cannot ask candidates to run drills or lift weights, but you can structure interviews that require them to think, explain, and react the way they would on the job. Behavioral questions and sales-focused scenarios consistently provide more insight than conversational interviews alone.
One of the biggest mistakes in interviewing is inconsistency.
After participating in hundreds of sales interviews, we have found that it is far easier to compare candidates when they move through the same process and are asked similar questions that target the same skills.
A simple, disciplined structure works well.
Start by welcoming the candidate and setting expectations. This is where you sell the role and the company and help them get comfortable.
Set the agenda and timing. This communicates preparation and professionalism and helps keep the interview on track.
Ask your questions. Depending on time and complexity, this may happen across multiple interviews. Consistency is critical. Questions should focus on a few core areas:
Allow time for the candidate’s questions. Strong candidates will have them, and those questions often reveal what they value and how they think.
When the interview concludes, be clear about next steps. If the candidate is not a fit, it is better to be direct. Candidates consistently tell us they prefer clarity over waiting and wondering.
If the candidate is moving forward, be specific about what happens next and when they will hear from you. How you follow up says a great deal about your organization. Top sales talent pays attention to whether companies do what they say they will do.
The purpose of the interview is not to confirm that a candidate is likable, articulate, or confident. It is to determine whether they can perform when the job gets difficult.
Sales is demanding. It requires persistence, adaptability, and resilience. Your sales interview process should reflect that reality.
Sales interviews should do more than confirm surface-level fit. They should uncover how a candidate responds when challenged, how they think under pressure, and how they behave when outcomes matter.
If you want a more structured approach to evaluating sales talent, you can download our hiring guide here:
In the final installment of this series, I will focus on what many leaders struggle with most. The questions. I will outline a practical format and share examples of interview questions that help uncover real selling behavior rather than rehearsed answers.
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