How to Construct the Best Sales Aptitude Test for Your Company

Every organization strives to hire top sales representatives because a top sales team helps them meet revenue and growth goals. This explains why U.S. businesses spend $800 billion yearly to pay sales salaries and commissions and $15 billion on sales training. 

Sales managers dread hearing that a “rock star” sales performer plans to resign since they will lose the team member’s talent, product knowledge, and client relationships. The cost of turnover is high, but the cost of sales rep turnover is especially high because losing good sales talent can directly impact the bottom line.

The best way to build and retain a good sales team is to ensure you hire the right people. This is why organizations implement an industry-leading testing solution like the eSkill Talent Assessment Platform^TM and use pre-employment sales aptitude tests to identify top sales talent.

Why Pre-Employment Sales Aptitude Tests Are Important

HR professionals use pre-employment sales aptitude tests to screen candidates quickly and efficiently. Instead of manually reviewing hundreds of resumes, they can instantly screen applicants and determine which ones are best qualified for the job. They can also see whether candidates are a good fit for their organization. This helps them build a top-functioning sales team that develops business and closes sales.

These are some ways using thebest sales aptitude test helps organizations hire top sales talent:

• Streamline Candidate Screening
  Organizations often receive thousands of responses when they post a sales representative position, and it is not easy to determine which candidates have the required qualifications. HR professionals need the ability to quickly identify top applicants and weed out those that lack the necessary skills and experience. Sales skills assessments allow HR leaders to eliminate unqualified applicants and focus on top candidates.

• Customize Sales Skills Assessments
  HR professionals can use pre-prepared sales skills assessments or build custom assessments by selecting questions from multiple job- and subject-based skills tests in the eSkill Assessment Library. For example, suppose you need to hire a sales account executive for a financial services company and ensure candidates are familiar with industry terminology. In this case, you can create a customized pre-employment sales aptitude test using questions from assessments that test sales ability and skills tests such as Financial Statements, Debt Collection, and Money Handling.

• Simulations and Video Response Questions
  Written pre-employment sales aptitude tests confirm candidates have the right skills but do not show whether they can apply the knowledge on the job. This is why the best sales aptitude tests include simulations and video response questions.

Simulations present candidates with situations they will encounter on the job so hiring teams can evaluate their performance. For example, you can present applicants with scenarios where they must work with difficult customers, overcome objections, or sell against one or more competitors to win or win back business.

Hiring teams use video response questions in sales skills assessments to evaluate abilities that cannot be measured on paper. For example, sales representatives must sound pleasant and professional in person, on the phone, and in video meetings. You can use video response questions to ensure candidates are articulate and evaluate other attributes such as foreign language skills.

What Kinds of Questions Are in Sales Aptitude Tests?

Sales representatives must be good communicators and negotiators and be able to explain the value of products and services to customers and prospects. They must also be good at building relationships and gaining prospects’ trust so they can close sales. So, when HR teams ask what types of questions the best sales aptitude test include, these are some assessments we recommend:

• Sales Representative: This is a general assessment that measures candidates’ ability to build relationships with customers, sell and promote products and services, follow up on sales leads, and close deals.

• Sales Concepts: Top sales representatives must work effectively with customers and prospects. This assessment measures applicants’ knowledge of sales tactics and strategies as well as closing skills.

• Negotiating: Successful sales representatives are good negotiators. This test assesses applicants’ strategic thinking, problem-solving, decision-making, and persuasion and analytic abilities.

• Emotional Intelligence: Sales representatives must understand their emotions and how they can impact relationships. This assessment measures candidates’ social intelligence and evaluates how well they manage their emotions while working with customers, prospects, and colleagues.

• Email Etiquette: Poorly written email messages can cause misunderstandings and ruin business relationships. This assessment confirms that candidates understand basic email etiquette and can compose clear, complete, and tactful messages.

• Videoconference Communication and Etiquette: Many sales presentations are given online. This assessment confirms that candidates understand videoconference etiquette, know how to use video conferencing applications, and can engage participants effectively.

Get Started with Sales Aptitude Tests

The best sales aptitude tests help businesses build a sales team to generate leads and close business. They also help organizations improve hiring outcomes while reducing recruiting costs and decreasing time-to-hire. Many eSkill clients have decreased hiring costs by about 70% and reduced time-to-hire by around 60%.

Are you ready to learn how pre-employment sales aptitude tests help you build a top-performing sales team? Contact us to request a demo.