Does it make sense to have candidates for non-sales roles complete a psychometric sales test as part of the hiring process? If these employees are not actually ‘selling’ how will you benefit by having them complete a sales evaluation? What can you learn from the results? Depending on the role for which you are hiring, the insights gained by using a psychometric sales test can prove very beneficial and highly profitable.
Despite our name , we have for our entire 30 years in business offered psychometric testing for non-sales roles. Here is a sample of non-sales test results, which as you see is not addressing sales criteria. The intended focus of this article however is about gaining insight into the person from a sales perspective.
Type of psychometric sales test to use
If you plan to conduct sales assessments for non-sales candidates, it is imperative that the right kind of sales psychometric assessment be used. Since the intention is to evaluate candidates who are not actually sales people nor who are intending to become sales people, the sales test used must be designed to measure personality traits and the underlying temperament and motivational style-the inherent or natural aspects of the person. Psychometric sales instruments that measure skills, sales competency or the typical learned aspects of sales will be of little or no benefit.
For which non-sales roles should psychometric sales tests be considered?
Any customer-facing role should at least be considered. Roles where there are opportunities to cross-sell, upgrade or strengthen the relationship with the customer are excellent choices. Other roles for serious consideration are where a positive customer experience is the goal, even if the tangible or non-tangible benefits are not easily quantified. Just a few of many examples:
- Call Center Employees
- Pre-sales Engineers
- Financial Institution Service Reps
- Customer Service Reps
- Membership Service Reps
- Order Desk Employees
- Technical Support
- Sales Support
- Client Service Reps
- Estimators and Designers
What kind of information can be obtained?
The results of the sales test will reveal a wealth of information. Some of it will obviously not be relevant to the situation, for example, sales prospecting and closing. On the other hand there will be much information, even unrelated to sales that will be of benefit in gaining insight into the candidate’s overall fit for the role. From a sales perspective however, the configuration and levels of the candidate’s trait drives such as, Assertiveness, Sociability, Patience and Dependence will provide a strong sense of potential ‘sales style’ for possible development. Among the areas that you will gain insight into are the following:
- Communication style
- Social warmth and friendliness
- Ability to empathize and relate to customer concerns/problems
- Persuasiveness and ability to convince
- Creating trust
- Initiative and sense of urgency
- Effective communication of technical information
- Helpfulness
- General sense of urgency
- Response to incentives
- Potential for up-selling/cross-selling
- Potential to learn and benefit from basic sales techniques
Conclusion
Acquiring new customers is very expensive. This is why it makes great sense to ensure that customer-facing employees are very effective in their interactions so that they can effectively up-sell, cross sell and resell. At the very least these employees should have an interactive and communication style that does not turn off and therefore potentially lose your valuable customers. Sales psychometric testing costs a pittance. Isn’t it worth the investment?
I invite your comments about this article and would be pleased to address any questions. If you are interested in finding out more about having candidates or employees complete a sales person psychometric assessment please visit us here: SalesTestOnline.com