From time to time, I get asked for the top three or five questions to ask a potential sales rep.  Evidently, people think that are a few magic bullet questions out there…IF ONLY YOU WOULD TELL ME WHAT THEY ARE!!!  (I do know what those questions are, but I am going to keep that secret, for now.)

No question it is hard to find a good sales rep.  All candidates look good in a suit and mill around smartly.  Some can even sell.

But if you have to evaluate candidates, here are a few things to look for.

1.  I love ex-athletes.  Not the Geico-caveman sort, but the sort of person who excelled on his or her team.   There is something about learning to play a sport at a high level that makes a great sales rep.  At the beginning none of us could even catch a ball, or balance on the high beam….to gain a sporting skill, it requires discipline, practice and and an ability work hard.  I like that in sales people.  Corollary:  THE best candidate, an ex-coach.

2.  I love people in the band.  Seriously.  I mean, who picks up the tuba in the fifth grade and stays with it through high school.  If he or she can play the violin or tuba or piano, they have most of the attitude skills it takes.  They can learn sales.  Tamborines don’t count.

3. THE best candidate is someone who has joined a direct sales company like Tupperware or Amway.  I don’t like these companies, but I love the people who are confident enough to pay MONEY to join those companies and who buy their products to sell.  There is nothing that teaches sales skills more than walking past a garage-full of nutritional supplements.

4.  I have told this story before but it does make a point.  I interviewed a nice young guy once, with absolutely no sales experience.  I almost begged him to tell me something that would suggest to me that he could sell.  ”Well,” he said, “I married the prettiest girl in my little town.”  I hired him.