March Madness is upon us. I'm talking about the college basketball tournament, not the interminable health care debate. Some days it's hard to tell the difference - both involve full-court presses, alley-oops, illegal motions, shot blocking, slam dunking and intentional fouls. So enjoy the tournament. At the moment, there is no "Cadillac tax" on college basketball.

Let's continue our focus on improving sales management effectiveness. Last month, we discussed recruiting and its importance to your business. Let's move on to the selection process. There are eight steps to consider; this month, we'll discuss the first four.

An ideal candidate profile

A logical place to start your selection efforts is drafting an ideal candidate profile. For example, will you be hiring someone brand new to the industry so that you can train them in your firm's sales and consulting methodologies? Or will you be seeking to hire someone with 10-plus years of sophisticated experience in a much larger firm? Obviously, those are two entirely different profiles which entail different approaches to career opportunities, compensation and other issues.

Does your candidate need to have an established clientele or any specific background, like self-funded plans? Do all your clients have fully insured medical plans? If so, does your candidate need to have solid working relationships with several key underwriters in your market?

Be as specific as possible about the skill sets you expect your ideal candidate to possess. Write out your ideal profile, even if it is in the form of a bullet point outline. If need be, seek the input of other team members so that you have consensus. But most importantly, be realistic about the qualifications, experience and accomplishments you expect of your candidate.

Reviewing resumes

As you are reviewing a candidate's resume, how close is he or she to your ideal? Don't make excuses or rationalize significant deficiencies. You are offering a great career opportunity to a qualified candidate; you need to be discerning. Look for a pattern of success. In this case, past performance really is the best predictor of future success. What have they achieved? Did they complete college? Have they ever been promoted? How have they exhibited leadership skills? Have they been driven to succeed at whatever they have undertaken? Has a candidate repeatedly started and stopped projects? What are their educational pursuits, professional designations and goals? You want to select, not settle. So look for winning characteristics, traits and accomplishments.

Did your candidates participate in sports? Are they very competitive? Are they driven? What does this have to do with sales success? Consider State Farm's historical hiring model. More than 60% were teachers at some point - authority figures that have influential relationships with large constituencies. And the vast majority of those were former coaches - competitive, driven and with motivational and managerial skills.

Interviewing techniques

When interviewing prospective new hires - especially new sales or business development candidates - don't ask hypothetical questions like, "Tell me how you would handle this type of situation?" Everyone sounds brilliant when they are asked about hypothetical situations. That's because they are answering hypothetically. That's not the real world.

Instead, you should be asking questions about circumstances that are rooted in fact to learn how a candidate dealt with a real situation. Ask open-ended questions designed to elicit feedback based on experience. Here are some examples:

•  Give me an example of a particularly difficult prospecting call that you made and talk me through how you handled it. (Waiting a few seconds can seem like an eternity, but do not restate your question. Simply wait patiently for the candidate to respond. With each successive question, the candidate will become more accustomed to your line of questioning, and will realize that you are not going on to the next question until you have a real-life response.)

•  There are many ways to prospect for new client relationships - what is your most effective method that resulted in a sale? What did you do; how did the prospective client respond? What objections did you have to overcome?

•  Give me an example of how you developed a center of influence. Who did you contact? How long did it take before you developed a solid prospect? Do you still meet and exchange information?

•  Take me through your work schedule yesterday. What did you do?

•  Tell me about overcoming an unusual objection. How long did it take to address the client's objection? What method did you use to win the client over to your way of seeing things?

•  Can you give me an example of a time when you were in a sales slump and what you did to get back on track?

Remember, the interview is when candidates are at their very best, so examine everything carefully with a critical eye. There is real power in this technique.

Pre-hire project

Once you have identified a viable candidate, consider having the candidate complete a pre-hire project by providing a candidate with a small sales-related project to be completed on their own time. The life insurance and P&C industries have used this approach successfully for decades. What kind of project would give you insight into your candidate's work ethic, perseverance and sales ability, while providing you both with valuable market intelligence about prospective clients and their needs? Well, how about asking your candidate to complete 25 employer surveys during the next week?

If your candidate cannot or will not complete this assignment, how effective will they be at developing new business for your firm? After all, your candidate will likely need to make at least 50 calls a week once they start working for you, right? Selecting quality candidates is an elimination process, and this is sone more way to get a candidate to self-eliminate.

By definition, selection is the evaluation of a number of qualified candidates with the intent of eliminating talent based on your predetermined, objective criteria. In a perfect world, the candidate you hire would match your ideal. But even if that is not achievable, you should strive to have your new hire match your ideal in as many critical factors as possible. Your ancillary goal should be to avoid costly hiring mistakes.

By staying focused and following these time-tested steps, you will be improving your sales management effectiveness and building a successful, winning sales team.

Next month, we'll look at the remaining four steps in the candidate selection process.