Why you're biased in your sales hiring and not as rational as you think

We're all biased…

Dear reader, I know you are rational. I know that you make your decisions efficiently and without bias.

But you don't. You're biased. And you make your decisions emotionally and then you rationalise. And I know it's hard to change your mind. So, dear reader, if you haven't completely given up on the idea of reconsidering your position, take a look at the video below:

Now, let's imagine, as this video eludes to, that you would have seen the female team play the first time. And not the male one. Would you have felt the same way? Personally, I'm sure I wouldn't.

I can still hear a little scepticism from here. "But no, I'm never a victim of my biases! I'm a completely rational person. And I know how to choose a good candidate by looking at their CV and doing interviews. I've even set up case studies just to be on the safe side".

Sorry dear reader. You're being fooled by your biases and your brain. And you're looking at someone who is capable of reading you and giving you the answer you want - which is also a bias because you haven't defined the answer you want before meeting your candidate - . If you still don't believe that your brain can be manipulated, take a look at the video below. And this is just a short video, I'm not talking about a salesman who would read your reaction to his answers and adapt.

Where do our biases come from?

Our decision-making biases come from our evolution. Let's imagine that in cave times, one of our ancestors went in search of food. Living in a cave, he decides to put an end to his prejudices. So he set off and, crossing a clearing, saw a creature approaching. Instead of jumping to conclusions - and yes, he has decided to put an end to his prejudices - he thinks carefully: "It's thick and its tail is short, so it's not a wolf. It's bigger than a coyote but smaller than an elk. It's black, has long claws and can stand on its hind legs. I'm going to conclude that this animal is probably a bear and that I should run away".

I'll leave you to imagine the rest... Let's just say that this ancestor's genes wouldn't have gone very far...

Prejudices are extremely functional (and potentially life-saving) approaches that our brains have developed over the millennia. Unconscious or implicit, our cognitive biases help us get through the day and make thousands of quick decisions without us having to think about it. Our brains are perfectly adapted to filter huge amounts of information quickly, unconsciously prioritising, categorising and summarising what's around us. This has served us well for millennia, when our unconscious prejudices helped us avoid being eaten.

But it does us a disservice today. Because we have retained these biases - whatever you think, dear reader, you are biased, very biased - and so we think we are making our decisions rationally. But this is far from the case. We're not in a position to make the right decisions. This is obviously the case in sales recruitment. We make these decisions emotionally, subject to numerous biases.

One of them shown in this video with female sports players rather than male sports players.

And if you fall under the effect of bias, gender bias, you're not going to say to yourself: "Oh, this candidate isn't interesting because she's a woman". Absolutely not. You'll think: "She's good but the other candidate has {more experience} / {has worked in a company like ours} / {any rational reason to rationalise your bias} .

The solution?

For effective sales recruitment, the solution is :

1- Start the recruitment process by assessing candidates' skills without meeting them as seen below. This enables you to assess your candidates' willingness to sell and evaluates their attitude rather than their techniques. You can get a free trial here.

2- Set up an analytical recruitment process, in particular by developing structured interviews where each candidate is subjected to the same questions, in the same order, and with the quality defined.

If you haven't completely given up on the idea of understanding how to set up predictive, bias-free recruitment processes, contact me for a (non-biased) chat. Or you can download the self-assessment to help you identify possible gaps in your recruitment process.