When you hire salespeople, it’s important to aim for the best recruits you can find. Hiring an employee is a major investment, and with the turnover rate in the sales industry, choosing poorly can cost you big. So what should you look for in an interview to find the best candidates?

The most important thing you can look for is perseverance. An alarming 44% of salespeople will give up on a sale after just one “no,” so you need to look for the salespeople who will stick with it and close that deal. Approximately 63% of people who ask about your company will take about three months to purchase, and 20% won’t buy for 12 months, so sticking with a client is crucial.

You also want sales reps who are personable and empathetic. These salespeople will be able to build relationships with their customers and have ongoing discussions, empathizing with their problems and trying to understand how to solve them. An estimated 61% of sales reps are confident in their ability to figure out where a customer is having a problem. And it’s not just about being nice; these sales reps are 28% more likely to meet their quota.

On a more technical level, you should look for sales people who have a variety of different skills. Sales reps with solid marketing skills bring in 25% more profits, and 78.6% of salespeople who incorporated social media into their selling strategy outsold those who didn’t. Reps with a strong understanding of the sales industry and the competition can boost sales by as much as 39%.

The best salespeople are strategic and go in with a plan. In fact, 60% of sales reps go into a sale with a carefully outlined strategy, and these employees are 33% more likely to close sales.

As important as it is to look for these intangible skills, it’s also important to check out an applicant’s numbers. High performers are 2.5 times as likely to excel at qualifying sales opportunities than the average sales rep.

Great salespeople are out there — and you benefit from their talent, as long as you know what to look for.