October 2024
Article
Top Sales Magazine

How to Use Sales Assessments

Format:Print
| Pages:2

Abstract

Judging a person’s fit for a sales job is complex, and research shows that managers greatly overrate their ability to predict someone’s performance on the basis of interviews. Hence, using assessments is a growing trend in sales hiring and training. This article discusses three key issues that must be managed to use assessments effectively: clarifying performance outcomes; assessing the behaviors that drive those performance outcomes; and using the appropriate assessment tools. Moreover, while it’s important to understand what high performers do, research also demonstrates that, in most sales organizations, incremental improvements to the average performers typically have, in the aggregate, a higher and more accessible ROI than trying to clone the high performers. Relevant assessments often have their biggest impact in facilitating those incremental improvements.