Peter Smith, retail veteran and author of Hiring Squirrels: 12 Essential ­Interview Questions to Uncover Great Retail Sales Talent, on hiring people wired for sales:

1. “Fifty-eight percent of people working retail shouldn’t be in any sales job—their fundamental wiring is at odds with the wiring needed to be successful in sales.”

2. “Hiring managers put too much emphasis on pedigree and experience.”

3. “If a person has drive, they have a very important and essential ingredient to be successful in sales.”

4. “You’re going to hear more rejection than acceptance in sales. Great salespeople…don’t define themselves by hearing ‘no.’?”

5. “To ‘Tell me why you would be good in sales,’ you don’t want to hear back, ‘Because I like people.’ You want to hear, ‘There’s a certain competitiveness in me.’?”