POSTED ON August 5, 2026

Medical Sales Interviews: What Hiring Managers Want

In this episode of the Medical Sales Podcast, Samuel Adeyinka sits down with Jon Alwinson, an Endoscopy Regional Manager, to uncover what hiring managers really look for when interviewing candidates for medical device sales roles. Jon shares the most common mistakes candidates make during interviews, from giving long-winded answers and failing to prepare, to missing opportunities to demonstrate coachability, curiosity, and work ethic. He also explains how experienced reps can successfully transition into procedural sales, what qualities separate top performers from average ones, and why organization, territory planning, and disciplined execution are often the biggest drivers of long-term success. This episode is a must listen for anyone trying to break into medical device sales or current reps who want to sharpen their interview skills, improve their sales performance, and position themselves for career growth.

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Transcription:

(0:00) I’ve always heard that phrase, be brief, be bright, be gone. (0:04) And that’s a very catchy phrase. I think one of the first things is (0:07) candidates with no awareness of time, how quickly they answer the question, (0:12) be brief, be bright, be gone.

I think that’s one of the things that (0:15) can be the beginning of an indicator that this rep (0:18) is not going to be a good, or this candidate is not a good fit for the job, (0:22) right? If they can’t answer a basic question in a very short, (0:25) sweet way, or they’re vague, or they leave room for interpretation. (0:30) I think that’s one of the areas candidates struggle in when they’re interviewing. (0:34) Hello and welcome to the Medical Sales Podcast.

I’m your host Samuel, (0:37) founder of a revolutionary medical sales training and mentorship program called (0:41) the Medical Sales Career Builder, and I’m also host of the Medical Sales Podcast. (0:46) In this podcast, I interview top medical sales reps (0:49) and leading medical sales executives across the entire world. (0:52) It doesn’t matter what medical sales industry, from medical device, to (0:56) pharmaceutical, to genetic testing, and diagnostic lab, you name it, (1:00) you will learn how to either break into the industry, be a top (1:03) 10% performer within your role, or climb the corporate ladder.

(1:08) Welcome to the Medical Sales Podcast. And remember, I am a medical sales (1:13) expert sharing my own opinion about this amazing industry (1:17) and how it can change your life. (1:26) Hey, John, how are we doing today? (1:28) Samuel, so good, man.

It’s great to be with you. (1:31) Absolutely, absolutely. So, John, you know, I love having you on the show because (1:37) we get to get deep into really what it looks like when candidates try to get into a position, (1:42) and especially in med device procedural sales, you know, you’re in endoscopy, (1:46) and then also how sales reps, you know, how they’re really conducting themselves and what (1:51) gets in the way of their success versus doing things in a way that has them high achievers.

(1:56) So let’s start with these people that want to get into a device position with a team like yours. (2:05) Talk to us about, what do they do in the interviews that’s just dead giveaways that (2:09) let you know, that signal, I am not going to be moving this person forward. (2:14) Yeah, man, this is a good one.

So I think, you know, I’ve always heard that phrase, (2:19) be brief, be bright, be gone. And that’s a very catchy phrase. I think one of the first things is (2:25) candidates with no awareness of time, how quickly they answer the question, (2:31) be brief, be bright, be gone.

I think that’s one of the things that can be the beginning (2:35) of an indicator that this rep is not going to be a good or this candidate is not a good fit (2:40) for the job, right? If they can’t answer a basic question in a very short, sweet way, (2:46) or they’re vague or they leave room for interpretation. I think that’s one of the (2:51) areas candidates struggle in when they’re interviewing. Give us an example on what (2:55) that looks like.

Like give us something specific that somebody can just feel like, oh yeah. (2:59) Yeah, not too long ago, I was helping a colleague of mine interview and the candidate just went on (3:05) and on and on and on and on and on, right? And there’s probably some of your listeners (3:09) laughing right now because that’s been all of us, right? But I do think, you know, if someone (3:13) asks you a question, they don’t want an essay, they want a very succinct, direct answer. And so (3:18) just don’t be vague about the answer.

Hey, about a specific timeframe during this period of time, (3:24) I noticed you left out this blank, you know, was that a gap year? What was that for you (3:28) specifically? And we don’t need an essay. We just need, yeah, I took that year off to focus on my (3:33) family or focus on X, Y, and Z. Gotcha. Gotcha.

Okay. Give us, give us more. (3:39) What are some of the other, and the gap, the gap is actually a good one, you know, that, (3:45) especially in 2026, I feel like a lot of people for good reasons, you know, stop work to attend (3:51) to family or attend to their own health or whatever’s going on.

Talk to us a little bit (3:56) about the best ways to address that versus the ways that signal there’s no way I’m going with (4:01) this candidate. Yeah, I think you’re right. Especially in today’s environment, everyone (4:06) is very understanding.

If you’ve got a logical example of why you took a year off, share it. (4:12) Right. And I was actually talking to someone yesterday about that and she was concerned that (4:16) that was going to hurt her.

And I told her, no, you know, that that won’t, I think just answer it (4:20) direct, answer it real and give them a true feedback on why you took that year off. Either (4:25) you’re helping a family member with a health issue or what, I mean, it might actually help (4:29) the candidate if they answer it directly, but when there’s vague twists in the story, that’s, (4:35) I think when hiring managers don’t always pin the interviewee on why they just maybe just (4:42) take the answer and have concerns and move on. Yeah.

What are some other things that you’ve (4:51) seen in an interview that signal this candidate’s not ready? Yeah, I think coaching too. You know, (4:58) a lot of times hiring managers would say, how coachable is this person? And so sometimes, (5:03) you know, going into that interview, they’ll give you a task of, Hey, reach out to my team. (5:08) And then that you get in the interview and like, Hey, did you reach out to my team? (5:12) You know, who did you reach out to on my team? And they don’t give a clear answer on who they (5:17) answered or who they reach out to, or they didn’t even do the pre-work.

So if you’re not doing the (5:23) pre-work before the interview and meeting people on the team, especially when a hiring manager (5:28) asks you to do it. Yeah. You’re really showing that hiring manager that you’re not going to do (5:34) the coaching once you get on the team.

Sure. Sure. Okay.

Give us some more. So, so we got (5:41) not being vague, being specific and just being outright about questions in your resume. If you (5:46) have them, we have, if you’re given any kind of assignment from the hiring manager or maybe (5:52) somebody else that’s connected to the hiring manager, you better follow through.

Give us (5:56) two or three more. Yeah. There’s so many, you know, maybe, maybe not coming in prepared, (6:03) you know, if, if there’s any, again, with, with basic, basic pre-work, not, not, (6:08) not even knowing your own resume, some, some candidates, surprisingly enough, (6:13) you’ll ask them a question and they’ll need to refer back.

Oh yeah. That’s when I was at this (6:18) job. And you’re like, you’re not, not having the answers right at the tip of your tongue.

I mean, (6:23) you should be going in there prepared because you’re selling yourself during that interview. (6:28) So you should know your background better than anyone else. And I think a lot of times (6:32) they don’t do that.

One of the things I’ve seen recently, and even with an internal team member (6:38) that I’ve talked to about is clearly bold and the things on your resume you want highlighted, (6:44) you know, the, the, your, your resume is like the back of a baseball card or sports card. (6:49) You should be highlighting your, your key wins because on the other side, we’re looking for, (6:55) can this person sell? Are they coming in with a good temperament and personality? (7:00) How are they going to not only relate to my current team, but the customers in that specific (7:05) market? So, you know, but definitely bolden the things you want the hiring managers eye to look at (7:11) because the amount of resumes that we get, there’s no way that we can look at every detail. So (7:18) highlight the things you really want seen and then talk about those wins confidently.

(7:25) Gotcha. Now, what about questions? (7:29) Yeah. (7:29) Give us the questions that I guess rules someone out.

Like if they’re asking this, (7:36) it’s, it’s, it’s not helping them. (7:39) I don’t know if there’s questions that necessarily rule someone out, but I think now with technology (7:45) and chat, GBT and all the AI, like we should be thinking of creative questions to ask. I mean, (7:50) I think don’t ask the same boring, like vanilla questions that everyone asks.

Right. You know, (7:57) you know, dig deeper, be curious. Some of the best reps that I’ve ever hired were really curious.

So (8:02) Hey, tell me why this territory is open. Right. You know, that’s a okay question, but dig deeper, (8:09) ask a second or third level question and say like hiring manager, like, what are you looking (8:13) for specifically? What does this territory truly need from the next rep that you hire? (8:19) And then just keep asking good questions.

Don’t be afraid to dig because I think that curiosity (8:25) really shows, Hey, this person’s going to be inquisitive. They’re smart. They’re there.

(8:29) They really want to know that this is a two way street that you’re hiring them and they’re (8:34) interviewing you as well. And good candidates hold themselves with that confidence and they (8:39) ask those good questions. (8:40) I like that.

I like that. Now, you know, tell me about yourself, uh, is probably one of the (8:47) most common interview questions ever. And there’s a lot of schools of thought on how to answer that (8:52) question.

And I’ve even come to the conclusion that not every hiring manager is the same, (8:57) but there are some things you just have to capture in your answer. Right. When, (9:02) as far as you’re concerned, what are the key things you have to include when someone’s (9:09) asking that question for you? (9:12) Yeah, I think you, you have to have a story, story sell.

Right. And so the story is why you (9:17) candidate, why should we hire you for this job? And, and so I think everything from being brief, (9:23) be bright, be gone that I talked about at the beginning, like, Hey, you know, I’m John (9:27) Owens and I’m from Orlando, Florida. I grew up in this type household where we were competitive (9:32) bunch.

I have three brothers, three sisters, you know, sports were everything, you know, (9:37) whatever that story is like, bring out your story and share that with the hiring manager in a way (9:44) that doesn’t take forever. It’s usually, like you said, it’s, it’s kind of a cordial way of (9:49) starting an interview, right? But there’s more to it. It’s like, Hey, how does this person answer? (9:54) And, and so give the highlights, give what you want the hiring manager, what you think the hiring (9:58) manager should know about you, and then allow for them to ask you second or third level questions (10:04) after that, allow them to be the one to dictate the interview, not you just talking.

Yeah. (10:11) Not stop. Got it.

Now, you know, you’ve hired green, you’ve hired season. I want to get into (10:18) the season folks a little bit. When you have a medical sales professional from a completely (10:24) different space that has nothing to do with endoscopy that now wants to get into endoscopy, (10:28) give us the three things you’re absolutely looking for.

(10:33) Yeah, I’m, I’m looking for one character, right? Always character. Is this the type of individual (10:39) that will represent our organization? Well, me, well, and will they be a good teammate? So (10:44) characters, number one, you know, patient first mindset is cliche and cheesy as that sounds like (10:50) do, are they going to care? Right. Are they truly going to care? Because we know that this job is a (10:56) lifestyle job.

So, you know, are they going to check out at 3 PM when they get the call to come (11:01) in the OR at 5 PM or are they, are they going to show up? And I think there has to be a bigger why (11:07) than just monetary gain. Sure. Like it’s, it’s more than just money.

So character is there. Why (11:13) big enough? Do they want to help and serve, you know, and then this job, like I said, is a (11:19) lifestyle job. So it, you know, there’s certain days where you finish on time and you can make (11:24) the event that your kid has that afternoon.

There’s other days where you have to make that (11:27) hard decision and tell the family like, Hey, I can’t make it today. You know, and then, you know, (11:33) I do look for that work ethic, right. Which builds off point number two on the why I look for, do (11:38) they have that extra gear and are they not going to give up when they’re told no.

I hope you’re (11:42) enjoying today’s episode. And I want to let you know our programs cover the entire career of a (11:48) medical sales professional from getting into the medical sales industry to training on how to be a (11:54) top performer in the medical sales industry to masterfully navigate your career to executive (11:59) level leadership. These programs are personalized and customized for your specific career and (12:04) background and trained by over 50 experts, including surgeons.

Our results speak for (12:10) ourselves and we’re landing positions for our candidates in less than 120 days in top medical (12:15) technology companies like Stryker, Medtronic, Merck, Abbott, you name it. Would you run an Ironman race (12:21) without training and a strategy? You wouldn’t. So why are you trying to do the same with the medical (12:25) sales position? You need training, you need a strategy, and you need to visit evolveyourassess.com, (12:31) fill out the application, schedule some time with one of our account executives, and let’s get you (12:36) into the position that you’ve always dreamed of.

So, so let’s go through those. Let’s talk about (12:41) character. You know, the reality of the interview process is, let’s be frank, you get a number of (12:47) hours with a complete stranger and you’re using your intuition, better judgment and experience (12:53) to gamble on this person that they’re going to be who they say they are.

When it comes to character, (12:59) because it’s such a brief experience with a stranger, what are you truly using to gauge (13:05) someone’s character in that short amount of time? Yeah, I mean, how I’ve used it in my personal (13:11) life, I’ll give you an example is, you know, like my dad was a pastor growing up, right? And so (13:16) I’ll, I’ll drop that, whether that means anything to that hiring manager or not, but (13:20) that’s important part of my life. And so having a dad who was a pastor, I’ll say, Hey, look, I grew (13:25) up with, you know, we didn’t have, we didn’t have a lot of money, but we had a lot of love in our (13:28) family. My dad was a pastor.

My mom stayed at home and took care of the kids. And while we didn’t (13:34) have a lot of money, we were taught some really good morals and ethics along the way that really (13:39) shaped who I am today. And, and, and so for me, I think it’s on the candidate side to divulge why (13:47) their character is strong.

That makes sense. Okay. You know, and so that’s how I’ve used it (13:51) personally in my, my life growing up.

Sure. And then with the why everybody has heard everybody (13:58) in the hiring space has probably heard, I want to help more people. I really want to help people (14:04) give us.

And, and, and because you’ve, you’ve interviewed so many people, (14:08) what are some of the why’s that really stood out to you where you’re like, okay, this is way better (14:12) than this is way more impactful than I want to help you. That’s a really good question. (14:20) You know, because a lot of times I will double click on that.

I’ll say, Hey, you say you want to (14:25) help people. Why? Right. And was there something that happened in your life? Did you go through (14:31) anything challenging, any adversity that really shaped this? And why, you know, why, why do you (14:36) truly want to help? And I think you see those stories come out of the candidate over time.

(14:41) I always try to ask second level questions on that. You know, it could have been an injury. A (14:46) lot of people who, you know, have gone through trauma and different things, or they’ve gone (14:50) through medical conditions themselves, truly want to help other people.

And, and then there’s other (14:56) people that have just learned to be more caring along the way. I would fall in the latter category (15:00) is like, Hey, I didn’t necessarily enter medical device for the reason to help others, but I’ve (15:07) learned to love helping others. Right.

And I think wherever you fall on that equation, just be real (15:13) about that. I entered to make a lot of money or I entered to cause I thought this would be a good (15:17) field for my family. And what I’ve found is, Holy cow.

Like I love the patients we serve and the (15:24) and caregivers I get to work with. So I’ve truly learned to, to, to care and go ahead. I said, (15:32) does that help? Is that you want me to go? Yeah.

I mean, maybe, maybe give us some of the (15:38) why’s that blew your mind. How about that? Yeah. I mean, you know, injuries, parents dying, (15:44) you know, aunts, uncles, moms, dads going through cancer, you know, you name it.

Those are the (15:50) on your heartstrings, you know, but, but if you haven’t gone through that, know that that doesn’t (15:56) help or hurt a candidate. I think it only just plays into your true authentic story. (16:02) Got it.

When it comes to work ethic, I find that’s probably the most difficult one to gauge. (16:10) What are their clues, telltale signs. I mean, everyone’s going to say, Oh yeah, (16:15) I’m a hard worker and you know, I do this.

I do that. And the other, (16:17) are there telltale signs though, that you have learned to read that kind of give it away to what (16:23) someone’s true worth ethic is. Yeah.

I think asking questions like, Hey, tell me about the (16:29) most difficult thing that you’ve ever overcome, you know, and you know, if you get a really weak (16:35) answer, you know, I, you know, I got 97 on my report card every year, you know, it’s like, (16:41) yeah, that’s hard. But like the people who are like, look, I had, I had no dad growing up. (16:46) And reality is we had no money.

My mom worked three jobs and I started doing X, Y, Z at 15 to (16:54) add to the, you know, so there’s stories like that, that are like very obvious. And then not (17:00) everybody has been a silver spoon their whole life. Right.

And whether you have, or you haven’t, (17:05) you can still be a hard worker. You just have to, you just have to articulate and share (17:11) how you’re going to continue to grind and work harder because this job in any medical device (17:16) job, we get told, no, there’s so many challenges that come. We really do look for that person who’s (17:22) willing to overcome that difficult.

No. And we’ll get back up and that can elaborate some more if (17:29) you’d like. So when you, okay.

And yes, I want you to elaborate on personal versus professional. (17:34) When it comes to work ethic, it sounds like for you, when you’re hearing the story, you don’t, (17:39) you don’t care if it’s personal professional, as long as the work ethic is demonstrated, (17:44) or do you prefer, or do you lean, do you not prefer, but do you lean more into (17:49) professional example versus a personal example? Sometimes I’ll ask both. Tell me what’s the, (17:55) what, what’s the hardest thing you’ve gone through at a personal level.

And then I’m also curious to (17:59) know if there’s a professional piece that you’re willing to share. And you know, those, those (18:04) individuals who, who are really willing to go through, you know, the grind to do whatever it (18:09) takes, they’re the ones that they have stories to share. And it goes back to preparation in advance.

(18:14) They, they’re showing you like they’re coming in with a story ready to share. (18:20) Okay. Let’s dive a little bit now into the sales professional that’s, that’s in medical sales.

(18:26) What is the sales professionals problem that you just, after managing so many people, (18:31) you just continue to see that this really gets in the way of being that effective impactful (18:37) sales rep. And this is what I continue to see over and over and over again that I try to coach against. (18:43) I would say the biggest thing is they keep everything between their ears and in their (18:47) head and they’re not organized and they don’t write down what they need to do and why I I’ve, (18:53) I worked with some of the smartest reps and, and honestly, some of the reps that I wish worked (18:58) harder at times.

And I think the biggest reality is the ones that aren’t organized to say, (19:03) Samuel, here’s the list of everything I need to do today. Organized stack ranked, (19:08) my territories mapped out. Those are the ones that I think continue to struggle because (19:13) the same opportunity that you bring up every few weeks with them still hasn’t been advanced.

(19:20) Oh, there’s always an excuse of why that opportunity hasn’t been advanced. And I think (19:25) the biggest challenge and problem is organization. You got it.

You got to unpack that. So, so you’re (19:32) saying, cause I heard a couple of things in that. So you’re saying that they miss opportunities that (19:39) they could have taken advantage of simply because they’re not organized or is that what you’re (19:46) saying? Or is there a little bit more to it? I think, I think structure or sales structure (19:51) and organization are the biggest challenges that I see consistently with salespeople.

(19:56) And what I mean by that is number one, they haven’t, number one, taken time to really map (20:00) out their territory geographically. So they’re not organized. What I call is a zone territory (20:05) sheet.

And I’ve got one on my website that’s free and downloadable. They haven’t mapped out (20:10) their territory. They don’t know how much every opportunity is worth.

And then they, they don’t (20:16) have an actionable written down on paper, not between their ears, step-by-step of things they’re (20:23) going to do. Because you know, this as well as I, as soon as Monday morning hits, this starts (20:28) ringing and then we start chasing rabbits and it’s, we need to check on this order. This doctor’s (20:34) not happy about this situation.

Right. And there’s 15 other non-revenue generating things that pop up (20:40) every day that are important, but why we have jobs is we have to advance revenue for our (20:46) organizations and that ultimately serve our patients and caregivers. And so I think organization (20:51) is really the biggest thing.

You know, we’re sprinting through the end of Friday, we’re exhausted (20:57) and then Monday rolls around and we’re not organized and we don’t know what we’re hunting. (21:03) So is it, is it more of, because I’m sure you mandate a business plan. Is it more of they (21:09) make a business plan, but they’re not ever looking at it? Or is it that you’re dealing with reps that (21:15) don’t even have a business plan and for some reason they slipped through the cracks of not (21:18) having to create one? Yeah, I think a lot of times we do see, and again, I’m blessed with (21:25) an awesome team, so I’m not calling anybody out on my team, but I think what we do see is you do (21:30) your beginning year business plan and then that thing sits in your computer somewhere.

It’s not (21:35) printed out each week. You’re not looking through it so much, you know, you’re not restack ranking (21:41) your opportunities on that and it just becomes a to do thing. And then we just kind of chase (21:46) rabbits all week.

I think that’s the biggest challenge. Got it. Got it.

Give us another one. (21:52) So that’s, so I love that. So one of the biggest challenges that you see, the overarching one, (21:56) I guess, is basically not really following a plan.

Even if you do the mandated business plan (22:01) at the beginning of the quarter, you just kind of let it sit in your computer and you just do (22:05) what you want to do every day. What is another thing that you just continue to see over and (22:10) over and over again that gets in a rep’s way? Yeah, I think going back to the organizational (22:15) piece, like if you know you’ve got meetings lined up through the week, print out a one page document (22:21) to guide that conversation. If you’re meeting with hospital XYZ on Monday and ABC on Tuesday, (22:29) print out what you want to discuss on a piece of paper to guide that conversation.

I think (22:35) as people talk that words go in one ear and out the other, you guys see it when you’re talking to (22:41) physicians in the hallway. We see it when we’re talking to nurse managers and lab managers and (22:45) OR managers. They appreciate what they’re saying, but they can forget 10 seconds later what you just (22:51) said.

So if you’ve got a document printed out with conversation points on there, it could be (22:57) as simple as, hey, what’s important to you today? And then three easy bullet points with part (23:03) numbers and pricing and all that stuff on there. Then they know like, okay, Samuel’s here to help, (23:09) but he also is here to advance whatever. Let’s have a discussion on that and see if it makes (23:14) sense for our facility or not.

Right. And when you coach reps on this, are you just outright (23:19) telling them to do this? Or have you seen that not be as effective of doing something else? (23:25) I mean, I think the written word on paper is so important. We’ve got to have that down.

I think (23:31) most reps won’t take that 30 seconds extra to print it out and have it prepared before the (23:38) week starts. I even, at Samuel, you get a kick out of this. When I was covering South Georgia (23:42) myself as a rep years ago, I kept a printer in my truck.

So I had it all rigged up to where (23:50) FedEx office in different places, they were hard to reach down there. So I would literally have a (23:55) printer in my truck and I would print out what I want to discuss from my laptop in the front seat (24:01) to the back seat. And so that’s how prepared I was.

And to answer your question, you’ve got to (24:09) guide your reps to water. It’s very difficult to tell them what to do. If you tell them what to (24:13) do, they’re probably not going to do it.

So I try to continue to reemphasize the importance of that (24:18) without mandating it. Got it. Got it.

Okay. Give us one more that I don’t know, kind of hard to (24:25) see, but it absolutely exists and you’ve seen it consistently and it gets in the reps way. (24:31) Yeah, I think no matter where you are in your career, you should always be reminded of we (24:37) versus me, right? So are you talking about them or are you talking about yourself? (24:43) So many of us, we think we’re, you know, God’s gift to the world.

And we really need to, (24:49) instead of talking about us, it’s you, what’s important to you, Mr. And Mrs. Customer. If (24:54) there’s one question that is the magic question to ask is, hey, I’m prepared for today, Samuel. (25:01) I’ve got all the things I want to share with you.

But Samuel, before I begin to talk about me, (25:05) tell me, man, what’s on your hot plate? What’s important to you right now? And then zip your (25:12) mouth shut and listen, because that is going to dictate what the conversation is going to go. (25:18) I mean, if there’s, you know, if there’s AAA or if there’s someone, if there’s an inspection going (25:22) on right now, that customer is not going to listen to you at all. And I bet you that’s such (25:28) a basic principle, but I bet you it’s missed like all the time.

Oh, because we’re nervous. (25:34) We’re excited. You know, we want to share about what we have to offer.

But man, if you, if you (25:39) start talking about me, me, me, as soon as you leave, they may not say it’s your face, but like, (25:44) man, that guy or that gal is all about themself. And they don’t really care about what we’re doing (25:48) here. So, so, so be very careful about that.

Be careful about, you know, you focus messaging, (25:55) right? You don’t want to be focused about yourself. There are customers always thinking (25:59) with them, what’s in it for me. Yeah.

And when we do that, when we lead with that, (26:05) it really helps set the stage for everything else. I would even take it further and say, (26:09) I’m sure you’ve seen reps that because they were really good at doing that, they were exercising (26:14) their emotional intelligence and being aware and making it about them. They might not have even (26:18) brought up the product because of what was going on with that customer, with that initial checking (26:24) when they went to go see.

A hundred percent. I was with a customer in Alabama with one of my (26:30) reps, one of my really, really good reps. And he, there was a life event going on and we completely (26:37) punted on it and we walked away.

We said some encouraging words and you know, we’re, we’re, (26:42) we’re just focused our conversation really on supporting her emotionally with what was going (26:46) on in her life. And then, you know, later on, we were able to kind of get accomplished what we (26:50) needed to, but had we discussed business at that time, it would have been a foolish decision (26:55) and it would have, it would have really hurt us. I love it.

Now, I want to ask one more question (27:01) before we bring this all to a close and, and it’s actually about the close and I want two (27:06) perspectives. I want the perspective of interviews. What are the powerful closes that I’ll even go as (27:13) far as to say you’re looking for, like you’re saying, okay, this, if this candidate closes (27:17) me on this, they’re going to be strong as far as I’m concerned.

And then take us to the sales (27:23) reps. You know, what does that close look like that when you’re with that rep, you’re like, wow, (27:29) I love the way you really asked for the business. That’s so good.

So this is where candidates (27:34) probably get most of the hiring process wrong. It gets to the end. It’s okay.

But the candidate (27:40) that really looks at you, Samuel, at the end of the interview and is like Samuel, like first off, (27:44) thank you for today. What you said specifically about XYZ topics just fires me up, man, because (27:53) I am so excited. I know those are true needs in the market.

I know with my background, (27:58) I could come in and add some, some real big value in those particular areas, but Samuel, (28:03) you know, I’m not going to be able to sleep tonight unless I know where, where I stand with (28:08) you. And so, man, I’m so excited. I’m actually more excited than when I came in, but Samuel, (28:15) having heard everything today, what, if any, shoot me straight, like what, if any concerns (28:20) you have, you know, let me know, is there anything I didn’t answer clearly for you today? Is there (28:25) anything holding you back from, from moving me to that next step in this process? And then, (28:32) and then listen, right.

Add a little bit of silence there and put it on the hiring manager to be real (28:37) with you. And a lot of times you’ll get the smile, you know, thank you. But that’s a lot of times (28:41) there’s so many bland endings in interviews to where you there, the candidate is just nervous (28:48) and have they, even if they’re not an outgoing person, they can still structure their conversation (28:54) in a way that says, man, John is motivated and he really wants it.

And so don’t fumble at the (29:00) five yard line when it comes to interview. Don’t just say, Hey, is, you know, was there any questions (29:05) about my background? And it’s like, Oh yeah. Let them know that you truly want that job and that (29:12) you feel prepared and then cite a specific one or two example on why you think you’d be good (29:17) at that job.

No matter how good the interview went, you still have to do this. I think so. (29:23) I think so.

Like what separates you, right? And things, passion separates a lot of people and (29:29) you can do it as an introvert and you can be passionate as an extrovert. You just have to make (29:33) sure you communicate what you’re trying to get across. I love it.

I love it. Yeah. Now talk to (29:38) us about that sales professional and how they need to be closing.

Great question. And the, the word (29:45) that you and I always laugh about it depends, right? It, everything depends in this situation. (29:50) Are you in a territory for one year, five years, eight, nine years? It all depends.