The Ultimate Sales Machine - Chet Holmes [51]
Probe
The purpose of this portion of the interview is to get to know the person. Before you begin, you must tell prospects that they don’t have to answer any questions they don’t want to answer. Explain to them that your company hires based upon personality profile rather than background and ask them directly, “Do you agree that this is more pertinent?” When they answer yes, you say that you’d like to find out what shaped them, so you’re going to start with their childhood.
Additionally, this portion of the interview tests the level of their empathy. If they become stiff during this section, you don’t have a natural bonder. Tell them that you are going to ask questions about their mother and father as well as questions about how they grew up. If they become uncomfortable, you don’t have a superstar. Superstars like to bond with others. But this is only part of what you are probing for in this interview.
Legal notice: You have to get their permission to ask questions about their childhood and you need to explain how these questions are related to the job. The candidate must understand and agree that personality profile is more important than background. Otherwise, the interview can get you into trouble. Legally you cannot ask any question that isn’t relevant to the job (such as “Are you married?” or “Do you have children?”) because it could be the basis for discrimination. It is your responsibility to think through whether or not your questions might (even unintentionally) screen out any particular group by race, gender, or disability. For example, if you ask whether or not they have or plan to have children, an applicant may understand that this has bearing on your decision to hire them and that the question may mean discrimination. But if you establish that personality profile is what you’re after and get their permission to probe “what formed you,” then you’re probably okay asking about their childhood.
The questions I propose here are not designed to discriminate against anyone. They are designed to draw out the superstars from the applicant pool. However, the questions you ask are your responsibility, so please check with your lawyer, HR department, or the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (http://www.eeoc.gov ) on this point. This book is not intended to provide legal advice.
Probing the candidate’s childhood is crucial because self-confidence is often shaped very early in life, so you want to find out if the candidate’s background contributed to building up self-esteem. An encouraging parent who really believes in the child will help to develop strong self-esteem in that child at an early age. My mother was so blindly encouraging that if I’d told her, “I want to be a bank robber,” she would’ve said, “Oh son, you’d make a GREAT bank robber.” Parents who are overbearing or what I call “quick to caution the child” will raise a child who will not be effective in challenging situations.
The term quick to caution means that when children want to try something new—climb a tree, jump off the diving board, be adventurous—the parent holds them back, rather than encouraging them and being there in case they fall. My parents would have let me march into hell for a heavenly cause. That’s how I raised my children, and they are both strong and fearless about what they want and how to get it. If you find a person who has not had what I call blindly encouraging parents, then you are likely to find a person who does not have the self-esteem to withstand the rejection that comes in a sales position. Naturally some people develop self-esteem in spite of not having encouraging parents, but in my experience that is the exception, not the rule.
To determine your candidate’s background, ask the following questions:
What events or influences from your childhood shaped who you are today?
What are some of the biggest challenges in your life? They need not be work-related.
What was the toughest sale