How to find a Sales Hunter

The most difficult sales position to fill is that of a HUNTER.

Far greater % of salespeople are cut out for existing account management, & the primary function of Customer retention & Management.

In short, the HUNTER is an exceedingly difficult Person to find & KEEP!

In fact, only 9% of all salespeople have HUNTER tendencies.

When you find one, hang on to them; they are gold for your business.

Most especially in difficult economic times when a company needs to capture market share.

BUT keep them interested & challenged is a key to the HUNTER’s ongoing success.

They generally get bored very quickly with mundane routine.

Never, drag your HUNTER personality into a role where there is paperwork or strict call quota to report back on per day.

You WILL lose them ~ there pet hate!

Define the Sales Hunter Role for Success

So, before even considering your interview questions, define the role that your proposed HUNTER can be successful and excited to perform.

And remember that the ideal Sales HUNTER is terrible at admin!

Ensure you load them with the bare minimum!

Supply support systems to allow them to do what they do best ~ seek out & secure new accounts.

For example ~

a.      Separate the normal marketing activities

b.      Portion off the support activities to a sale’s administrative person

c.      Assign your most articulate technical staff to assist with the technical solution elements of the sales process.

Failure to do these things will most certainly blunt your planned attack on new business & frustrate the HUNTER no end.

With these restrictions you will also simply just attract the wrong people for this critical role.

By clearing the “bumpf”, you are now left with the core skills that a talented HUNTER thrives on –

a)      Prospecting

b)     Networking

c)      Building new relationships

d)     trust development

e)     Closing. 

 These are the primary skills you are seeking from your business development HUNTER.

 Forget about looking for someone who can write well, drive a strong email campaign, or learn your quoting system.

 Look instead for the Salesperson who ~

a.      Firstly develops a full understanding of their own their business situation & has the uncanny knack of providing invaluable solutions to Customers problems.

b.      Gets a huge rush out of closing a new account

c.      And then rushes to move on to take the next scalp!

The excitement builds & more & more new business will swiftly follow.

Be sure to deploy the right people & processes to pick up the pieces.

 Sales Hunter Interview Questions

Now that you have established what your HUNTER looks like, here are 10 questions to ask to uncover if the Candidate really IS your new HUNTER ~

1.      Describe how you generally go about finding new Prospects

2.      Where do you source your target list of contacts?

3.      What do you find to be the hardest aspect of attracting new business?

4.      When a Prospect seems uninterested, what is your course of action?

5.      Describe your typical sales process in approaching a new Prospect.

6.      Where do you feel you will need help in the sales process, if at all?

7.      Describe how you present a proposal to a Client & who is involved.

8.      What do you do when a Prospect doesn’t respond to your calls & emails after you’ve presented a proposal?

9.      What do you think will be the biggest challenge selling our solutions?

10.  What points of concern points versus those that excite you do you find about this position?

The Sales Hunter Interview Objective

The key element you are trying to uncover is the true HUNTER value within the Candidate.

Please do not stoop to a “sell me this pencil” question.

BEWARE, most Sales Professionals have already worked out clever answers to these glib questions ~ remember that you are dealing with Sales Professionals, who being any good, will have worked out answers to all these fancy HR type questions!

When I sat in on an interview, & the ‘uneducated in sales’ HR Interviewer asked the standard “sell me this pen” question, the Sales Candidate took it & then suddenly remembered the number of an attractive Prospect we were discussing earlier that we wanted for our company.

He asked the Interviewer to write down the phone number while he had it on his tongue.

Naturally, the Interviewer needed his pen & asked for it back.

“aah, said the Candidate. And how much is that lead worth to you?”

He was hired on the turn!

But these 10 interview questions laid out in this article will give you a clear insight into how the Candidate thinks and acts in a business development position.

Use them to identify the Candidate’s likely success in this special role.

Of course, references & proof of performance will validate your assessment.

Have a sales need?

When you have a need, why not simply call in the experts.

At BizGro we have been involved in the placement of many salespeople for all sorts of position & task requirements.

Further, BizGro is the only sales placement agency we know of who provides Clients with a DOUBLE guarantee ~ of a FREE replacement & your money back!