Hiring Good Sales People: How Top Sales Recruiters Hire Sales Reps

Hiring good sales people is one of the hardest things that a sales recruiter or employer does. Not any more! OK, so how can prospective employers or sales recruiters tell which job applicants can sell? They can make the job applicants take a sales assessment test. If you are an employer or sales recruiting company, you may start with 10 FREE Sales Assessment Tests as explained in this article.

Common Sales Recruiting Mistakes:

A sales recruiting mistake can be expensive. Many sales recruitment firms and employers are deluged with sales resumes, but have no way of knowing who can really sell. So, they often tend to hire someone with whom they "feel comfortable", who is "like them", who "looks good", or who has "industry knowledge". None of that necessarily means that the person can actually sell. A good Sales Assessment Test can help reduce subjectivity and guesswork, so you can make more objective decisions about hiring good sales people.

Personality / Psychology / Aptitude Testing NOT Enough:

A Sales Personality Test, Sales Psychology Test, Sales Aptitude Test or Sales Reluctance Test is usually not a good predictor of sales potential. There is a lot more to success in selling than just psychology, personality, aptitude or call reluctance. One can have the right personality, psychology or aptitude but if they don't possess or learn the sales skills and techniques, they are not very likely to succeed in the sales profession. Then there are people who can call incessantly, but cannot close. A well-rounded sales assessment test can reduce subjectivity and guesswork, and help sales recruitment agencies and corporate sales recruitment people make more objective hiring decisions.

Choosing the Best Sales Assessment Test:

Sales Recruiters and employers may want to choose a sales assessment test which is:

1. Accurate / Relevant: The Sales Test must go above and beyond the mundane psychological and personality tests by doing a well rounded sales assessment. This is crucial to the success of the sales recruitment campaign.

2. Robust 2-Step Testing is Better but Costs Less: The simple but robust 2-Step testing (Screening Test plus Final Test) helps protect you against the possibility of a job applicant substituting someone else to take a test on their behalf. Moreover, the Screening Test is much cheaper than the Final Test. If you need to test, say, 500 applicants, you could give them all an inexpensive Screening Test, then give a Final Test to only the top 2% (the 10 highest scorers) on the day of the interview. That could save you a lot of time and money.

3. Efficient: Completely self-contained online system that you can use 24/7/365 at your convenience, without having to call the company every time you wish to test a new sales candidate. Many sales recruiters work online from home.

4. Easy to Interpret: The sales assessment test's Report Card must be clear, easy to understand, and preferably just 1-page long (some can be unwieldy -- up to 20+ pages per candidate). Sales recruiting firms are often pressed for time.

5. Scored Instantly: Candidates' Report Cards (Sales Assessment Test scores) should be available online immediately after they complete a sales assessment test (no waiting for the Sales Test Reports to arrive by fax or snail mail).

6. Secure Testing: The sales assessment test should contain built-in safeguards against guessing, random answering and candidate substitution. Not all sales tests are created equal. Most good sales recruiters appreciate the importance of secure sales assessment testing.