preadsheet that recaps a candidate’s actual achievement against goals over the previous number of years, in absolute dollar figures. It’s very easy toOne of the most common mistakes that I see with employers and recruiters, is taking a person’s r?sum? at face value. This is particularly fatal when it comes to hiring sales people. Why? Sales people are masters of the spin. When I see a r?sum? that comes to me full such spin (for example increased pipeline by 82%, doubled bookings, tripled revenue, etc), and I don’t see absolute revenue or booking figures, I become highly suspicious. That’s why one of the first things I do when I interview a sales candidate is to ask them to put together a “sales achievement history”. This is a very simple spreadsheet that recaps a candidate’s actual achievement against goals over the previous number of years, in absolute dollar figures. It’s very easy to t comes to hiring sales people. Why? Sales people are masters of the spin. When I see a r?sum? that comes to me full such spin (for example increased pipeline by 82%, doubled bookings, tripled revenue, etc), and I don’t see absolute revenue or booking figures, I become highly suspicious. That’s why one of the first things I do when I interview a sales candidate is to ask them to put together a “sales achievement history”. This is a very simple spreadsheet that recaps a candidate’s actual achievement against goals over the previous number of years, in absolute dollar figures. It’s very easy tod pipeline by 82%, doubled bookings, tripled revenue, etc), and I don’t see absolute revenue or booking figures, I become highly suspicious. That’s why one of the first things I do when I interview a sales candidate is to ask them to put together a “sales achievement history”. This is a very simple spreadsheet that recaps a candidate’s actual achievement against goals over the previous number of years, in absolute dollar figures. It’s very easy to one of the first things I do when I interview a sales candidate is to ask them to put together a “sales achievement history”. This is a very simple spreadsheet that recaps a candidate’s actual achievement against goals over the previous number of years, in absolute dollar figures. It’s very easy topreadsheet that recaps a candidate’s actual achievement against goals over the previous number of years, in absolute dollar figures. It’s very easy to ask for, and most successful sales candidates are willing to produce it. Ask them to open up an excel spreadsheet and make a list and table with the year, their annual sales goal, and their actual achievement in columns. Ask them to go back about five years in their history.

As you can imagine, the good candidates are happy to produce this information for you and fully capable of doing it. Why? Because they have built and maintained a track record of success and they’ve tracked those numbers, because it’s part of the badge of honor that they wear as a top sales producer.

Salespeople