How do you hire to avoid the dreaded fire?

In the IT solutions industry, hiring the right sales people is both a timely and costly task. Over the past few weeks, I have been on the hunt for new Account Executives, who possess the drive and determination needed to succeed in this competitive industry. Though I feel optimistic after interviews, I am always surprised to see these select hopefuls fail to meet my sales expectations. Not only did I waste valuable time that could have been spent generating sales, but I also waste my company’s funds on employee turnover. My question then is, what is the most efficient hiring method to use, and moreover, how often should you measure the performance of your new sales people? 

My hiring methods are conventional. I usually begin by posting online advertisements on free websites, such as craigslist.com and kijiji.ca. The response results are outstanding, however it makes the narrowing-down process seem interminable. My selection criteria is based on general characteristics, such as vast sales experience, solid educational background, leadership skills, and the list goes on. For last month’s set of interviews, I decided to do things a little differently. After narrowing down my list to approximately 40 candidates, I divided them into 4 groups of 10. From there, I conducted group interviews that consisted of me discussing the company, the position and compensation, outlining my expectations, as well as providing an historical overview to demonstrate what Luxor is truly capable of. This took up approximately 45 minutes, at which point I told each of the candidates to use 3 minutes to describe why I should select them. While some diligently outlined their credentials and capabilities that suited the position, others claimed they needed to move their car, in other words, they ran for the hills!Those who decided to tough it out truly presented themselves in a professional manner and from this process I hired on 2 people. Was this a full-proof method? Should I have instead sat down and drilled the candidates with questions? How do you sort through those who have rehearsed a script, versus those who truly fit the position?Now that I have these 2 new people on board, I must ensure that they perform and meet, if not exceed, my expectations. The next order of business is then what type of sales metrics or tracking methods should I employ in order to get performance results of new sales people before it’s too late? Most companies will evaluate new sales people at the end of a sales cycle, but in today’s economy, I cannot afford or wait that long. Most importantly, how do you evaluate whether a candidate’s success is simply a lucky streak, and how much time do you wait to see if the luck runs out?In my opinion, companies should stop using the end of a sales cycle as an indicator of performance and instead conduct weekly, if not daily, reviews on new sales people. Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) should be evaluated on a consistent basis and thorough feedback should become a key aspect of the tracking metrics. That way, unnecessary spending on employment is reduced and company sales are maximized.What do you think?