Salespeople — What Should You Look for?

The Hiring Tips Newsletter has grown to 275 tips. Sixty-five of the best tips are available in the book, How to Hire The Right People.

99% of these tips are simply that. A way of looking at some aspect of the hiring process that will make that process easier, more efficient and even more successful.

1% of the tips promote our employee testing service in some way. This tip will be in that 1%.

Our personality profile test reveals a great deal of information about people. It can be used for any position, from a high-level executive to a stock clerk; from a dental assistant to a bookkeeper.

Recently I was asked how would our test help with hiring salespeople. I looked through the test results and found the following traits revealed. When you read over these traits, consider how important they would be for a salesperson:

• Makes plans and carries them out
• Adapts easily
• Steady, calm
• Reliable
• Good sense of certainty at work
• Consistent
• Energetic 
• Takes initiative
• Self-assured
• Proactive
• Truthful

Those are traits on the positive side of the ledger. On the negative side, consider the following traits that you would NOT want to see in a salesperson:

• Poor concentration
• Difficulty maintaining control
• Easily distracted
• Not reliable
• Lack of certainty
• Passive
• Lacks initiative
• Procrastinates
• Doubts fitness to get things done
• Careless
• Tactless
• Can generate resentment

The above traits, both positive and negative, are traits that our employee test will reveal to you.

Salespeople should be reliable, consistent, truthful, energetic and be able to take initiative. And of course, other traits that are valuable for a salesperson to have.

And we’re likely not to put someone in a sales position who is easily distracted, isn’t reliable, lacks initiative and can generate resentment.

If you are not using our employee testing service, the first thing to do is watch this three-minute video. After you watch the video, we invite you to take the test yourself. You’ll be able to see how accurate it is and just how much information it can provide in making hiring decisions.

Yes, this tip is quite self-serving. But we are very proud of our employee testing service and our clients say things like this:

“We’ve been using your testing service for a while now. Prior to using your test, we just had too much of a revolving door. Now, a much greater percentage of our new hires stay with us and become the kind of employee we set out in the beginning to find.” — P.M. / Clearwater, FL