After sitting through countless interviews, you think you’ve found the right candidate. They’re great at leading the conversation and laser-focused on helping you reach your organizational goals. Do you trust your gut and bring them onto payroll? How do you know that they’re right for the job? Put your candidate to the test with a trusted sales traits assessment.
Hiring the right salesperson for the job is an art combined with science. When you meet your next great sales hire, you have great chemistry and can picture them succeeding in your market. But, before you extend an offer, listen to the science and use an assessment that measures sales traits and competencies.
However, not all assessments are equal. Personality tests are a common tool used by HR teams, but they only go so far. Salespeople are professional actors who are selling you on themselves in the interview. A sales trait assessment validates your gut opinion or urges you to continue the search.
A great competency-based assessment considers all personality and sales traits required for a candidate to find success and gives you an overall ranking.
But what are the sales traits and core competencies of every great salesperson?
Three critical competencies that our sales traits assessments measure
- Drive and Determination. The No. 1 predictor of someone’s success in sales is their drive and determination. At Hire Me A Salesperson, our sales traits DNA assessments measure a candidate’s tenacity, perseverance, vitality and energy to push past adversity and keep moving.
- Accountability. An accountable salesperson owns their performance. They don’t blame others or make excuses for poor numbers. Beware of micromanaging the accountable salesperson. They understand it’s their job to get things done and trust you to support them from the corner while they put the puck in the net.
- Action. Salespeople are judged on their actions. A salesperson can be driven and accountable, but they need to take action. Instead of waiting for sales to come to them, great salespeople seek out new clients and recover quickly from rejection.
Role-specific sales traits
- Problem-solving. For salespeople who work in value-creation, the ability to quickly understand their client’s position and problem solve their pain points is critical to their success. These salespeople need to be adept problem solvers who think on their feet.
- Closing competency. For commodity or transactional-type sales, you need a salesperson who is comfortable asking for the sale and closing on the first or second call. In this role, the ability to close outweighs relationship building and account management skills.
- Process-focused. Do you work with a long sales cycle and multiple steps before closing? You need an organized, process-focused salesperson. These salespeople excel in enterprise selling and working directly with the client’s decision-makers.
- Relationship builder. While all salespeople need to be able to build relationships with their clients, this is the most important trait for the farmer or account manager salesperson whose job is to keep clients returning.
You’ve run your next great sales hire through your sales traits assessment, so what’s next? If they score well, bring them back for another interview and discuss their results. If they’re missing mission-critical traits, it’s time to move on.
But what about the candidates that land somewhere in the middle?
If you have an extremely goal-driven candidate who excels in problem-solving but maybe scored low in accountability or taking action, ask yourself if you can coach them to success. When Tom Brady first went to the NFL Combine, he was a sixth-round pick. He was too slow in the 40-yard dash and didn’t fit the typical quarterback build. But Bill Belichick saw Brady’s ability to lead a team, read the field and make decisions under pressure. Through effective coaching, the Patriots got their new quarterback into shape and helped become the most celebrated quarterback in the sport. Can you coach your new potential new hire to be one of the best?
Ready to put your next sales hire to the test? Contact us today to get a copy of our sales DNA assessments so you can focus on the art of conversation and listen to the science of a trusted sales traits assessment.