Jason M. Lemkin advises hiring salespeople who genuinely love sales as a craft and are motivated by money. He uses a screening question and insists reps should "carry a bag" to prove enthusiasm; warns against hiring burnt-out candidates regardless of intelligence. Emphasizes traits like enjoying honing scripts, competing, teamwork, hunting, and focusing on high-impact features.
I would say the majority don't want to do sales. It's my first screening question and that's why they got to carry a bag because it proves they actually still care about the craft and the best sales folks love sales. It's a craft. They love money. Yes, they love money and that does matter. Do not hire a sales rep that doesn't like money. Trust me on this one that there's 0% chance they'll work out either. But they also like the craft. They like honing the script. They like beating the competition. They like figuring out the counterfeit. They like figuring out the weapon and the 10x feature. They like working on a team. They like hunting. They love it. But then sometimes I just think burnout is always a reality but I just think that the last three years have been so yo yoed that folks are just they're out. They're out and don't hire them no matter how smart they are and that's the test.
