Trusted Adviser, Not a Vendor: How Premistar Improved Sales Hiring

When Mic Framstad took responsibility for sales hiring at Premistar Corporate, he noticed a habit in his own interviews: he was spending too much time deciding whether he liked the person across the table. A good conversation could feel like a good hiring signal, even when it said little about whether the candidate could prospect, think through a problem, or succeed in Premistar's culture.

Premistar already had a relationship with xPotential. Around 2020, Mic began using the assessments and interpretation sessions more directly in his own hiring. They gave him a way to separate a true new-business hunter from someone better suited to growing existing accounts, and helped him use interview time more deliberately.

Before this, I'd spend entirely too long talking to somebody… it was a pretty shallow process.

Knowing what to ask next

A finalist completes an assessment that looks at motivation, thinking patterns, and behavior. Mic then reviews the results with Barrett before the next interview. The conversation is not simply a score or a thumbs-up. Barrett points out what looks promising, what needs to be checked, and which questions might reveal more.

That preparation changed Mic's interviews. Instead of letting the conversation wander, he could spend his time testing the few things that mattered most for that candidate and that role.

Every time I do an interpretation session, I zero in on what I need to vet.

The assessment is one input, not an automatic hiring decision. Mic still uses his own judgment and the rest of Premistar's interview process. What he values is having someone willing to say plainly when the results do not match the story a candidate told in the interview.

You're not a resource - you're a trusted advisor. You never hold back, and your insights cover over a lot of my blind spots.

The hire that confirmed his concern

In one case, Premistar was under pressure to fill an opening and hired a candidate even though the interpretation raised serious concerns. Over the following year, the specific behaviors Barrett had warned about began to appear on the job. Premistar eventually let the person go for those same issues.

The experience gave Mic a concrete reason to slow down when an assessment and a polished interview point in different directions. It also made the cost of one more careful conversation feel small compared with the cost of a hiring mistake.

You even said specific things that would happen - and a year later we fired that person for those specific things.

What is different now

• Interviews are shorter and centered on the demands of the role.
• Mic has a clearer way to distinguish hunters from account growers.
• Potential problems can be investigated before an offer, not discovered months after the hire.
• Internal candidates can be assessed with the same care as outside hires.

More than an assessment report

For Mic, the live conversation is the part that makes the process useful. A report can describe a candidate, but the interpretation connects those findings to the open role and to the questions he needs to ask. After more than five years, that candor is why he describes Barrett as an adviser rather than a vendor.

The interpretation sessions are where the magic happens.

You're a trusted advisor.

The investment is worth it - hire slow, fire fast.