Do you know what most people that apply for sales jobs do before they go in for a sales interview? They research the most common sales interview questions and have their answers scripted ahead of time. This is a smart thing to do. Salespeople should prepare as well as they can for any given situation, including sales interviews.

But do you want to hire a scripted salesperson? Do you want someone selling your companies products and services that is good at memorizing and reciting scripts or would you rather hire someone that can think fast and come up with solutions to problems on the spot?

If your selection process involves making hiring decisions based solely on job interviews then you may be hiring the wrong people. Salespeople should be personable, intelligent, and persuasive. You can never see these personality traits in an interview setting.

So, what should you do? Try the following 2-step process:

1. Instead of a sales interview at your office, take the candidate out to meet clients or on a sales call. Brief her on the background of the prospect that you visit ahead of time. Then meet the prospect or client and watch her sell. What better way is there to view a job candidate’s sales skills than to observe her in action?
2. Follow the sales call with a relaxed lunch or dinner to observe the job candidate's social skills. You want to hire someone that is personable for a sales job because people buy from people that they like. Going to a restaurant allows you to experience your job candidate's social skills first hand in her dealings with you, the restaurant staff, and the other guests. Don’t hire someone that is not pleasant and polite to waiters or strangers at nearby tables.

Sales interviews are worthless. Following this 2-step process when hiring salespeople will give you a better indication as to their sales skills than a scripted interview will.