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Sales Selection and Assessment [Download]
by Kent Noel Ph.D., Director
A growing number of companies are relying upon psychological assessment to assist them in selecting qualified salespeople. This process can be valuable in identifying an individual’s strengths and limitations and how these might potentially play out in a sales role. It can provide valuable information regarding an individual’s general personality traits, specific selling abilities, technical skills, problem solving style, and ability to learn new information. Essentially, psychological assessment:
Greatly reduces the guesswork of interviewing.
By their nature, many people who gravitate towards a career in sales are often outgoing and tend to interview well. And yet, people skills alone reveal little regarding a person’s ability to achieve closure and get results. In addition, studies have consistently shown that the odds of selecting the right candidate based largely on interviewing are often no better than 50/50 or “flipping a coin.” Combine this with the fact that some former managers will give glowing recommendations simply to rid themselves of a poorly performing or troublesome employee (thereby avoiding the perceived legal hassle of a negative recommendation) and selecting the right person becomes even more problematic.
Significantly reduces turnover costs.
Finding, training, and keeping a qualified salesperson is typically a large investment in terms of time and money. Conversely, sales assessment is a relatively inexpensive process designed to minimize employer risk by impartiallyidentifying the candidate who is the best fit for the position. Sales screeners can be customized and given to a large number of applicants at a very low cost. Selecting the right candidate and keeping him/her can translate into significant dollars. Multiply this by the number of positions in your sales force and the potential turnover costs savings are almost staggering.
Reveals information regarding a sales candidate’s personal
characteristics and the subtleties of selling.
Assessment, if done correctly, not only provides an employer with general information, but also can get to the heart of what makes an effective salesperson. Information can be derived with regard to specific selling attributes such as the ability to establish rapport,willingness to initiate cold calling, sales closing, drive/persistence, ability to work independently, competitiveness, and sense of teamwork among many others. Good assessment will shed significant light on these subtleties rather than simply stating whether or not “John Doe can sell.”
Provides insight regarding the types of selling for which a person is best suited.
Specific sales assessment can provide a sales manager insight not only into if a person can sell, but under what conditions he/she would be most effective. For example, some individuals may be better suited for building a sales territory from scratch, while some may be more effective in taking over an established region. Others may be most effective in-house. Still others may be better suited to a customer service role with upselling as a focus. In this way, assessment can reduce the risk of putting the wrong person in the wrong selling situation.
Provides an indicator of a sales candidate’s technical skills and ability to learn.
Different sales positions require different levels of sophistication with respect to understanding the technical aspects of products and services. Psychological assessment can provide specific, detailed information regarding a candidate’s technical know-how by measuring his/her mechanical aptitude, spatial abilities, problem solving style, skills in absorbing/applying new information, ability to communicate technically, and other proficiencies. If technical expertise is required, a non-technical salesperson may not fully articulate a product’s strengths and applicationsor may inadvertently promise more than the product can actually deliver.
Serves as a supervisory and coaching tool.
Sales assessment can give a manager important information regarding how to supervise a new hire. Selected salespeople bring to the table different levels of sales experience, maturity, and capacity for working on their own. With such information upfront, a sales manager can anticipate potential problems and modify his/her leadership style to meet the readiness level of the candidate selected.
Conclusion
The above information is designed to give a brief summary of the benefits for using psychological assessment in your selection of qualified salespeople. It is by no means a comprehensive, all encompassing list. Assessment, if done properly, can contribute significantly in hiring the best and putting them in the right place to optimize success.
