How Personality Tests Support Top Sales Performance

Anyone who manages an independent insurance agency knows how critical it is to hire a good salesperson—and how catastrophic it can be to bring in the wrong one. Unlike the corporate world, where strength in numbers often allows underperforming reps to limp along in the shadows, small businesses must get the most out of each employee.

Perhaps you’ve used—or have considered using—a personality assessment to screen sales applicants. Provided you use an established and scientifically validated assessment tool, you have little to lose and a lot to gain from finding out whether your candidate possesses an intrinsic sales motivation.

Still, you may not be getting full value from your investment.

Businesspeople tend to think of personality assessment results in binary terms: recommended vs. not recommended, good salesperson vs. bad salesperson. But assessments, if applied to their fullest capability, actually have a variety of built-in benefits:

1) Sales potential exists across multiple dimensions. A candidate can be great in an aggressive hunter sales environment but poor in one that values cultivating relationships. Another might be weak in a sales role that calls for influence and persuasion but strong when account oversight is the key to success. It depends on what, to whom and where your employee is selling. Your assessment results reveal not only general sales motivation, but also how well your candidate measures up against those business-environmental factors.

2) There’s no such thing as a perfect candidate. Personality assessments reveal strengths and limitations across a spectrum of behavioral dynamics. You can use that information to target your follow-up interview questions and get at your performance concerns.

3) You can revisit the results later to guide your coaching and career development efforts—and to address bad habits that have crept in.

4) Assessments often include a phone consult with an expert adviser who can help you pinpoint the issues above and maximize your use of the results.

Think of a personality test as your agency’s Swiss army knife for hiring and developing top sales performers.