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You have a type.
The ex-athlete. The one with the fancy CV. The candidate who reminds you of your top performer.
That's not instinct. That's bias.
And while some biases help you spot real talent, others quietly drain your budget and kill your pipeline.
The cost: £45,000 per bad hire (salary + ramp + lost deals). Plus £15,000 per month your role stays open.
Here's which biases to kill and which to keep.
6 Biases That Backfire
1. The Sports Bias
You think: "Division 1 athlete = grit and resilience"
The trap: You ask about handling objections. They say: "I just kept trying until something worked."
That's not grit. That's no strategy.
Real grit sounds like: "After three no-shows, I tested different meeting times, changed my value prop, moved to video. Show rate went from 40% to 75%."
Ask instead: "Tell me about a time your approach completely failed. What did you change and why?"
2. The Pedigree Bias
You think: "Worked at Salesforce = must be good"
The trap: Big brand experience doesn't mean they can build pipeline from zero. Many scaled reps rely on inbound, established process, and warm territories.
The cost: They struggle with outbound prospecting and early-stage ambiguity.
Ask instead: "Walk me through how you built your pipeline in your first 90 days. How much was inbound vs outbound?"
3. The Mirror Bias
You think: "They remind me of me = cultural fit"
The trap: You end up with a team that only sells to one buyer type. Your customers aren't all clones.
The cost: Limited range, narrow thinking, missed opportunities with different buyer personas.
Ask instead: "Tell me about a deal where you had to adapt your style to a buyer who was nothing like you."
4. The Perfect-Fit Bias
You think: "Need exactly 2 years SaaS SDR experience + HubSpot + tech background"
The trap: You reject someone with 18 months experience who uses Salesforce. That role stays open 6 more weeks. You lose £22,500 in pipeline.
Reality: Perfect candidates don't exist.
Ask instead: Before screening, separate must-haves from nice-to-haves. Would you rather have 9/10 on coachability with 18 months experience, or 6/10 on coachability with perfect experience?
5. The Halo Effect
You think: "Loved them in the first 5 minutes = they'll be great"
The trap: Charm fades when pipeline's empty. Charisma ≠ competence.
The cost: You overlook lack of substance because they interviewed well.
Ask instead: Use a scorecard. Rate curiosity, coachability, grit, and communication separately. No single trait can carry the hire.
6. The Gut-Feel Bias
You think: "I just know talent when I see it"
The trap: You're remembering what success used to look like, not what it will. Your "instinct" is pattern recognition from a different market.
The cost: You miss candidates who don't fit old patterns but have the traits for future success.
Ask instead: Combine gut with data. Use video assessments, psychometrics, and structured scoring to test your assumptions.
4 Biases That Make You Smarter
1. Bias Toward Communication Clarity
Sales is persuasion. Clarity builds trust.
Test it: "Explain our product to me like I'm a non-technical buyer who's never heard of us."
Good sounds like: Simple language, clear structure, checks for understanding.
2. Bias Toward Results Orientation
Track records matter—but not just quota.
Test it: "Walk me through your numbers over the last year. What improved and why?"
Good sounds like: Specific metrics, trend analysis, ownership of both wins and misses.
3. Bias Toward Coachability
Markets change. Products evolve. Buyers get smarter.
Test it: "Tell me about feedback that completely changed how you worked."
Good sounds like: "My manager showed me I pitched features, not outcomes. I rebuilt my discovery questions around ROI. Close rate went from 12% to 23%."
4. Bias Toward Action
Great reps test, move, iterate. They don't wait for perfect scripts.
Test it: "Tell me about a time you had no playbook. What did you do?"
Good sounds like: Took initiative, ran small tests, learned from results, scaled what worked.
The Trap Most Hiring Managers Miss
Even knowing these biases, three traps creep back in:
Confirmation bias: You spot one good trait and spend the rest of the interview justifying it.
Speed bias: Pressure to fill seats makes you settle for "good enough."
Overcorrection: You try to be so objective you ignore useful intuition.
The fix: Structured interviews + scoring rubrics + accountability across your hiring panel.
What to Do Monday Morning
1. Audit your last three hiresCount how many of these you thought during interviews:
- "Reminds me of our top performer"
- "Great university, must be smart"
- "Really liked them in first 5 minutes"
- "Perfect experience match"
3+ checked? Your gut is overruling your judgment.
2. Download the scorecardRate every candidate 1-5 on:
- Curiosity (researched company, asked smart questions)
- Coachability (specific example of changing approach)
- Grit (overcame setback with data/results)
- Communication (made complex idea simple)
Pass bar: 15+ out of 20, with no trait below 3.
3. Rewrite your interview questionsReplace: "Tell me about yourself"With: "Walk me through a deal where your first approach failed. What changed?"
Replace: "Why sales?"With: "Show me how you'd research our ideal customer. What questions would you ask them?"
Want shortlists pre-screened for these four traits?
meritt's AI + psychometric assessments surface coachability, grit, and communication clarity before your first call. Video profiles show you how candidates think and communicate—no more wasting 20 hours a week on weak interviews.