Grumpy, after screening candidates with an initial (brief) questionnaire and phone interview, we use an online sales test that costs about $40 a piece (you have to buy it in packages of 20 or 25 tests). We share the results with everyone who takes the test (we don't give it to anyone who we don't think has real potential.) Candidates need to score high for prospecting and closing and low for need for direction.
We then treat the candidate almost like a probationary employee, breaking the paid assignment into two pieces -- a prospecting exercise, and an actual selling task. The prospecting exercise tells us if they can understand our way of finding clients; the working assignment emulates a good part of the work they are expected to do. We pay a couple of hundred dollars for successful completion of each part of the process; we don't pay just for trying (though the prospecting test is relatively easy for anyone who made it through the screening process.)
During this process, candidates are invited to our regular teleconference meetings, and a senior rep is always available to help and guide and answer questions.
This model works for us, with a highly (locationally) decentralized business. We need one perhaps two people in each city, and can operate our business in multiple markets/communities simultaneously.
How would you apply it if you were, say, looking for someone to sell contracting services locally?
First, I assume your product/service doesn't require huge amounts of product knowledge and training -- you either expect candidates to know what it is about, or to be able to learn quickly. (Our product doesn't require that much technical knowledge and we can brief candidates quickly on the core principals -- and if they don't pick up the ideas quickly they are too dumb to work with us.)
So,
1. Advertise. Try craigs list. It is a bargain at least in my recent test.
2. Send everyone who sends in a literate application a questionnaire. Ask them to confirm that you will have no trouble validating references, that they are available for a few days working assignment (compensated) and perhaps ask one or two questions to discern their understanding of the work/skills. You might also ask a question about minimum income requirements, and hoped for income goals. (This weeds out people with unrealistic expectations).
3. With the questionnaire, you'll be able to quickly knock out about 75 per cent of the resumes/applications, without worrying about any phone interviews.
4. Phone the candidates who are interesting; listen to them, describe the work, and cross check to see if they are bsing.
5. Administer the online test to anyone you think is good. Forget anyone who doesn't score well.
6. Put them to work on a trial assignment; treat them as a junior rep perhaps, give them a simple route, or ask them to do some telemarketing for leads; your goal is to ascertain measurable success/results.
7. ONLY hire people who actually successfully complete the assignment and sell stuff! This really eliminates the fast talkers who can't deliver, and the ones who say "maybe tomorrow" while drawing your salary etc. You may have to pay a few bucks to people who partly compete the assignment, but the risk of significant financial cost is low.
8. Have every rep sign a proper employment contract giving you clear and rapid severance power. You will need a lawyer familiar with local laws to draw this up, but once you have one contract, you can use it over and over, so your true legal costs are really low.
That's our system. It works. Without stressing, we've quickly cleared more than 150 applications and are now in final testing of two candidates in Washington DC metro area, to restart
Washington Construction News. One candidate has already made good progress in completing the working assignment so I expect we will be ready to make an employment offer when I am in DC next Wednesday (but I'm not giving up on the other candidate; she may surprise me with great achievement by Tuesday, and then I have another kind of problem).
Note this is a system. We've tweaked it and evolved it over the past few years, but our success rate on hiring is really great. Everyone we hire sells! (Some flame out or run into problems, but we -- and they -- make money from day one.) We will continue looking and will not hire if we cannot find someone who meets the standards; in one market, this meant we patiently waited almost eight months. But these days, in the economy that is, you won't have too much trouble if you are ready to offer a salary. Just realize that no one is getting that salary unless they would, in fact, be good enough to succeed on commission!