How to thoroughly evaluate sales skills with a sales talent assessment
Sales candidates are often good at selling themselves in their resumes and cover letters. But in many cases, this doesn't translate to success on the job and leads to costly mis-hiring.
When screening sales applicants, you must determine if they have the necessary skills, traits, and mindset to sell your specific product or service and mesh well with your team.
The best way to do this is with a sales talent assessment. In this article, we'll discuss the skills and traits to look for and how to vet these so you can hire a top-quality salesperson to close deals, drive growth, and strengthen your company's image.
Key takeaways
The right salespeople are critical to getting your offering into customers' hands and bringing revenue through the door. Yet, many companies hire the wrong candidates for the job.
To select top sales talent, you must look for a blend of hard and soft skills – from product expertise, sales knowledge, and CRM software proficiency to good communication, negotiation, and problem-solving abilities.
A good sales talent assessment – such as one you can create with TestGorilla – looks at all these aspects and more so you can hire someone who is skilled and adds value to your sales culture.
What skills and traits are important for sales employees?
Even the best product or service is pointless without good sales employees to turn customers' interest into lucrative purchases, yet many companies make the fatal error of mishiring.
Therefore, it’s critical to find candidates with a combination of the right technical knowledge, soft skills, and traits for a sales role. Let's dive into what these look like.
Technical expertise
Product knowledge: Salespeople need to understand the ins and outs of your products or services, including what they are, how they work, features, benefits, pricing, etc. This way, they can deliver convincing pitches, answer questions, and convert leads.
Market research: The best candidates can study the market to understand what consumers want and what competitors are up to. These insights and trends can help them understand customer goals, position your products effectively, and sway decisions.
Data analysis: Great analytical skills help salespeople spot trends and themes – such as where in the sales funnel they're losing leads and why – so they can refine their strategies and tailor pitches accordingly.
CRM software proficiency: Sales employees must be familiar with customer relationship management (CRM) tools like Hubspot to organize sales pipelines, manage leads, and track interactions so no opportunity slips through the cracks.
Languages: Fluency in your customer's language is a bare minimum requirement for sales. Additionally, global companies can benefit from multi-lingual candidates who can overcome language barriers and build rapport with diverse clients.
Soft and cognitive skills
Communication: Clear written and verbal communication and active listening are crucial to explaining products and services accurately and addressing customer needs and queries.
Presentation: Whether it's a one-off meeting or a group demonstration, good salespeople can create relevant and compelling pitches and presentations that capture their audience's interest. The best employees are also polished and present themselves with grace.
Negotiation: At the heart of closing deals, candidates must be able to discuss, bargain, and reach agreements that feel like a win for everyone involved.
Problem-solving: Skilled salespeople are great at tackling daily problems and adapting to unexpected issues that crop up – for instance, customer objections or technical glitches during pitches.
Critical thinking: Top talent can think quickly on their feet and come up with out-of-the-box solutions for finding common ground during negotiations or customizing offerings to meet customers' unique needs.
How to assess sales candidates
Sales is a broad role, with skills that often transfer across industries. On the plus side, you can tap into candidates from a wide pool, but it also means you have to quickly screen countless applications to find the perfect candidate before your competitors snag them.
The fastest and most accurate way to do this is through TestGorilla's library of 400+ science-backed pre-employment tests. You can combine up to five tests to create a custom sales talent assessment. Below, we look at some tests to consider.
Job-specific skills
Sales Aptitude test: Evaluates candidates' knack for sales, including communication, relationship building, and problem-solving techniques in sales contexts.
B2B Outside Sales test: Focuses on applicants' outbound sales abilities for B2B products, testing things like prospecting, qualifying leads, overcoming objections, and closing deals.
B2B Sales Account Executive test: Measures candidates' ability to manage and nurture existing client relationships, upsell or cross-sell, and close new deals.
B2B Sales Management (Manufacturing and Software Services) test: Looks at candidates' sales strategy, implementation, and territory management skills in the B2B manufacturing or software and services space.
B2B Sales Lead Generation test: Examines applicants' expertise in B2B lead generation and sales development.
B2C Telesales test: Measures salespeople's ability to sell B2C products and build customer relationships over inbound or outbound calls.
Retail Sales test: Assesses candidates' relationship-building and problem-solving skills in a retail sales setting.
Salesforce CRM test, Zoho CRM test, and Hubspot CRM test: These tests dig into applicants' proficiency with various customer relationship management (CRM) tools.
Soft skills and cognitive abilities
Communication test and Active Listening test: These tests examine candidates' written communication, verbal communication, active listening skills, and ability to interpret messages.
Negotiation test: Measures applicants' abilities to negotiate in a business setting, generate win-win solutions, and close favorable deals.
Problem Solving test: Assesses how candidates define problems and analyze information to develop effective solutions.
Critical Thinking test: Evaluates the ability to analyze information and make sound judgments rooted in logic.
Personality and culture
Enneagram test, Big 5 (OCEAN), DISC, and other sales personality assessments: These help to identify desirable sales traits such as likeability, adaptability, perseverance, resilience, and more.
Culture Add test: Highlights how candidates' ranking of customizable values compares to your company's expectations, ensuring you can see who's aligned with your culture.
Next steps
Putting your candidates through this type of holistic sales talent assessment is a foolproof way to shortlist applicants.
You can then dive deeper into their strengths and development areas with the right sales behavioral interview questions and hire someone who suits all aspects of your sales position and company culture.
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Sales skills assessment FAQs
If you’re still curious about using a sales assessment, the following frequently asked questions might help.
At which point should I use a sales skills assessment in the hiring process?
We recommend using a sales skills assessment test early in the hiring process, ideally as the first step. This way, you eliminate the biases that come with resume screening and only interview those who've already shown that they can communicate, research, network, and fulfill other sales-specific requirements to shine as a salesperson.
What are common mistakes to avoid when assessing sales skills in candidates?
To ensure you hire the best sales reps for your company, avoid common mistakes during the hiring process, such as relying solely on resumes or answers to interview questions without properly assessing candidates' real-world skills.
Additionally, although obvious, beware of shortlisting applicants who aren't well-versed in your specific products and services.
How important is experience when evaluating a candidate’s sales capabilities?
Experience in a specific industry can significantly influence a candidate's capabilities when beginning a new sales role in that field. That said, it's more important to focus on strong skills and traits like product knowledge, prospecting, lead generation, negotiation, and communication, which are more predictive of future performance than years of experience.
Find the best salesperson with TestGorilla
Even the best products and services are useless without the right salesperson to sell them. That's why it's crucial to build a sales team that knows your product inside out and has the skills to close deals.
TestGorilla's pre-employment tests are the best way to do this. You can create a custom sales talent assessment to vet each candidate's hard skills, knowledge, soft skills, and behavioral attributes so you can hire someone who fits your needs like a glove.
Sign up for a free account with TestGorilla or schedule a live demo today.
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