You have your plans for setting up your interview process and questions in a way that you will uncover someone’s true nature regarding Openness and Curiosity.

Now for the third layer in our Sales Success Traits: Creativity.

Why Creativity Matters

We are looking for someone who is willing to (and yes…I know…it’s cliché) think outside of the box when it comes to their sales role.

Increased effectiveness and results come from being willing to try different things to achieve different and better results.

We are trying to avoid the known and understood definition of insanity: doing the same thing over and over again expecting different results.

Salespeople, leaders, and teams do that all the time to their own detriment. They keep trying the same things without adapting, evolving, or testing new strategies and tactics, which leads to short term mediocrity and long-term.

We want to build a team around people who have the right amount of healthy ego mixed with the humility to know they don’t know everything. That is why we focus on Openness and Curiosity first. With that, then we can add in Creativity as a qualifier for entry to your sales team.

How do we select for Creativity?

Selecting for Creativity in Interviews

This is the one mindset trait on the list where we will go with some questions that feel like ‘standard’ interview questions. We want to give that candidate a pop quiz to find out how their mind thinks.

Our goal is to find out what level of Creative solutioning they will come up with to various scenarios.

Here are some sample questions I recommend:

Sometimes salespeople struggle with not getting results from the emails they send. The response rate is low, and the data shows that the open rate is low as well. What have you done or would you do, if the email campaign isn’t working right now but you need to get more conversations started with prospects?

Same type of question, but with calls. Times have changed, people don’t answer their phone like they used to. If someone doesn’t answer, what would your strategy be to a) get them to call you back and b) reach them in any other way?

Sometimes our potential customers have to speak with other stakeholders/people before making the buying decision. How do you handle that scenario to move more sales forward?

If you need to do a demo via Zoom, and their computer isn’t working, what would you do?

Tell me a story about a time when you did the most creative thing possible to get a deal closed.

As you can see, I am wanting to find the outer edges of how their mind thinks Creatively. What solutions do they jump to for low email response rate, lack of call backs from their voicemails, closing deals with multiple people involved, and tech issues. Do they just give up? Do they say “I don’t know”? Or do they come up with ideas?

The quality of the ideas are good, but I am looking for quantity in the interview as well. I don’t want one alternative solution for a scenario. I want as many as they can throw at me.

And that last question – which I know sounds like something that AI would give you as a standard interview question – is all about what they think is a really creative solution.

If they say “I couldn’t get this prospect to answer their phone, so I tried sending them a letter in the mail” as the most creative thing they could come up with, they might not be the person I want to select.

[Like I said in the Leadership Effectiveness article for this week [https://go.sellingeffectiveness.com/LI.11.11.AM] – I don’t want to have to be the one thinking up solutions for everyone.]

Using Real-World Scenarios

You could also give people specific, real-world examples from your business. If you are in a B2B sales mode, you could give them a name of a real prospect you can’t seem to get a hold of, maybe give them the LinkedIn profile, and say “what would you do to get a conversation started with them?”

If you are in a B2C sales mode, give them a scenario that comes up and stumps lesser skilled salespeople. Maybe something like: “The prospect can’t afford the product, just started a new job, doesn’t get paid for a few weeks, but really wants to buy it right now. What would you suggest?”

If you listen close enough, the responses to the questions that I have here, or any that you come up with that have the same goal, will tell you a lot about their natural level of Creativity and problem-solving.

The Danger of Overlooking Creativity

And please fight the instinct to hire a very qualified, very experienced salesperson – who you feel can sell very well – that doesn’t pass your Creativity test. As I said in the Selling Effectiveness Blog [https://go.sellingeffectiveness.com/LI.11.11.AM], they will try to hit everything like it’s a wall since all they have in their toolbox is a hammer.

Conclusion

There is also a very effective ‘game’ you can plan with the candidate that will tell you almost everything you need to know about how their mind works, how Open and Curious they are, and how Creative their mind approaches a challenge. Email me and I can send you the details on how to set up and plan this game with your candidates.