A sales leader once told me:
"We've hired three salespeople in the last two years and none of them worked out."
My first question wasn't about the candidates.
It was about the hiring process.
More often than not, the hiring process produces exactly what it was designed to produce.
That's uncomfortable to hear.
But it's also good news.
Because if the process created the problem, the process can solve it.
Watch What a Failed Sales Hire Costs You and see where hiring mistakes really show up in revenue, ramp time, management resources, and team performance.
Hiring salespeople is one of the most important decisions a leader makes.
It's also one of the hardest.
You don't know how someone will perform six months from now.
You don't know how they'll handle rejection, difficult buyers, changing priorities, or pressure.
So leaders naturally look for signals that reduce uncertainty.
Industry experience.
A polished resume.
Confidence.
Strong interview answers
None of those things are inherently bad.
The challenge is that they often create a false sense of certainty.
And that's where cognitive bias starts influencing decisions.
Most sales leaders believe they're looking for the best candidate.
What they're often looking for is the most familiar candidate.
Someone who reminds them of a previous top performer.
Someone with a background they've seen before.
Someone who communicates the way they communicate.
Someone they feel comfortable with.
Familiarity feels safe.
But familiarity and fit are not the same thing.
I've seen companies repeatedly hire people who looked remarkably similar on paper.
The same experience.
The same strengths.
The same personality traits.
The same interview style.
Then wonder why they kept getting the same results.
The outcome wasn't random.
The process kept selecting the same profile.
One of the biggest mistakes organizations make is assuming a successful salesperson will succeed anywhere.
They won't.
Sales success depends on context.
A salesperson who thrives in a transactional environment may struggle in a complex buying process.
A top performer selling to small businesses may struggle selling to enterprise buyers.
A highly relationship-driven seller may have difficulty in an environment that requires strong business acumen and executive conversations.
The question isn't whether someone can sell.
The question is whether they can sell to your buyers.
That's a very different evaluation.
The same principle applies to hiring.
Before evaluating candidates, leaders should understand:
Who are our buyers?
How do they make decisions?
What competencies are required for success in this role?
Many organizations skip those questions.
Instead, they evaluate candidates against assumptions.
The result is predictable.
They hire people who interview well rather than people who align with buyer needs.
Before extending an offer, ask yourself:
What evidence supports this decision?
What assumptions am I making?
Am I evaluating this candidate against the role or against my personal preferences?
Would this person succeed with our specific buyers?
Have we defined success clearly enough to measure fit objectively?
If those questions feel difficult to answer, that's valuable information.
The goal isn't to eliminate uncertainty.
The goal is to make better decisions despite uncertainty.
When a sales hire fails, most leaders focus on recruiting costs.
The hidden costs are often much larger.
Lost revenue opportunities.
Management time.
Coaching resources.
Team disruption.
Customer impact.
Delayed growth.
And perhaps most importantly, confidence in future hiring decisions.
Every bad hire creates pressure to make the next hire quickly.
That's when bias becomes even more influential.
The organizations that consistently make strong sales hires aren't better at predicting the future.
They're better at evaluating evidence.
They challenge assumptions.
They define success before interviewing candidates.
They focus on buyer alignment.
And they build processes that reduce the influence of bias.
Because hiring isn't about finding someone who feels right.
It's about identifying someone who can create results with your buyers, in your environment, under your conditions.
That's a much more reliable path to sales success.
If you're looking for a keynote speaker, workshop facilitator, or sales hiring expert for your next event, I'd love to connect.
Learn more about my speaking and consulting services and discover how my keynotes don't just inspire. They change how people show up the next day.