The Sales Performance Suite

Using Assessments to Hire Your Next Top Performing Sales Rep

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Your next move is to acquire the tools to enable you to do that. What you need is a tool that will measure the behavioral characteristics of your sales rep candidates and your existing top performers.

"Wait a minute," you say. "I understand the candidates, but why do I have to measure the characteristics of my top performers, too?"

Good question! That's how you establish the foundation for building your team of top performers. Once you've identified your top performers, your goal is to find more just like them. You want to duplicate your successes and avoid repeating costly hiring mistakes. By developing your "top performer benchmark" you'll be doing just that to measure future candidates.

That's where we'll return to the tool that measures behavioral characteristics mentioned above. Since the late 1980's, there's been a boom in the availability and the accuracy of behavioral assessments. That growth was enabled by the widespread use of the personal computer and Internet access, all of which have greatly reduced the time to complete, evaluate and generate assessment reports.

Today, there are hundreds of companies who can provide assessment services for you - a simple Google search using "assessments" will yield you a number of possibilities.

But that's where the hard work comes in. While there are a lot of firms who can provide assessments on your candidates, you must insist on the following from any firm you're considering:

• The assessment tool must meet EEOC standards and have evidence validating the accuracy of the tool. This information is typically provided in a technical manual for the tool and should be furnished upon your request.
• Any assessment tool you select must have customized benchmarking capabilities to enable you to build your sales benchmark based upon your top performers, as described above. 
• Assessment reports should be available in a range of formats to meet differing needs such as hiring, coaching, succession planning, etc.
• Request copies of sample reports and references from prior and present clients served reflecting the firm's experience in working with salespeople and sales managers.
• Beware of “low-ball” pricing; oftentimes firms offer “generic” reports with little support or attention to your particular needs. You need to get more than “just a report.”
• Finally, ask about what post-report services are provided by the firm, such as report interpretation, resume analysis, multiple candidate hiring comparisons or other pre-hire assessment support actions.

Once you've located a reliable source for your assessment needs, you'll have the process in place for building your top performing team! If you have a HR department or specialist on staff, that’s a good place to start.