Ever been lied to in an interview?

Ever wonder if the person you are interviewing is telling the truth?  Is the person feeding you a line or maybe just telling you what they think you want to hear?  Ever hired someone based on information you thought was true but really wasn’t?

Well, don’t feel bad because you are not alone.  Most business owners want to be sold in the interview and end up hearing only what they want to hear.  It is called selective perception.  (Remember the last new car you bought and all of the sudden there were hundreds of the same car on the road!)

Your ability to identify the truth can mean the difference between hiring a star and hiring a nightmare.  Let me show you how you can tell if a person is telling the truth in an interview.

I have spent the last 30+ years identifying a system that eliminates lying, misleading, exaggeration and confusion from an interview (sounds great doesn’t it?).  Here is a five step process that guarantees you are getting the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth.

<strong>Step One – Ask closed ended questions.</strong> <p style=”display:none”>  </p>

Let me define closed-ended questions before you get up in arms.  A closed-ended question is a question that has only one answer.  Instead of, “How do you handle objections?” (open-ended), ask, “How did you overcome the price objection during the ABC sale?”

The person has less of a chance to make things up when you ask closed-ended questions.  Closed-ended questions not only to make sure the person is telling you the truth but also get the best information in the interview.

Sample closed-ended questions:

1. How did you greet your last prospect?
2. What did you say to get the person to purchase additional merchandise?
3. What did you ask to find out what specifically the person was looking for?

Step Two – Listen Actively

You have to probe throughout the interview to get the real story.  A big mistake I see people make all the time is to ask a question and then sit back and let the person talk uninterrupted.  The longer the person talks without you asking clarifying questions, the more likely it is you are only getting what the person wants to share with you.

It is critical to the success of hiring the right salesperson that you know exactly what you are looking for.  In the interview, you need to get the specific information that helps you predict success.  Don’t get into the trap of getting what the candidate wants to tell you versus what you need to know.

If the person says they were the top salesperson, ask, “How many sales people were there?  How were the rankings determined?  How long were you the number one sales person?”

Step Three – Get Multiple Examples

I have no doubt that you go into an interview and get an example of a situation or task the person has handled (like closing a deal or prospecting).  But to make certain the person is telling you the truth, you need to get lots of examples.  Get as many examples of sales closed or prospecting activities as possible.

People struggle to make up examples that did not happen.  Your goal in getting multiple examples is to solidify the person’s behavior.  The more often they behave a certain way, the more likely they will behave that way on your job.  The side benefit of getting multiple examples is it is very difficult to manufacturer examples on the fly.

The person telling the truth, with great experience has no problem giving you as many examples as you need.  The person not telling the truth will struggle after the first or second example because there is no substance.

Step Four – Get Lots of Detail

The devil is in the detail.  Make certain that you probe for lots of detail in your examples.  The person telling the truth has no problem sharing all the details of a situation with you.  The person not telling the truth will struggle trying to create details on the fly.

Here is an example.  Ask, “What was the largest sale you closed in the last three months?”  Follow this up with, “How long did you work on the deal?  Who else worked on the deal with you?  Who did you compete against?  How did you exploit your product position during the sales cycle?  What exactly did you sell?  What was the person looking for when you first met them?”

If you look back at this list of questions, you notice that the answer to every question gets you good information.  The side benefit is that a person who did not make the sale would have a very difficult time answering all those questions.

Step Five – Question “We”

People will sometimes try to mislead you by using the word “we”.  A simple solution is to always stop the candidate when they use the word “we” and ask, “Who is we and what specifically did you do?”  This always gets to the heart of the matter.  Don’t think that every time you hear “we” a person is lying because this isn’t the case.  But it is still a good idea to always clarify and get the details.

Make it clear in the interview that you want to know exactly what the person did.  You want to know what their personal contribution was to the success of the sale.

So there it is.

It has been my experience that in the last 15 years it has been almost impossible to lie to me in an interview and get away with it.  Try this simple, 5-step process and I am certain this will work for you as well.

For more information about my Selecting Winners programs and other tips on recruiting and hiring, visit us at www.SelectingWinners.com