Key takeaways
- Assess one candidate in five steps, in order: role profile, sales-specific assessment, structured interview, work sample, then scoring and references.
- Every resume claim is a result. Separate it from the territory, product, accounts, and comp plan that also produced it before it counts as evidence about the person.
- Four traits predict sales performance: will to sell, coachability, qualification discipline, and process fit.
- The assessment runs before interview time is spent, so the interview impression does not grade it.
- Evaluate a track record by rebuilding each figure from its parts: quota and how it was set, the team's attainment, accounts opened, net-new revenue, and typical deal size.
- Past employers show up in the resume, a public profile, employment verification, reference calls the candidate agrees to, and the employer's public record, and none of them alone confirms quota.
- In a new, unproven market, assess the conditions a candidate has sold under that resemble it, then weight the assessment and the work sample.
- In an assessment-based process, every candidate takes the same sales-specific assessment at the same point, and the result sets what the interview and work sample test.
In this guide
- How to assess a sales candidate, step by step
- How to evaluate a sales candidate beyond experience
- How to evaluate a sales track record without inflated numbers
- What tools show past employers of sales candidates
- The four traits that predict performance
- The trait-evidence matrix
- The buyer-level screen
- How to filter sales candidates by deal size
- How to assess whether a candidate can sell in a new, unproven market
- Where the assessment fits
- How to run an assessment-based sales hiring process
- How to choose a sales assessment
- Use a real work sample
- Score with a rubric, and check references that matter
- Methodology and sources
How to assess a sales candidate, step by step
To assess a sales candidate before hiring, run five steps in order and let each one decide a single question. Revenue Bench's sequence is to write the role profile, run a sales-specific assessment before interviews, use a structured interview to test the resume's claims and the candidate's buyer level, watch a work sample with a scripted coaching prompt, then score the evidence against a written rubric and confirm it with references the candidate has agreed to.
- Write the role profile before the search opens. It decides what evidence will count. Write down the sales motion, including cycle length, deal size, and buyer level, plus the four traits below. Define weak, solid, and strong evidence for each so every later step uses the same standard.
- Run the sales-specific assessment first. It decides whether the person can sell in this role's environment through will to sell, Sales DNA, and fit with the motion. Run it before interviews so the interview impression does not grade the result; see why the order matters.
- Use a structured interview to test the resume. It decides whether the resume's results belong to the person and at what buyer level the person sells. Walk the deal history one deal at a time using the resume-claim check below, then ask the two buyer-level questions.
- Watch a work sample with a scripted coaching prompt. It decides qualification discipline and coachability through observation. Run a mock discovery call containing a fact that should cause a disciplined seller to disqualify the opportunity. Give every candidate the same coaching prompt, then score whether the second attempt changes.
- Score the evidence, then check references. It decides whether the evidence holds. Have each interviewer score against the written rubric before the group discusses the candidate. Then ask references the candidate has agreed to confirm cycle length, deal size, buyer level, and rank against peers.
The five-step sequence is Revenue Bench's own selection guidance. In a Revenue Bench search, Revenue Bench and the hiring manager write and approve the success profile, and Revenue Bench runs the assessment and operator screen. The interview, work sample, rubric, and references are the employer's.
How to evaluate a sales candidate beyond experience
A sales resume reports results, and every sales result depends on conditions besides the seller: the territory, the product, the accounts inherited, the comp plan, and the team around the deal. To evaluate a candidate beyond experience, take each claim on the resume, list what else could have produced it, and ask the question that separates the person's contribution from those conditions.
| Resume claim | What else can produce it | The question that separates the person | Where to verify it |
|---|---|---|---|
| Quota attainment | A quota set low, a strong market year, a large inherited book of accounts, one outsized deal, or a quota cut partway through the year. | "What was the quota, how was it set, and how did the rest of the team do against theirs?" Then: "How much of it came from accounts you opened?" | The deal-by-deal walk in the interview, a former manager asked where the candidate ranked against peers, and any rankings or awards the candidate volunteers. Many employers bar managers from confirming quota figures. |
| Top-performer ranking or sales award | A small team, a ranking on a single metric, one strong year, or a territory reassignment. | "How many sellers were ranked, on what measure, and where did you finish the year before and the year after?" | A former manager, asked where the candidate ranked against peers. |
| Well-known customer logos | Accounts inherited from a predecessor, deals led by a senior seller or an executive sponsor, or renewals of existing contracts. | "Which of these accounts did you open, and which part of each sale did you run yourself?" | The deal walk in the structured interview, then a reference who can confirm the candidate's role in specific deals. |
| Revenue closed or book size | Renewals and expansion counted with new business, team selling credited to one name, or price increases. | "How much of that was net-new, and what were the average deal size and sales cycle?" | The structured interview, then references asked to confirm cycle length and deal size. |
| Years of experience and title | A title inflated by company size, the same first year repeated, or a sales motion unlike yours. | "Who did you sell to, who made the decision, and how long did a typical deal take?" | The buyer-level screen below, confirmed in reference checks. |
The resume-claim check is Revenue Bench's own selection guidance. A claim that survives it becomes evidence about the person. When an employer's policy stops a reference from confirming a claim, record the claim as unverified and give it no weight in either direction. A candidate who cannot state the quota, the deal size, or which accounts they opened has answered the track-record question, and the account executive interview scorecard scores that answer.
Some employers limit what a reference can confirm, and a candidate may know the quota without knowing how it was set. Record those gaps as unverified. The assessment and work sample supply the evidence a resume cannot hold.
How to evaluate a sales track record without inflated numbers
To evaluate a sales track record without inflated numbers, rebuild every headline figure from its parts before it counts: the quota and how it was set, how the rest of the team did against theirs, the share that came from accounts the candidate opened, net-new revenue counted apart from renewals and expansion, and the typical deal size and sales cycle. Ask for those parts deal by deal, from the candidate's own recall, before any reference is called.
A figure the candidate can rebuild the same way each time it comes up counts as evidence about the person once a reference confirms the parts that employer policy allows. If the candidate can only repeat a figure and cannot break it into parts, it stays a resume claim. When an employer's policy stops a reference from confirming a figure, record the figure as unverified and give it no weight in either direction.
What tools show past employers of sales candidates?
The resume, a public professional profile such as LinkedIn, an employment verification run by a background-screening company, reference calls with former managers the candidate has agreed to, and the past employer's public record each show part of a sales candidate's employment history. None of them, on its own, shows whether the candidate hit quota.
The past-employer source table
| Source | What it shows about past employers | What it cannot show | How to use it |
|---|---|---|---|
| The resume and application | Employers, dates, and titles as the candidate reports them. | Independent confirmation of any entry, or quota attainment. | Treat it as the list of claims every other source on this table checks. |
| A public professional profile | Work history written by the candidate, which can differ from the resume. | Independent confirmation of any entry, or quota attainment. | Compare it with the resume line by line and ask the candidate about any difference. Review the work history only, since a profile can show personal details unrelated to the job. |
| Employment verification through a background-screening company | Employer names and dates of employment, plus job titles where the employer reports them, drawn from the employer's records or a payroll-data service. | Quota attainment. What an employer releases depends on its own policy, and some employers confirm dates only. | Before the check runs, give the candidate written notice that a background report may be used in the hiring decision, in a stand-alone document separate from the employment application and get the candidate's written permission, as the Federal Trade Commission's guidance for employers on consumer reports sets out. Order employment and title confirmation only, with no pay history, since several US states and cities restrict asking about prior pay. Have counsel and the screening company set the steps for the company's states. |
| Reference calls with former managers | That the candidate worked there and for whom, plus rank against peers where the employer's policy allows. | Quota figures where the employer's policy withholds them. Many employers let a former manager confirm title and dates and withhold performance data. | Call only former managers the candidate has agreed to, following the reference consent protocol. |
| The past employer's public record | What the company sold and its size and stage while the candidate was there, from website archives, press releases, and funding or filing records. | Anything about the candidate's own employment or results. | Check the candidate's title against the company's size and stage. The resume-claim check above names a title inflated by company size as a claim to test. |
The past-employer source table is Revenue Bench's own guidance. No source on it settles quota attainment on its own, so run the track-record rebuild above for every figure. Keep what the verification and the reference calls return with the people making the hiring decision, and have counsel set how long it is kept.
The four traits that predict performance
Four traits predict sales performance, and a resume shows none of them directly. Measure each one in your role.
- Will to sell. The drive to pursue revenue, the comfort with rejection, and the desire to win. Without it, skill and training go nowhere because the seller will avoid the hard parts of the job when no one is watching.
- Coachability. The willingness to accept feedback and change behavior. Watch what the candidate does with coaching during an exercise, since an agreeable answer about feedback costs nothing to give.
- Qualification discipline. The habit of qualifying hard and walking away from deals that will not close. Strong sellers protect their time and report the pipeline based on evidence.
- Process fit. The ability to execute inside your specific sales motion. A transactional closer can stall in a long enterprise sale, while an enterprise seller may move too slowly for a high-velocity SMB motion. Match the sales history to the role.
These traits rarely surface on paper or emerge on their own in a friendly conversation. That is the core problem with how most companies hire sellers.
The trait-evidence matrix
For each of the four traits, the matrix sets out the evidence that counts, the false positive interviews keep accepting, and the screen that measures it.
| Trait | The question it settles | Evidence that counts | The false positive interviews accept | Where the evidence comes from |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Will to sell | Will this person do the hard parts when no one is watching? | Assessment-measured drive across Desire, Commitment, Motivation, Responsibility, and Outlook, confirmed by the candidate's behavior when the prospect pushes back. | Interview enthusiasm, energy, and confidence, which candidates can perform on demand. | The sales-specific assessment, confirmed in the work sample. |
| Coachability | Will this person take feedback and change? | Response to live coaching inside the work sample. Deliver the same pre-scripted coaching prompt to every candidate for the role, then score whether the next attempt changes. | Agreeable answers about loving feedback, which cost nothing to say. | The work sample, plus references asked how the person responded to coaching. |
| Qualification discipline | Will the pipeline be real? | How the candidate handles a scenario designed to be walked away from, including whether they ask disqualifying questions in the mock discovery call. | Stories about big wins, which reveal nothing about deals the candidate should have dropped. | The mock discovery call, scored on the rubric. |
| Process fit | Can this person execute in our specific motion? | Selling history with a comparable cycle length, deal size, and buyer level, verified in references, plus the buyer-level answer below. | A strong track record in a different motion, which can make a mismatched hire look credible. | The structured interview and reference checks, measured against the written role profile. |
The matrix is Revenue Bench's summary of its own selection guidance. It is not a survey finding.
The buyer-level screen
Before you hire, establish who the candidate has sold to, C-level, VP, director, or manager, and compare that level with who buys from you. A rep who has only sold to procurement managers will struggle in a sale your buyers expect to run at CEO level. The reverse mismatch wastes a senior seller on a transactional motion.
Ask two direct questions in the structured interview: who did you sell to in your last role, and who decided. Verify both answers through the examples the candidate gives and through reference checks.
Carlos Garrido teaches this screen in his Building a Scalable Sales Team masterclass: establish the level a candidate sells at before you hire them, because a mismatch with your buyer surfaces after the start date, when it is most expensive.
How to filter sales candidates by deal size
To filter sales candidates by deal size, write the role's typical deal size and sales cycle into the role profile before the search opens. Ask each candidate for the typical deal they closed in the last year, the largest deal they ran personally from first meeting to signed contract, how many deals they closed in that year, and how many people signed off on a typical deal. Filter on the typical deal, because the largest deal on a resume can be a team sale or an inherited account.
A candidate whose typical deal is far larger or far smaller than the role's has run a different sales motion, with a different count of approvers, cycle length, and annual deal volume to forecast. Treat that gap as a question for the work sample and the references to settle. A candidate on either side of the role's deal size may be excellent. Deal size is one of the five dimensions of the selling-environment match. Verify deal size and cycle length in reference checks. The deal-size filter is Revenue Bench's own selection guidance.
How to assess whether a candidate can sell in a new, unproven market
In a new, unproven market, no candidate has a matching track record because nobody has sold there yet. Assess the conditions the candidate has already sold under that resemble it: accounts opened where the company had no prior customer, sales closed with no reference customer to point to, and buyers who had no budget for the category. Then weight the screens that do not depend on history: the sales-specific assessment for will to sell, and a work sample built around a buyer who has never bought the category.
The unproven-market evidence table
| What the market demands | Evidence that counts | The question that separates the person | Where to verify it |
|---|---|---|---|
| Opening accounts with no installed base | Accounts the candidate opened personally where the company had no customer before. | "Which accounts did you open where your company had no customer before you, and how did the first meeting happen?" | The deal walk in the structured interview, then a reference who can confirm the account was new. |
| Selling with no reference customer | Deals closed when there was no comparable customer, case study, or category name to point to. | "What did you show the buyer when there was no customer like them to point to?" | The deal walk, then the work sample. |
| A buyer with no budget for the category | Deals where the buyer had to create budget or move it from another line. | "Where did the money come from, and who had to approve moving it?" | The deal walk, then a reference asked about that deal. |
| A long stretch of rejection before the first wins | Assessment-measured will to sell, confirmed by how the candidate describes the slowest selling stretch they worked through. | "While you were actively selling, what was the longest stretch you went without closing, and what did you change during it?" | The sales-specific assessment, then a former manager asked how the candidate worked through a slow selling stretch. |
| Reporting what buyers say, including bad news | Qualification discipline in the work sample, and a history of telling a manager that a segment or offer was not working, with the evidence. | "Tell me about a segment you told your manager was not working. What evidence did you bring?" | The work sample, then a former manager. |
The unproven-market evidence table is Revenue Bench's own selection guidance. No study measures it. A candidate can answer every question in it without naming a customer or disclosing contract terms.
Write down that the market is unproven as part of the role-definition questions Carlos Garrido teaches in his Building a Scalable Sales Team masterclass, which a company answers about its own market before the search opens. Then agree with the hire, before the start date, which early measures will show progress in the market: first meetings with the target buyer, qualified opportunities, and what buyers say about the problem. In an unproven market, a capable seller can miss revenue when the market itself is not ready.
Where the assessment fits
The interview is the least reliable screen for selling ability, because selling and interviewing draw on the same skills: rapport, storytelling, reading the other person, and handling objections. A sales-specific assessment measures selling ability and sales DNA without the interview impression dominating the result, which is why it runs first. The full routing, including what an interview decides that an assessment cannot, is in which screen answers which hiring question.
At Revenue Bench, candidates for selling and sales-leadership roles are assessed with Objective Management Group, and every candidate is screened by a sales operator against the written success profile. Candidate assessment runs through Swanston Growth Advisors, a Certified Partner of Objective Management Group. OMG publishes predictive validity in the 95 percent range for its sales-specific instrument, its own accuracy metric. The hiring outcome is a separate figure: in OMG's 2024 validation survey, 72% of recommended hires reached the top half of their sales force within 12 months.
Hire for drive and train the skill. In OMG's study of 5,331 salespeople measured before and after training by a certified OMG partner, Closing rose 55% and Comfort Discussing Money 66%, while Will to Sell moved between 0% and 6%. The Will to Sell guide sets out the five markers of Will to Sell.
Carlos Garrido poses a direct question in his Building a Scalable Sales Team masterclass: "Did you hire them like that, or did you make them like that?" His point is that a team's performance ceiling is set at hiring time more often than leaders admit. Assess before the offer so leaders do not depend on coaching to repair a selection mistake.
Behavioral-style instruments such as DISC describe general working style and were not designed to predict on-the-job sales performance. Why a personality test cannot decide selling ability covers the limit in full.
The same instrument can evaluate a team already in place, helping a buyer assess a target's sales organization during sales team due diligence for private equity buyers.
How to run an assessment-based sales hiring process
An assessment-based sales hiring process runs the same validated, sales-specific assessment on every candidate for the role. Every candidate takes it at the same point, before interview time is spent. The result sets what the interview, work sample, and references have to test. The assessment informs the hiring decision. The hiring manager makes the decision.
- Choose an instrument that meets the vetting requirements. Use the vetting table below to check the provider's evidence before choosing.
- Set up the assessment against the written role profile before posting the role. Use the role profile to configure it for the role, the sales motion, and the buyer level.
- Assess every candidate for the role at the same point. Run the assessment after the application screen and before the first interview. Use the same instrument, role setup, and scoring for the length of the search.
- Read the result before the interview and write down the questions it raises. A gap the report names becomes an interview question or a work-sample test.
- Use the interview, work sample, and references for the evidence the assessment does not supply. Establish which deals the candidate ran and at what buyer level. Watch how the candidate responds to live coaching in the work sample. Which screen answers which hiring question sets out the rest.
- Record the decision and the evidence behind any departure from the assessment's recommendation. Have counsel review the process before the search opens.
The assessment-based process is Revenue Bench's own selection guidance. Assessment results are confidential candidate data. Tell candidates before they take the assessment who will see the results, share the results only with the people making the hiring decision, and keep them inside the hiring process. In a Revenue Bench search, Revenue Bench runs the assessment and shares a candidate's results with the hiring company it presents the candidate to, with the candidate's agreement before presentation.
How to choose a sales assessment
Choose a sales assessment by checking six things. It was built for sales roles. The provider can show a study validating it against sales performance. It can be set up for the specific role. Its report gives a recommendation for that role. The provider has an adverse impact analysis it will share, and candidate data is handled with care. Ask every provider the same questions.
The sales assessment vetting table
| What to require | Why it matters in a sales hire | The question to put to the provider | An answer that should stop you |
|---|---|---|---|
| Built for sales roles | A general personality or working-style instrument describes how someone prefers to work. It was not designed to predict selling performance. | "What roles was the instrument built and normed for?" | It was built for all roles, and sales is a setting among many. |
| Validated against sales performance | The useful evidence is whether recommended hires went on to perform in sales jobs. | "Will you share the validation study, who ran it, how many people it covered, and which on-the-job sales outcome it measured?" | The provider offers a reliability or consistency figure in place of a sales outcome, or will not share a validation study. |
| Set up for the specific role | A seller for a long enterprise sale and a seller for a high-velocity motion need different strengths. | "How is the instrument configured for this role's sales motion, deal size, and buyer level?" | Every candidate is scored against the same standard profile for all sales roles. |
| A recommendation the team can act on | Trait scores alone leave the hiring team to interpret what they mean for the role. | "Does the report say whether the candidate is recommended for this role and name the gaps to test next?" | The report lists trait scores with no recommendation and no role-specific reading. |
| Fair and job-related | A scored assessment used to choose between candidates is a selection procedure under US employment law. An employer can be asked to show how it affects each group of candidates and how it relates to the job. | "Will you share your adverse impact analysis and explain how the instrument relates to the job?" | The provider has not run an adverse impact analysis or will not share it. Have counsel review the instrument before it is used. |
| Candidate data handled with care | Results are personal data about a candidate. | "Who can see the results, how long are they kept, and are candidates told before they take the assessment?" | Results are kept indefinitely or shared beyond the hiring decision. |
The vetting table is Revenue Bench's own selection guidance. No study measures it. Revenue Bench assesses candidates for selling and sales-leadership roles with Objective Management Group through co-founder Steve Swanston's OMG Certified Partner firm, so its interest points toward that instrument. The six requirements apply to any instrument, OMG's included.
Use a real work sample
A live work sample shows how someone handles a version of the job. For sellers, use an exercise that reflects the sales motion and exposes the traits in the matrix. Revenue operations and enablement candidates take different exercises, set out in how to hire a RevOps or enablement leader.
- A mock discovery call. Give the candidate a realistic buyer scenario and have a team member play the prospect. Watch how they open, qualify, ask questions, and listen. Include information that should lead a disciplined seller to disqualify the opportunity.
- A real-deal role-play. Give the candidate a deal from your pipeline, allow preparation, and ask them to move it forward. Strip client names and confidential terms from any pipeline deal used in a role-play, since the candidate is an outside party.
- A short written or live plan. For senior roles, ask the candidate to outline how they would approach a territory or advance a stalled opportunity. Score judgment and process. Exclude presentation design from the score.
Prepared interview answers provide limited evidence because candidates can rehearse them. A work sample shows how the person sells, responds to pressure, and applies feedback. Keep each exercise short and time-boxed, and do not put a candidate's plan or deal strategy to commercial use. The exercise exists to produce hiring evidence, and the work product belongs to the candidate.
Score with a rubric, and check references that matter
Even useful evidence gets wasted when every interviewer judges by feel. A written account executive rubric defines the evidence expected for will to sell, coachability, qualification discipline, and process fit. Sales-leader roles get their own scorecard because leadership evidence differs from individual selling evidence. Define weak, solid, and strong performance for each criterion before interviews begin, then compare recorded evidence.
Use the same exercises and the same rubric for every candidate in the role, keep both unchanged for the length of the search, record the evidence behind each score, and have counsel review the loop, since a scored selection process is a selection procedure.
Finish with reference checks run with the candidate's consent. For an individual contributor, ask the former manager whether they would put this person back on their team today and why, how the candidate responded to coaching, and where the candidate ranked against peers. For process fit, verify cycle length, deal size, buyer level, and who made the final decision. Some employers limit what a reference can confirm, so record a policy-limited answer as unavailable and do not treat it as evidence against the candidate. The full consent sequence and the ten questions are in reference check questions for sales candidates, with the question to add for each sales position in the position table.
The linked scorecards make the interview, rubric, and reference steps concrete. How Revenue Bench runs a search shows where the success profile, the assessment, and the operator screen sit.
Methodology and sources
The five-step sequence, the resume-claim check, the track-record rebuild, the past-employer source table, the deal-size filter, the assessment-based process, the vetting table, the unproven-market evidence table, the four traits, the matrix, and the buyer-level screen are Revenue Bench's own selection guidance, drawn from the founders' operating and hiring work. All assessment statistics are Objective Management Group's published research figures, labeled where they appear. Candidate assessment runs through Swanston Growth Advisors, a Certified Partner of Objective Management Group. The background-check notice and permission steps come from the Federal Trade Commission's guidance for employers on the Fair Credit Reporting Act.
How do you assess a salesperson before hiring?
Run five steps in order: write the role profile, run a sales-specific assessment before interviews, use a structured interview to test the resume's claims and the candidate's buyer level, watch a work sample with a scripted coaching prompt, and score the evidence against a written rubric before confirming it with reference checks the candidate has agreed to. Each step decides one question, and an interview alone is the least reliable signal.
How do you evaluate a sales candidate beyond experience?
Treat each resume claim as a result and separate the person from the conditions that produced it. Ask how quota was set and how the rest of the team performed, which accounts on the resume the candidate opened personally, how much revenue was net-new, and who the candidate sold to and who decided. Verify the answers with a former manager, then add the evidence a resume cannot hold: a sales-specific assessment and a work sample.
How do you verify a sales candidate's quota attainment?
Ask what the quota was, how it was set, and how the rest of the team did against theirs, then ask how much of the result came from accounts the candidate opened. Many employers will not let a former manager confirm quota figures, so ask the manager where the candidate ranked against peers and review any rankings or awards the candidate volunteers. Record a policy-limited answer as unavailable and do not count it against the candidate. Several US states and cities restrict asking about prior pay, so keep compensation out of the questions and have counsel review the process.
What is a sales assessment and which one should I use?
A sales assessment is a validated instrument that measures selling ability and sales DNA directly, separate from how the candidate presents. Revenue Bench assesses candidates for selling and sales-leadership roles with Objective Management Group's sales-specific assessment, which OMG built to predict selling behavior and for which it publishes predictive validity in the 95 percent range, its own accuracy metric.
What work sample should I use to test a salesperson?
A mock discovery call is the most revealing, since discovery is where most deals are won or lost. A real-deal role-play using an actual opportunity from your pipeline is a strong second, and for senior roles, a short territory or deal plan tests judgment. A live selling exercise provides evidence that a behavioral answer cannot.
Should I hire for skill or for drive?
Hire for drive, train the skill. OMG data shows tactical skills respond well to training, with Closing rising 55% and Comfort Discussing Money 66% after training, while Will to Sell moves between 0% and 6% across the same training. You can teach someone to close and qualify, but you cannot install the desire to do the hard parts of the job. Screen for sales DNA and drive before the offer, then develop the tactical skills after.
How do I evaluate a candidate's sales track record without inflated numbers?
Rebuild each headline figure from its parts: the quota and how it was set, the team's attainment, the share from accounts the candidate opened, net-new revenue separate from renewals and expansion, and typical deal size and sales cycle. Ask the candidate to recall those parts deal by deal before calling references. A figure that the candidate can only repeat without explaining its parts stays a resume claim. When an employer's policy stops a reference from confirming a figure, record the figure as unverified and give it no weight in either direction.
What tools show past employers of sales candidates?
Five sources show them: the resume and application, a public professional profile, an employment verification run by a background-screening company, reference calls with former managers the candidate has agreed to, and the past employer's public record. The resume and the profile are written by the candidate. The verification confirms employer names and dates, plus titles where the employer reports them, and some employers confirm dates only. In the US, the employer must give written notice in a stand-alone document and get the candidate's written permission before a screening company runs the check. None of these sources, on its own, confirms quota attainment.
How do I assess whether a candidate can sell in a new, unproven market?
No candidate has a matching track record in a new, unproven market because nobody has sold there yet. Assess experience with similar conditions: accounts opened where the company had no prior customer, deals closed without a reference customer, and buyers who had to create budget for the category. Then weight the sales-specific assessment for will to sell and a work sample built around a buyer who has never bought the category. Agree on early measures of market progress with the hire before the start date, because a capable seller can miss revenue when the market itself is not ready.
How do I filter sales candidates by deal size?
Write the role's typical deal size and sales cycle into the role profile before the search opens. Ask each candidate for the typical deal they closed in the last year, the largest deal they personally ran from first meeting to signed contract, their deal count for that year, and how many people signed off on a typical deal. Filter on the typical deal because the largest deal can be a team sale or an inherited account. Use the work sample to test any gap in sales motion, and verify deal size and cycle length in reference checks.
What is an assessment-based sales hiring process?
An assessment-based sales hiring process runs the same validated, sales-specific assessment on every candidate for the role. Every candidate takes it at the same point, before interview time is spent. The result sets what the interview, work sample, and references have to test. The assessment informs the hiring decision. The hiring manager makes the decision.
How do I choose a sales assessment tool?
Choose an assessment built for sales roles and validated against sales performance, with a study the provider will share. Require setup for your specific role and a recommendation for that role. Ask for the provider's adverse impact analysis. Require careful handling of candidate data, including clear access and retention rules and notice to candidates before they take it. Have counsel review the instrument before use.