How We Know Someone Is Actually a Top Performer

I Thought I Knew My Business

Early in my sales career I was usually the #2 or #3 salesperson on a team of twelve. Then I had one bad quarter. I dropped to sixth. After one of my 1:1s, my manager suggested I spend some time with our top rep. He was getting ready to move into leadership.

I figured we'd talk about prospecting. Maybe closing. Instead, he started asking me questions: "What changed?" "Where are you losing deals?" "What's your conversion rate?" "What's your average deal size?" I didn't know. And honestly... I didn't think I needed to know.

Then he turned his laptop around. He had built a dashboard for himself. He smiled. "Ask me anything about my business this year." Anything. Pipeline. Close rate. Average deal size. Activity. He answered every question without looking. Then he pointed at the dashboard. "This is my GPS."

I've never forgotten that. Top reps don't wonder where they stand. They know. That's why one of the first questions I'll ask a candidate is, "How's your quarter going?" I'm not testing memory. I'm trying to figure out whether they manage their business... or just work in it.

She Prepared Like She Already Worked Here

Years later I was interviewing a salesperson for a second interview. Recruiting had already completed the first interview. Before we ever met she sent me a thoughtful follow-up email. Then her resume. A short introductory video. Even a candidate profile she built herself. This was years before candidate videos were common. I figured she was trying to stand out.

Then the interview started. Within a few minutes she was talking about my background. Not what she found on LinkedIn. Things I'd actually done. I finally stopped her. "How do you know all this?" She smiled. "I talked to people who used to work for you."

She had reached out to people I had managed years earlier. She had also talked with members of our sales team before the interview. She wanted to understand who she might be working for before she ever walked in. We hired her. She became our top salesperson.

That wasn't the biggest surprise. The people around her got better too. Looking back, it shouldn't have surprised me at all. She prepared for everything the same way she prepared for that interview. That's why I stopped asking, "Did you read the job description?" Almost everybody says yes. Instead I ask, "What did you do to prepare for this interview?" There's a big difference.

The Story Didn't Match the Math

One candidate had already been through three interviews. Everybody loved him. Strong communicator. Great personality. Great feedback. I was the final interview. Before I walked into the room I read through everyone's notes. Everybody liked him. I just couldn't figure out why none of the notes had any actual numbers. So that's where I spent most of my time.

"What was your quota?" "Around..." "What's the exact number?" He gave it to me. A few minutes later... "What percentage of quota did you hit?" "Around..." We eventually got there. Average deal size? "About..." How much did you sell? "Umm..."

By then I wasn't really listening to the numbers anymore. I was trying to figure out whether any of them actually belonged together. The hesitation. The softening. The math. Eventually the story stopped making sense. The numbers didn't agree with each other.

A couple of days later I got a back-channel reference. I'll never forget what he said. "Don't hire him. He doesn't hit his targets. He probably doesn't even know what he sells." We passed.

Today, whenever I hear, "Around..." "About..." "Roughly..." "I think..." or even, "Umm..." I don't assume someone is lying. Now I'm getting curious.

The Best Candidates Interview You Too

Years ago I was interviewing for a leadership role. The VP of Sales spent almost an hour asking me questions. One after another. He never really sold me on the company. Right before we wrapped up he asked, "Any questions?" I said, "Just one. Why should I pick you over my other top companies?"

That was the first quiet moment we'd had in an hour. Then he spent the next ten minutes selling me. I've never forgotten that interview.

Toward the end of almost every interview now, I ask candidates, "Are there any questions I should have asked you?" Sometimes nothing happens. Sometimes it's the best answer of the entire interview. The strongest candidates usually aren't just trying to get the job. They're deciding whether they want it.

So... What's My Favorite Interview Question?

I still don't have one. Because I don't think interviewing is about finding clever questions. It's about learning to notice what other people miss. One answer has never gotten someone hired. One answer has never gotten someone rejected either. Hiring decisions come from patterns. Not moments.

Years ago someone showed me a dashboard and called it his GPS. That's still how I think about interviews. I'm trying to figure out exactly where someone is. 

Great interviewers collect answers. Great hiring managers recognize patterns.

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