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One of the most challenging tasks for a company is hiring an effective sales force. As we’ve often heard, 80% of the sales come from 20% of the sales force. Selecting top sales people is essential because of the direct link to the bottom line. Because of the importance of this position, organizations need a more effective and objective way of finding and evaluating their sales force. Fortunately there is a much better method, however, first lets look at the current process.
ABC Inc. has run the sales representative ads in the target market for a month and have narrowed the field to what they regard as two of the best outside sales candidates, Joe Dogre and James Watson.
Joe Dogre presents himself very well during the interview. He is about 5'9" tall with a slender appearance. He is neatly dressed in his best blue pin-stripped suit and his favorite red tie. Joe holds a masters degree in business administration from a prestigious university and makes a very favorable impression during the interview.
James Watson has a bachelor’s degree in business administration with a major in marketing. James is 6'1" tall and is slightly overweight, but carries it well with his larger frame. In order to down play his slightly larger frame, James is dressed in a gray pin-stripe suite with a dark blue tie. James is very direct and quick with his responses during the interview. He is quite enthusiastic about the position and also makes a favorable impression on the sales manager.
The experience levels between the two sales candidates are almost identical and it is pretty much a coin toss in deciding between the two. Joe's resume does seem slightly more impressive in regards to his accomplishments. His appearance was slightly more favorable than James' and he seemed perhaps just a little bit more warm and friendly. The reference checks are done but little useful information is obtained regarding either candidate. The fact that Joe has a master’s degree tips the scales more heavily in his favor and Joe is offered the position.
Three months down the road, Joe's sales performance is less than expected. The training manager reports that Joe seems to be a little slow and has a problem grasping the material in the sales training classes. Another three months pass and sales are declining in Joe's territory. The sales manager realizes that it was a mistake to place Joe in the position to begin with and a new search for a replacement is initiated. The sales manager wonders if the next hire will work out any better. He instinctively feels that there has got to be a better and more reliable way of hiring sales people. Six months of salary and benefits costs are down the drain, not to mention training and recruiting cost. There is also the loss of revenue from the sales that have not been made and the loss of market share. What mistakes were made and how can they be prevented from happening again?
The first mistakes occurred during the interview. Very little useful and objective information actually came out of the interview. The candidate told the sales manager what he wanted him to hear. What the sales manager needs is more reliable and objective information upon which to base his hiring decisions.
Let's turn back the clock and see if we can make a better and more informed sales hiring decision. The sales candidates are administered the Sales Achiever assessment in conjunction with the initial interview. Their assessment reports will give you a very good idea of just how much difference there may actually be between two sales candidates who appear to be very close contenders during an interview.
Clicking on the links below will open up a new window and allow you to view each candidate's Sales Achiever assessment report. Simply close or minimize the window to return here.
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Only after reviewing the sales assessment results do we realize the full tragedy of the initial hiring mistake. Not only did the company hire the wrong applicant, they sent a star sales candidate out the door and off to their competitors!
When viewing the Sales Achiever Reports, you probably noticed the bracketed areas on page 6 of the reports. Those brackets represent the hiring pattern or benchmarks that were established by testing ABC Inc.’s top sales representatives. The objective is to hire more sales people just like them. James Watson matches the sales pattern very well.
It is extremely difficult to accurately predict sales performance without some measure of mental ability. Personality measures alone do not give us the complete picture. For example, if a sales person scores high in Mental Acuity, and low in Organization, that combination would be somewhat expected since the individual would have the tendency to think on his feet. If you were to use a sales assessment that did not utilize some type of measure of intelligence, you would probably fall into the old trap of looking for sales people with high levels of organization or planfulness, which could disqualifying some of your most intelligent applicants. Mental acuity is a very important measure when it comes to predicting job success.
Mr. Dogre's score in Mental Acuity shows that he is a slow learner and low in problem solving ability. Problem solving ability and critical thinking skills are not necessarily conferred along with a college degree.
The score in Business Terms is a real eye opener. Since Mr. Dogre holds a MBA, we would normally assume his knowledge of business terms to be at least average; however this proves to the contrary.
The score in Memory Recall tells us that Joe does not pay much attention to what is going on in the world around him. This can be extremely detrimental in sales as far as prospecting is concerned. Would you really expect him to be aware of competitive trends, markets and new products?
Joe's vocabulary is also a liability in his job. Unfortunately, he will be viewed more in the light of a used car salesman by the doctors due to his low vocabulary skills and associated low mental acuity.
The Numerical Perception score is not a real concern. It is reasonably close to the recommended range. Joe may be over due for a new set of bifocals.
The score in Mechanical Interest is close enough to the recommended range so as not to be a real concern.
This concludes the Mental Aptitudes. Needless to say, there are a lot of concerns and at this point, Mr. Dogre does not look like an acceptable candidate.
Energy: The score tells us that Mr. Dogre has a low level of energy and drive. As he starts his day, his batteries are only half charged. After three visits with clients and prospects, he is feeling drained.
Flexibility: The score tells us that Joe is not very adaptive. When schedules change, Joe gets upset and finds it harder than most to adjust and accommodate the change. His score in Organization and Assertiveness will compound the problem to the point where he is far too persistent.
Organization: The high level of organization is both a blessing and a curse. While it helps to balance the low score in Mental Acuity in some respects, it also makes him a real stickler for the details to the point of being very bureaucratic, hard headed and obstinate.
Communication: Communication has always been his greatest asset and is mainly a measure of sociability. In the mock hiring example, it was his very high level of sociability that gave the sales manager those warm and fuzzy feelings which convinced him to hire the best actor instead of the best candidate.
Emotional Development: Mr. Dogre is extremely patient and tolerant. He does not have much of a sense of urgency and will wait forever to see results. The problem is further compounded by his calm nature.
Assertive: Joe is a very assertive individual and prefers to do things his own way. This is very much of a problem in this case because Joe is extremely "laid-back" (very calm and tolerant) and he is also hard headed and obstinate.
Competition: Joe does not like to compete for sales awards, trips or other incentives. He does not see life as a competitive struggle for survival and at best has modest ambitions about getting ahead.
Mental Toughness: Joe is a very tender minded and sensitive individual who takes any rejection or criticism quite personally. He gets his feelings hurt more easily than most and generally takes longer to get over it.
Questioning/Probing: Joe takes things at face value and does not look for possible objections to overcome.
Motivation: Joe is basically security motivated. When he reaches his comfort level, he will not be very responsive to bonuses, incentives or other commissions.
Distortion: Mr. Dogre has exaggerated quite a bit regarding his answers on the personality index. He has exaggerated his standards and has been very careful to "put down the right answers." Basically, he has told the company exactly what he thinks the company wanted to hear. Anytime you see a high distortion score, it should raise a red flag in your mind telling you to dig deeper on the reference checks and discount the resume for exaggerations.
Which employee would you want? Profilers can help you find the right sales person for your organization.
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