Welcome to Adapter’s Advantage: Breakthrough Moments that Lead to Success. In this episode, sales recruiter and podcaster Jay Webb describes the qualities that set the best salespeople apart and how to ensure every new hire is the right fit.

Selling requires new skills in today’s virtual environment. The right salesperson can help a company go to market quicker and reach new customers. As an enterprise sales recruiter, Jay partners with companies to find the right candidates to fuel their growth. His clients include high-growth, venture-backed start-ups in software, e-commerce, media, security, consumer web, and data. Through the use of technology, social media, and a proprietary database, he’s able to quickly develop short lists of qualified candidates with “strategic velocity.”

Jay is also host of the Over Quota podcast, where he interviews CEOs, founders, sales and business leaders who share their experience and what it takes to differentiate yourself and exceed expectations. As a recruiter and podcaster, Jay’s passion lies in developing and building long-term, genuine relationships.

Our world is in constant change. This podcast helps sales training, enablement, or learning and development professionals gain valuable insights to help themselves and their organizations adapt to this time of tremendous upheaval.

In this interview, Jay shares how he evaluates sales talent during the interview process, what motivates growth-minded salespeople, and the importance of learning from your mistakes. Listen now to learn how to become a stronger candidate.

Episode 13: Finding the Best New Hire | Jay Webb

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“When evaluating talent remotely, there are certain cues [I look for]. It’s not necessarily about if their shoes are shined. It’s about their preparedness and decision making. How do they show up for the Zoom meeting? What’s the background? What’s their lighting? Are their notifications going off? Did they close other applications on their device? How much did they actually think before they showed up to this meeting?” — Jay Webb

From This Episode

Host Mark Magnacca: “How often is emotional intelligence a differentiator between the very best salespeople and the average salesperson?”

Jay Webb: “There’s no question. It’s always a differentiator. If you have candidates who are showing emotional intelligence, they are curious, they’re prepared, they’re intellectually engaging. You come to the meeting with a certain perception of the candidate because you really like their profile, and then it elevates from there. That usually means that they’re Interesting. They’re doing things slightly differently than other folks.

“Why that relates to emotional intelligence is because they tend to have a level of self awareness that shines through as a result of how they’re telling the story and how they’ve gone through their experience and the decisions that they’ve made. Being self aware, understanding when they shouldn’t talk too much, when they should emote, when they should ask qualifying questions. They should match and mirror those types of things.

“When they have good follow up, that’s emotional intelligence as well, especially when you give them bad news. How are they responding to criticism or critique? How coachable are they? All those things fall into emotional intelligence because people who are, let’s say, overly emotional, have no room for being self aware. And as a result of not being self aware, they do certain things that aren’t necessarily in line with helping themselves. They don’t listen to advice, they over talk, they get defensive. Clearly, the people who have good, strong emotional intelligence are the ones who win out.”

About Adapter’s Advantage

Our podcast features leaders from sales, training, and industry who share their personal journeys of transformation and how they are adapting to an ever-changing environment. As your host, I’ll introduce you to some of the most interesting and inspiring people I’ve met over the last twenty years.

The conversions dive into the ups and downs of their journey. Our guests focus on inflection points—the aha moments that, in retrospect, had a critical impact on their success. These interviews will leave you with practical, real-world advice that you can apply to your life.

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