Psychologists will tell you that past performance is the best predicator of future behavior. Unfortunately, it is human nature for a job applicant to embellish past performance. Examples include taking credit for deals he/she played a part in but did not source, or referring to an outlier production year as the average or the norm.

The only way we know to really compare what an applicant is claiming and what he/she really did is to ask for W2’s. Tax returns do not lie, and the companies we work with who do this have a higher degree of success in recruiting real producers and avoiding underachievers than those who do not. There is an additional “tell,” . . . real producers are proud of their record and do not mind sharing it . . . lesser producers, “not so much.”  You have a lot riding on your decision to hire a salesperson.  Don’t be shy about using all the tools available to you.

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Dr. Christopher Croner and Richard Abraham are authors of Never Hire a Bad Salesperson Again and developers of the proprietary and patented sales assessment test, The DriveTest™, for sales candidates. To experience the difference of the DriveTest, contact us today!