A salesman once told me, "Any salesman, no matter how bad, can sell himself to an engineer." You really need someone you trust to evaluate the candidates. Find successful entrepreneurs in your area and have their VP of sales help. Exercise your network. Enlist your SO, neighbors. VC's might help. I'm not kidding. An ad on Craigslist will probably attract some slick scum.<p>More advice from the salesman. Hire a salesman driving a Mercedes. The payments will keep him motivated. I once hired a salesman driving a beater and got performance commensurate with his car.<p>We are supposed to be gender neutral in this world, but I think that women beat us males in people skills, and sales is very much people skills. If nothing else, run your candidate by a sharp woman.<p>EDIT: When I wrote this I was thinking of direct sales, which is hugely expensive. I strongly recommend against it. Been there. Done that. I found telemarketing with skilled salespeople to be much more cost effective. And I really mean skilled, well trained, and well paid. Serve yourself is the most cost effective of all.<p>Disclaimer: I have run sales, but I dont pretend that I was any good at it.
Summary: Tricky sales people can <i>sell</i> the fact they are good at a lot of things. How do you figure out what type of people they really are? By tracking the energy that interviewees have around their responses and digging deeper, people will inevitably reveal the behaviors and principles they live by day-to-day.<p>----<p>When trying to hire someone you may find that you are looking for a particular type of person (maybe someone who works well in teams or, instead, is more of a performer on their own). To learn more about the way the person is (I mean they way <i>really</i> are, not just what they sell about themselves) try these steps:<p>1. Ask them questions that might reveal one of the characteristics (Are you better at working on teams or by yourself?)<p>2. They will usually answer “both” and try to sell you on it<p>3. Ask them to recall some productive/highlighting/significant experiences in working alone<p>4. Then ask the same for working in teams<p>This obviously doesn't cover the whole process, but can be a helpful technique.<p>5. Feel a sense of energy coming from each response<p>6. Ask the base question again (“Teams or alone?”) and see which they give more weight to.<p>7. Assess how strong you can confirm a conclusion of which they truly prefer
That's a great question. I'd love to hear some answers.<p>I'd also like to know how to decide between hiring sales people and selling a product online (self serve), or can both be done simultaineously?<p>A product we're considering could really be sold either way.