"We just want someone who will bring their book of business with them."

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We hear this a lot. And it makes sense on the surface.

You want someone with strong relationships, an existing book, and the ability to transfer those over to hit the ground running. So you find a rep who’s got 10 years of experience in your space, assume they’ll transfer their rolodex, and make the hire.

Sometimes it works. But often it doesn’t.

And when it doesn’t, you’re usually 6-9 months in when you realize the rolodex didn’t follow them, and they don’t actually know how to build a new book.

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A book of business ≠ a successful hunter.

Relationships are valuable; no one is arguing with that. But the ability to build relationships is more valuable.

A book of business is an indicator of past success, not a predictor of future performance. When you’re looking to hire someone based on an existing book, here’s the question that's often missing:

“If that book runs dry tomorrow, can this person build a new one?”

There’s no guarantee their book will transfer. And books do run dry; contacts change jobs, companies get acquired, budgets get cut. And suddenly, the rep who relied solely on existing relationships is one job change away from an empty pipeline.

A true hunter knows how to build from the ground up and create demand when none exists. That’s the skill you actually need to vet for in your interviews.

Vetting for a rolodex just means you're screening for the wrong role.

Often, we have companies that need a true hunter, but what they’re vetting for is a relationship manager.

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What to look for instead:

When we vet hunters, we’re not asking “Do they have existing relationships? Will they bring those over?”

We ask:

• What percentage of their revenue came from net-new vs. existing accounts?
• Can they walk through how they built a territory from scratch?
• What does their prospecting process look like, step by step?
• What's their move when a deal goes cold, and they haven't heard back in 3 weeks?
• When they've started a new role, how long before they hit quota?

These questions expose how the person works, not just what they’ve already done. Their current book might give them a head start, but the engine is what shows if they’ll succeed in your role.

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💡 TL;DR

A rep with a rolodex is nice. A rep who can build one from zero is what wins. Before you hire for the book, make sure they have the engine to refill it. The questions you ask in the interview are the difference between finding one and just hoping.