Becca Lindquist, Head of Sales at Clay, doesn't mess around when it comes to hiring. She knows ambitious founders are tired of generic advice, so she cuts straight to the tactics that separate the top 1% from the rest. Forget deep dives into LinkedIn history or a perfect resume. Lindquist is looking for something far more telling: a candidate's reaction to honest feedback.
She's seen enough sales hires to know that conventional wisdom often points you in the wrong direction. Tenure and domain knowledge? Overrated. What matters is someone's high-slope potential – their coachability and sheer drive. And she's got a few brutally effective ways to unearth it.
Key Takeaways
- Prioritize 'high-slope' individuals over those with extensive tenure or specific domain knowledge. The ability to learn and adapt beats pre-existing expertise, especially in fast-moving companies.
- Actively give candidates feedback during the interview process, specifically to test for defensiveness. This is a critical red flag that will save you headaches later.
- Harry Stebbings notes a sharp distinction: “When they push on title, they're bad. When they push on salary, they tend to be good and know their worth.” Pay attention to where candidates apply their negotiation energy.
- To truly benchmark performance, Lindquist advises founders to “Hire two at a time because then you'll actually see is one.' If you hire one, you're like, 'Is it good? Is it not good?' I don't know. If you hire two, it's pretty clear whether one's good and one's bad.”
- The most revealing hiring tool is the Becca Lindquist's Interview Feedback Test for Sales Leaders, which unmasks a candidate's true response to critique and learning.
The Becca Lindquist's Interview Feedback Test for Sales Leaders
This method cuts through the interview facade, revealing how a candidate truly handles constructive criticism – a non-negotiable trait for high-growth sales teams.
- Step 1: Conduct an interview: I incorporate this into um my hiring flow for leaders I give them feed feedback or I have someone else give them feedback. Ideally, the recruiter.
- Step 2: Deliver specific feedback: I'll give an example. I hired I hired a guy in San Francisco who I'm really excited about. He went on a walk with Verun. Verun called me after, gave me a voice note and gave me gave me like some feedback. So, I just called him and I was like, 'Hey, how how do you think it went?' Like, you know. Okay, great. great. Hey, this is something that like this is something that I got like this was part of the feedback that I got. What do you think about that?
- Step 3: Observe reaction: And you just listen and it tells you everything that you need to know about what it's going to be like to work with that person, right? If they're like, 'Oh, well, like I he didn't really say it that, oh, interesting. Okay.' But if they're like, 'Okay, yeah, that's fair. How do I go how do I go and overcome that?' And they're like, 'Yo, what do I do?' That's actually very interesting, especially in in a company like Clay where we're like, I don't know, building something new, there's a lot of like open white space, right? If someone's really defensive, that's actually the biggest red flag.
When This Works (and When It Doesn't)
Lindquist says this test is “sort of like when you take someone to, you know, take take your girlfriend, your wife to a restaurant and you see how they treat, you know, the hostess and the waiter.” It's particularly effective in "high-growth, early-stage companies with a lot of 'open white space'." This means environments where roles are fluid, processes are being built, and adaptability is paramount. If your company is constantly evolving, you need leaders who can accept new information and adjust their approach, not dig in their heels.
This method might be less critical for highly structured, established organizations where roles are rigid and there's little room for individual interpretation or iterative learning. For junior roles with clear playbooks, a basic skills assessment might be more relevant. However, for any position requiring leadership, problem-solving, or client-facing interaction, a candidate's response to feedback offers a clearer window into their future performance than any resume ever could.
What to Do With This
Next week, apply Lindquist's test to your current sales hiring process. Identify a key sales leadership or senior rep candidate. After their next interview with a team member, ask that team member to provide specific, constructive feedback – maybe on how they framed a product feature or handled a difficult question. Then, call the candidate yourself. Start by asking for their self-assessment of the interview, then introduce the feedback neutrally: "Hey, one piece of feedback I got was X. What are your thoughts on that?" Listen closely. Do they deflect, make excuses, or get defensive? Or do they engage, ask follow-up questions, and express a desire to improve? This one conversation will tell you more than five rounds of standard behavioral questions ever could about whether this person will be a 'high-slope' asset or a coaching nightmare.