5 Reasons Why a Sales Personality Test is Important

Changing customer demands have made selling more complex today. Customers are more knowledgeable, have a deeper understanding of business, and are seeking real benefits from businesses. 

In such a dynamic and demanding environment, salespeople require certain personality traits and sales skills. 

A sales personality test measures those skills and helps businesses find the right candidates. In fact, a sales personality assessment is a far more effective way of evaluating a candidate than a traditional approach.

In this article, we’ll explore why sales personality tests are important, what tests you can conduct, and, finally, what traits you should look for when hiring a salesperson.

Read: Sales engagement guide

The importance of a sales personality test

With a sales personality test, you can assess the potential candidates’ individual characteristics and determine if they are the right fit to join your sales team.

Below are the reasons why you should include a sales personality assessment in your selection or training processes:

• Selecting qualified sales candidates

By assessing a candidate’s personality traits and skills, you will be able to ensure you are putting the right candidate in the right position in your sales team. Also, you will save your company a great deal of time and money by making accurate hiring choices required to have an efficient sales workforce.

• Facilitation of a successful onboarding process

A sales personality test will enable you to understand what kind of training your sales candidates have had and need, short term as well as long term. As a result, the onboarding process can be made quick and efficient by catering to those specific needs.

• Strengthening your sales team

A sales personality test can help you identify and assess the strengths and weaknesses of your sales team. As a result, they are able to improve themselves and perform better in the future. 

They should be partnered with colleagues who can assist them in improving their performance after identifying the areas in which they are likely to excel and the areas where they encounter difficulty.

• Cost efficiency

A personality test enables employers to hire the right salesperson. As a result, the company is able to save a lot of time on hiring and also money that they would otherwise invest every time they hired a new salesperson.

• Drive to learn

The personality of a prospective employee can tell a lot about his drive and potential for success. It is particularly important for competitive fields like marketing and commission-based sales. Salespeople that do not have the drive to close sales or do not show a desire to do so will not be much successful.

Considering all the information that exists today on the Internet and in self-help books, it can sometimes be incredibly easy to be charming and win over the interviewer. When it comes to actual performance, salespeople are quite different.

Recommended: All About Lead Conversion, Achieve Your Target Of High Sales!

The best sales personality test for your team

Below are two key personality tests that can help you understand the traits of both your current team members and potential sales representatives better.

The Myers-Briggs Type Indicator

The Myers-Briggs Type Indicator is a popular personality test. You can use the test to sort test-takers into 16 different archetypes of personalities. Individuals are sorted based on four variables: introvert/extrovert, intuitive/sensing, rational/emotional, and perceptive/judgmental. 

The true value of this test lies in its ability to help leaders better manage employees. Since everyone has a different area of expertise and drawbacks, management styles need to be tailored for each rep. Understanding this can help businesses do a better job at inspiring their sales team for success.

However, this test may not always provide accurate predictions about a rep’s potential for success. For instance, one might assume that extroverts make better salespeople than introverts. But that is not always the case since some of the best salespeople are actually strategic introverts with excellent social skills.

Caliper Profile Assessment

Over the years, businesses around the world have used the Caliper Profile Assessment to identify 25 traits related to sales rep performance. There are two ways to administer this test: online or on paper, depending on the number of employees and the nature of the organization.

It reveals a person’s strengths, limitations, motivations, and potential in an objective and straightforward manner. It is, hence, an effective sales personality assessment one can implement to make the right decisions.

So now that you know how a simple sales personality test can immensely help both you and your team, let’s examine some qualities you should look for in an ideal salesperson.

Check out: Sales qualification

What makes a good salesperson?

The following are the top characteristics that you should look for in an ideal salesperson:

Modesty

91% of top salespeople score high on modesty and humility, contrary to conventional stereotypes which portray salespeople as aggressive and egotistical. Such desired traits help in attracting more customers and closing more sales deals.

Assertive

A sales rep must have an outgoing personality. Speaking up and asking questions is very natural to outgoing salespeople. A salesperson who exhibits calm assertiveness comes across as confident, friendly, and can easily convince potential customers that they should buy from him.

Flexible

Flexibility is also an important trait needed to pass a salesman personality test. A salesperson has to deal with a variety of personalities each day. Some may respond calmly, whereas others may storm at them. The main idea is that a salesperson should be flexible in dealing with each type of customer. 

Achievement-oriented

Individuals with high-achieving sales personalities are motivated by the challenge of beating their previous record and surpassing their competition. A high-achiever, in a negotiation, listens politely and still dominates the conversation. Such people are always thinking of the next step or alternative methods to make the sale. 

Final Thoughts

During an assessment, make sure the test you choose meets the following criteria: 

• Standardization: It is necessary for all potential candidates to be assessed on the same characteristics.

• Validity: You should choose an assessment method that will precisely measure the performance you desire.

• Difficulty: Use an assessment that offers a difficult format like “Forced choice” questions. These questions require the candidate to choose which of three equally positive statements is most like them and which is least like them, making it hard to fake.

As a final note, these tests can give you a nudge in the right direction. However, they should not always be relied upon completely. You should therefore make your choices strategically. Be sure to validate the results of these tests again and then make a decision.