Sales management · Recruitment and selection
Ask every candidate the same questions and score them before anyone speaks.
A structured sales interview kit is a fixed set of job-related questions, a one-to-five scoring guide for each answer, and a plan for who interviews. This page covers the phone screen, the question bank, the anchors and the panel. It ends in a rating form every interviewer fills before comparing notes.
Scope, fee, reporting and term are agreed in writing after we have read your brief and spoken to you.
In one paragraph
A structured sales interview kit is a fixed set of job-related questions, a one-to-five scoring guide for each answer, and a plan for who interviews. This page covers the phone screen, the question bank, the anchors and the panel. It ends in a rating form every interviewer fills before comparing notes.
A paint distributor in Mangaluru interviews three candidates in one afternoon. All three are warm and talk well. The owner picks the one who reminds them of the best rep they ever had, and the sales manager, who met a different version of the same candidate, disagrees. Neither wrote anything down.
The kit stops that. The questions are fixed for the role and asked of everyone. They ask for what the candidate did, such as the last order they lost and why, not what they would do. Each answer is scored against anchors written beforehand, and two people score separately before they talk.
The sales manager builds it with the owner, from the job description and the qualifications statement. It replaces the chat. Scores go into the hiring funnel sheet, which is how you find out later whether the interview predicted anything.
Leave out questions about caste, religion, marriage plans or family. They tell you nothing about selling, and rules on what an employer may ask differ by state, so check with your own lawyer or adviser.
Where this sits
Topic 4 of 14 in sales management: recruitment and selection. Hiring salespeople through a repeatable process.
- The topic before
- Sales force design
- The topic after
- Sales training and development
If you want this done for you
The last three hires interviewed well and could not sell.
The work
What this is actually like.
“Charm scores high in an open chat”
Every salesperson is a good talker in an interview. The kit tests what they did, with specifics such as the town, the customer and the number lost, because an invented story falls apart at the third follow-up.
“The anchors matter more than the questions”
Before the first interview, write what a one, a three and a five sound like, using an example from your own trade. Without anchors, a four from one interviewer is a two from another.
“Score alone, then compare”
An interviewer who speaks first pulls the others toward them. Fill the form in silence, hand it in, then discuss. If the scores differ by two points or more on a question, discuss that question first.
“The phone screen saves the afternoon”
Ten minutes before any meeting: languages, location, in-hand expectation, notice period, whether they have a vehicle. A candidate who wants far more than the job pays is out before anyone's day is spent.
What we do
What you end up with.
The documents this topic produces, what each one is for, and how you know it is finished.
Phone screen script
Six questions: language, location, in-hand pay expectation, notice period, why they are leaving, vehicle. The answers go straight into the candidate log.
Result: Finished when anyone on the team can run it and fill in the answers.
Question bank
Ten to twelve behavioural questions, each linked to an essential item in the qualifications statement.
Result: Finished when every essential item has at least one question against it.
Scoring anchors
For each question, what a one, a three and a five answer sound like, with an example from your own trade.
Result: Finished when two managers score the same sample answer within one point of each other.
Rating form
One page per interviewer: score for each question, notes and a yes or no. Includes a short role-play on one of your own products.
Result: Finished when it fits on one page and is filled in before discussion.
Panel plan
Who interviews, in what order: the sales manager, the owner and, where possible, a rep who does the job today.
Result: Finished when every candidate for the role is seen by the same people.
Why us
Why owners pick GullySales over an agency.
Marketing and sales, as one job
Most agencies stop at the enquiry. We also fix what happens after it: the reply, the follow-up, the quote and the CRM.
The person on the first call does the work
No account managers in between. You are never handed to someone you have not met.
A baseline before anything starts
Your numbers are written down on day one, so every later report compares against something honest.
The fee in writing, split three ways
Our time, your media spend and production on separate lines. You always see what goes to us.
No guarantees we cannot keep
The term is agreed in writing and never a default twelve months. We never promise a ranking or a lead count, because nobody controls those.
One office, and we say so
Nagarbhavi, Bengaluru. We work across India by call and WhatsApp and travel when a session needs to be in person.
#257, 3rd floor, Sri Nanjundeshwara Complex, Nagarbhavi 8th Block, Outer Ring Road. How we work.
Your brief
Tell us what you need, and we will read it before we call.
Eight short steps about your business, what you want and who decides. Most questions are a tap, and you can skip any you would rather answer on the call.
FAQ
Questions owners ask before they call.
Not here? More answers, or ask on WhatsApp.
Will a fixed list make the interview stiff?
Can we ask about family or marriage plans?
How many interviewers do we need?
What should the role-play cover?
How much does it cost?
How long is the contract?
How soon will we see results?
Who will actually do the work?
What do you need from us?
What if we are not happy with the work?
Where to go next
The work that carries this topic further.
The rest of recruitment and selection
Or read all of sales management.
Your next practical step
Tell us what you are trying to grow, and we will read it before we call.
Eight short steps, mostly taps. Skip anything you would rather answer on the call.