The product knowledge takes two weeks to teach; the willingness to make the eightieth call of the day after seventy-nine did not go anywhere takes a personality. Hire on evidence of sustained phone work and coachability, interview by having them actually call you, and expect the first ninety days to cost more than they produce.
Brokers hiring their first rep tend to screen for industry experience, which is the most abundant and least predictive signal available. Someone who has worked an MCA floor may bring habits you will spend longer unlearning than teaching.
| Period | What to expect |
|---|---|
| Weeks 1–2 | Product, compliance, CRM. Listening to live calls |
| Weeks 3–4 | Dialling with supervision. First conversations |
| Weeks 5–8 | Full cadence, reviewed daily. Perhaps a first deal |
| Weeks 9–12 | Independent. Judge them from here, not before |
Judging a rep on month one is judging them on the ramp. The useful early signals are process compliance and dial counts, not funded deals — a rep who does the work will produce deals, and one who is producing deals without doing the work is producing them from the easy records and will stall.
A commission-only new hire has to fund a deal quickly or leave, which is a filter for luck rather than ability. A base through the ramp period, with commission from day one, gets you the rep who was going to be good in month four rather than the one who happened to catch a fast deal in month one.
Evidence of sustained phone work in any industry, demonstrated coachability, comfort with rejection, basic numeracy and enough curiosity to ask what the product is. Industry experience is the most abundant and least predictive signal.
Have them call you cold on a scenario. Ten minutes of that beats an hour of competency questions and screens out candidates who interview well but cannot pick up a phone.
Expect ninety days. Weeks one and two are product and compliance, weeks three to eight are supervised dialling, and independent performance starts around week nine — which is where you should start judging.
It filters for luck rather than ability, because a new hire has to catch a fast deal or leave. A base through the ramp with commission from day one keeps the rep who would have been good in month four.
Dial counts and process compliance, not funded deals. A rep doing the work will produce; a rep producing without doing the work is working the easy records and will stall.
We will tell you straight up if we cannot help you. No commission deals, no free trials, no chasing you for three weeks.