u try to get those references, even if they haven’t been listed.

A third idea is when you are speaking with references, ask if you can have an offline discussion with them, during the non-working hours when they’re not in the office. The reason for this is to try to get candid information from the references about the individual, as opposed to the company’s official stance on the types of information they will or will not gi

We see lots of companies that skip reference checking at the last stage of their recruiting process, before they hire sales candidates. As a result, they make mis-hires. We also have witnessed companies that realize their reference checking is inadequate, because they didn’t get to the right types of references as they made their final hiring decision.

Here’s a couple of suggestions to follow when it comes to checking references on sales candidates, before you actually make a job offer:

First, make sure that the candidate’s references are all direct supervisors whom he/she worked for in previous sales positions. Why is this important? Well, a lot of sales people, particularly those who haven't produced very well, give you references from colleagues and other friends of theirs without giving you the people they actually worked for. If a person can't produce references from their previous sales manager or supervisor, it’s probably a good indicator they’re not hirable. Those kinds of candidates usually should be rejected outright.

Second, make sure that you dig deeply to get the references that are missing from a candidate’s list. If you have a sales candidate that gave you one supervisor from three jobs ago, but not the supervisors from their past two jobs, ask for those references as well, and if they say that they can't find them, ask why and tell them you’re going to need to have them track them down. You need to talk to a number of direct supervisors in order to really get a rounded perspective of the candidate.

When sales people are hesitant to give you references from any/all of previous sales supervisors, that should set off an alarm in your mind and you should make sure that you try to get those references, even if they haven’t been listed.

A third idea is when you are speaking with references, ask if you can have an offline discussion with them, during the non-working hours when they’re not in the office. The reason for this is to try to get candid information from the references about the individual, as opposed to the company’s official stance on the types of information they will or will not giv

nces on sales candidates, before you actually make a job offer:

First, make sure that the candidate’s references are all direct supervisors whom he/she worked for in previous sales positions. Why is this important? Well, a lot of sales people, particularly those who haven't produced very well, give you references from colleagues and other friends of theirs without giving you the people they actually worked for. If a person can't produce references from their previous sales manager or supervisor, it’s probably a good indicator they’re not hirable. Those kinds of candidates usually should be rejected outright.

Second, make sure that you dig deeply to get the references that are missing from a candidate’s list. If you have a sales candidate that gave you one supervisor from three jobs ago, but not the supervisors from their past two jobs, ask for those references as well, and if they say that they can't find them, ask why and tell them you’re going to need to have them track them down. You need to talk to a number of direct supervisors in order to really get a rounded perspective of the candidate.

When sales people are hesitant to give you references from any/all of previous sales supervisors, that should set off an alarm in your mind and you should make sure that you try to get those references, even if they haven’t been listed.

A third idea is when you are speaking with references, ask if you can have an offline discussion with them, during the non-working hours when they’re not in the office. The reason for this is to try to get candid information from the references about the individual, as opposed to the company’s official stance on the types of information they will or will not gi

can't produce references from their previous sales manager or supervisor, it’s probably a good indicator they’re not hirable. Those kinds of candidates usually should be rejected outright.

Second, make sure that you dig deeply to get the references that are missing from a candidate’s list. If you have a sales candidate that gave you one supervisor from three jobs ago, but not the supervisors from their past two jobs, ask for those references as well, and if they say that they can't find them, ask why and tell them you’re going to need to have them track them down. You need to talk to a number of direct supervisors in order to really get a rounded perspective of the candidate.

When sales people are hesitant to give you references from any/all of previous sales supervisors, that should set off an alarm in your mind and you should make sure that you try to get those references, even if they haven’t been listed.

A third idea is when you are speaking with references, ask if you can have an offline discussion with them, during the non-working hours when they’re not in the office. The reason for this is to try to get candid information from the references about the individual, as opposed to the company’s official stance on the types of information they will or will not gi

those references as well, and if they say that they can't find them, ask why and tell them you’re going to need to have them track them down. You need to talk to a number of direct supervisors in order to really get a rounded perspective of the candidate.

When sales people are hesitant to give you references from any/all of previous sales supervisors, that should set off an alarm in your mind and you should make sure that you try to get those references, even if they haven’t been listed.

A third idea is when you are speaking with references, ask if you can have an offline discussion with them, during the non-working hours when they’re not in the office. The reason for this is to try to get candid information from the references about the individual, as opposed to the company’s official stance on the types of information they will or will not gi

u try to get those references, even if they haven’t been listed.

A third idea is when you are speaking with references, ask if you can have an offline discussion with them, during the non-working hours when they’re not in the office. The reason for this is to try to get candid information from the references about the individual, as opposed to the company’s official stance on the types of information they will or will not give out during a reference check discussion.

One of the most important things you need to do when you’re checking references on sales people, is to actually tell the reference the specific sales achievement history that you were given from the candidate. in order to verify that those facts are correct. Make sure that you take sales achievement history and quota data that you got from the candidate, and verify these figures with their ex-supervisor. A lot of times, if we don’t check references and specifically verify that the candidate achieved a certain level of sales, we're really missing the opportunity to verify the objectiveness of the data we've been provided through the interviewing process.

Another very important tip when you are talking to a sales candidate's references, is ask them about key accounts that the candidate actually brought to the company. If you’re looking for a hunter, you’ll want to make sure the supervisor can remember big wins that the candidate had when they worked for them.

Another tip is to ask the references whether or not they would hire the candidate back into their previous position if they had the opportunity. A good candidate would always be welcome back to the company, and a poor sales producer wouldn’t be. So these are some of the things that I suggest that you talk about when you are checking references on sales candidates.