Jodi was recently promoted to become the sales manager for the ABC Company. The company is relatively small and Jodi reports directly to the CEO. One of the first tasks on her plate is hiring three account executives for the sales team.

When Jodi was an account executive, she never had exposure to the process of evaluating sales talent. Thus, even though she is now the sales manager, she doesn’t know where to begin.

The company’s internal recruiter has surfaced a handful of candidates for the positions. However, he is looking to Jodi for guidance on how she wants to proceed with them. Given that Jodi is new in the role and doesn’t want to make a mistake with her first milestone decisions, she is unsettled.

How should Jodi go about evaluating sales candidates for these account executive positions so she makes smart decisions?

Are there interview steps you recommend?

Are there tools she should use? If so, which ones do you suggest she use?

What steps should she include in the candidate evaluation process?