How to Use Sales Aptitude Tests to Hire Outstanding Sales Representatives for Your Company

Hiring top sales representatives is a priority for every business leader. They know a stellar sales team can mean the difference between meeting or not meeting revenue and growth goals. Even just a few sales reps who can “knock ‘em dead” can make your yearly forecast a reality and jumpstart stagnant sales numbers. This explains why organizations pay $800 billion annually on sales salaries and commissions and invest $15 billion in sales training.

Top sales performers are always in demand, even in a down economy. Their skills transfer easily within the same industry, and business leaders know they will go elsewhere if offered better compensation or more lucrative sales opportunities.

Sales rock stars are masters at building rapport with customers, thoroughly understanding their business, and are often seen as trusted advisors. They partner with customers to drive success and are the face of your organization.

As you can guess, sales managers dread hearing that a star performer plans to move on. They lose the sales rep’s talent and product expertise and possibly the rapport they have built with customers. They know clients might be tempted to look at other suppliers, which means existing orders and future business could be at risk.

Turnover is expensive, and the cost of sales rep turnover is particularly high because of its potential to impact the bottom line directly. The best way to build a good sales team is to hire the right people from the start. This is why organizations worldwide use sales aptitude tests.

How Do You Test Selling Skills?

Building a top sales team allows managers to maintain their competitive edge and increase market share. When they ask us about aptitude tests for sales and marketing, we answer by recommending an industry-leading testing solution like the eSkill Talent Assessment Platform^TM to administer sales aptitude tests.

What is a Sales Test?

HR teams use sales aptitude tests to select candidates who are a good fit for their company’s sales culture. Organizations may receive thousands of applications when they post a job and must determine which ones have the required qualifications.

To avoid spending hours reviewing resumes for candidates who have no chance of being hired, HR teams use pre-employment sales aptitude tests to instantly eliminate unqualified candidates so they can focus their efforts on top prospects. They can quickly compile a shortlist of promising candidates based on sales aptitude test results. This helps them improve hiring quality to build a top-functioning sales team.

What is an Example of an Aptitude Test?

Top candidates for sales representative positions must be able to explain the value of products and services to customers and prospects, build relationships to gain prospects’ trust, and close sales. So, when HR teams ask us, “What skills are tested in the aptitude test?” they also want to know, “Which personality test is best for sales?  We recommend the following pre-employment sales aptitude tests that test skills and personality:

• Sales Representative: This is a general assessment that evaluates candidates’ ability to sell and promote products and services to customers and prospects, generate and follow up on sales leads, close deals, and communicate effectively with customers.

• Sales Concepts: Top sales representatives must have the basic tools to work with customers and prospects effectively. This assessment measures applicants’ knowledge of sales strategies and tactics, professionalism, closing skills, and ability to learn and explain the value of products and services.

• Negotiating: Sales representatives must be good negotiators. This test assesses applicants’ persuasive and analytical abilities, relationship-building skills, strategic thinking, problem-solving, decision-making, and interpersonal communication skills.

• Emotional Intelligence: Successful sales representatives are good at reading people. They also understand their own emotions and their impact on relationships. This assessment measures candidates’ social intelligence skills, how well they understand and manage their emotions, and whether they can use them productively when dealing with customers, prospects, and team members.

• Email Etiquette: Email is an essential business tool, but it can cause misunderstandings and ruin business relationships if used incorrectly. This assessment confirms that candidates understand basic email etiquette and know how to compose clear, complete, and tactful email messages.

• Writing: Sales representatives often write bids and submit requests for proposals (RFPs) to win business. This assessment evaluates candidates’ ability to organize their thoughts on paper, write clear, complete sentences, and use correct grammar and spelling.

• Videoconference Communication and Etiquette: Many sales presentations are made online using applications like Zoom, Google Meet, and Microsoft Teams^TM_. This assessment confirms that candidates know how to use video conference applications, can engage participants effectively, and understand videoconference etiquette.

How to Create Sales Aptitude Tests

Businesses use a leading assessment solution like the eSkill Talent Assessment Platform^TM to create pre-employment sales aptitude tests that perfectly match the requirements for all their jobs.

The eSkill Assessment Library contains hundreds of validated job- and subject-based tests, with many covering Sales skills and aptitudes. HR professionals can use pre-prepared assessments as-is or build their own by selecting questions from multiple skills tests. They can even add questions and proprietary content if needed.

For example, when hiring sales representatives for a medical equipment company, you must ensure candidates are familiar with the industry and its regulations. So, you can create a pre-employment sales aptitude test that includes questions to test sales ability and add questions that measure industry knowledge, like the HIPAA-Health Insurance Coverage, HIPAA-Health Privacy and Security Standards, and Medical Terminology skills tests. If needed, you can add questions and proprietary content that pertains to your products and services.

Video Response Questions

Video response questions can be included in sales aptitude tests to evaluate abilities that cannot be measured on paper, such as interpersonal communication skills, including having a pleasant and professional demeanor over the phone, in video meetings, and in person. Video response questions, recorded on audio or video, allow you to confirm that candidates are articulate and can effectively explain the value of products and services to customers and prospects.

How Sales Aptitude Tests Help Companies Save Money

Pre-employment sales aptitude tests minimize the risk of hiring mistakes by helping you get hiring right the first time.

Hiring mistakes are a sales manager’s worst nightmare. Besides being expensive, they negatively impact productivity and team morale and can lead to loss of customer goodwill. These are the costs you can expect to incur if you hire a new sales representative:

• Recruiting Costs and Fees: Recruiting costs and fees will amount to about 25% of a new sales rep’s first-year salary. So, if you expect the new hire to earn $100,000, assume your cost will be $25,000. Interviewing candidates and creating a shortlist will take an estimated 25 hours. So, if you interview multiple candidates and several interviewers are involved in the process, figure 25 hours at a loaded cost of $100 per hour for a total of $2,500. With eSkill, you not only reduce the number of expensive bad hires but also identify quality applicants with more accuracy, reducing interviewing costs.

• Onboarding and Training: Onboarding and training expenses vary by organization. So, the cost will depend on your company’s requirements, program length, and internal process. In general, you should expect a minimum cost of $5,000.

• Salary and Benefits During Ramp Up: Your new hire will cost you money until they become productive. So, you need to factor in the cost of their salary and benefits for approximately six months. In this case, six months of salary plus benefits will cost $62,500–$50,000 + 25% for benefits.

You must also consider the potential cost of lost business and the effect on other team members. For instance, if the new hire damaged client relationships and lost business, you must factor in the cost of the lost business.

Add up these costs, and you will find that if your new sales representative does not work out, hiring and training costs could be around $750K to $1 million, AND you must hire and onboard someone new. So, you must invest the same amount again without knowing whether the second new hire will work out.

Why Sales Aptitude Tests Are Important

Pre-employment sales aptitude tests are essential because they help organizations recruit top-quality applicants from a limited talent pool.

Employers worldwide are struggling to find candidates with the skills to fill critical job vacancies because we are in the midst of an unprecedented talent shortage. In 2021, around 47.4 million workers quit their jobs during what is now called the Great Resignation. However, the problem is actually due to a skills gap that has been growing for the past decade.

Many organizations have adopted new technology and implemented digital transformation initiatives. So, their hiring needs have changed. Unfortunately, many applicants’ skills have not kept pace with these changes, and they do not have the skills employers need. This has caused a knowledge gap so acute that 71% of CEOs believe a talent shortage will be their most critical business challenge for the next ten years.

Hiring teams also know that the information candidates provide on their resumes is not always credible. According to a recent article in Entrepreneur, 55% of applicants lie on their resumes and during job interviews. A HireRight study estimates the number is much higher—closer to 85%. This means applicants with a “perfect” resume who present themselves well during interviews could be entirely wrong for a job.

Companies that test sales ability using an industry-leading assessment solution like the eSkill Talent Assessment Platform^TM can recruit top candidates for sales positions quickly and efficiently because they can instantly see which candidates have the required job skills.

Get Started with Sales Aptitude Tests

Sales skills assessments are the perfect solution for businesses that want to build a sales team that will generate leads and close business. They 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%.

The eSkill Talent Assessment Platform^TM is so easy to use that most organizations install it and begin using it the same day. However, they like knowing they can get help when and if they need it. Every eSkill client with a subscription is assigned a dedicated Assessment Success Manager. This means the HR leaders have a go-to person they can contact if they have questions or need assistance developing or implementing a new hiring strategy.

Do you want to learn how pre-employment sales aptitude tests can help you build a top-notch sales team? Contact us to request a demo.