Why experience is not always a plus
Selling something for $200 in a chat thread and selling something for $2000 on a video call are different jobs. People with experience arrive carrying learned aggressive patterns that frighten customers off at mid and high deal sizes. Sometimes it is easier to install a method on somebody with no habits than to retrain.
That is a choice for the situation rather than a rule. If your sale is high-volume with a short cycle, experience gets you a faster start. If the sale is consultative, the ability to listen decides it.
The test conversation: how it is set up
- The candidate gets a short briefing: product, price, two or three typical customer jobs.
- Twenty minutes to prepare.
- A conversation with one of your people playing the customer, using a real scenario from your own threads.
- The conversation is recorded.
- Scoring against a sheet, not against an impression.
The scoring sheet
- established the job before talking about the product
- asked about need rather than about specifications
- quoted the price without dodging
- held the structure of the conversation
- agreed a specific next step with a date
- stayed calm on an objection
- spoke the customer's language
The recording and the sheet are not there for form's sake. They let you compare two candidates a week later, once the impression has faded, and let you show your manager exactly why you picked this one.
What else to check
- readiness to work to written rules: ask how they recorded their work in their last job
- resilience to rejection: how many people they contacted before closing one deal
- language: if your customers write in Ukrainian, the rep has to write it fluently
How many candidates you need
For one position a working pipeline is 30-50 applications, of which five to seven reach a test conversation. A smaller pipeline means choosing from whoever turned up.