B2B Sales Training and Messaging Programs

Best Practices

B2B sales playbooks and best practices to accelerate growth

Using Behavioral Analysis To Make Your Next Best Sales Hire

Helping HR managers hire sales team members

HR managers face a tough task of hiring sales team members.  Field sales positions require a unique set of skills and by definition, each candidate is going to be good at selling themselves in the interview process since their job includes selling everyday. 

So how do you see through the resume fluff and a good first impression to actually know which ones will succeed in the job?

The answer lies in behavioral analysis.  Utilizing behavioral analysis brings a deeper rigor to the review process of potential hires and avoids you having to make a “gut instinct” call on whom to hire. 

Making the case for Behavioral Analysis

By using Behavioral Analysis, you can see past the canned interview answers.  Each person has a natural style how they act and an adapted style that they utilize as way to fit in with their job and their peers.   By using a detailed questionnaire that detects each person’s natural and adapted styles, you can get the data you need to see how this person will perform in their job. 

This questionnaire process identifies three of the key areas that help you predict their ability to succeed at your company: 

  1. Behaviors: Learn how they will approach their job tasks, their communication style and how to effectively manage them to get optimal performance.  You get predictive data about how they perform under pressure, how they receive criticism, how they perceive themselves and clear guidance on areas of improvement.  

  2. Competencies and skills: This data gives managers a clear view of the skills of each candidate and measures them against the benchmark you have developed for the position. This scorecard format gives you numerical metrics to ensure your potential hire brings the necessary skills. Getting this data also provides a clear list of what additional items may require training for this team member to excel.

  3. Driving forces and motivators: Understanding an employee’s motivation sheds light on their ability to be a self-starter, overcome objections and ultimately to succeed in their job. 

By collecting this data and comparing it to a job benchmark you can get a much higher success rate in filling your open headcounts.

Measuring the impact of poor hiring decisions:

  • Sales Managers lose money when they get a poor performer on their team. 

  • HR Managers get a black eye for not doing a better job in filling the position

  • The company loses time and money as the hiring process needs to start over

  • Territory performance suffers from lack of sales coverage which creates opportunity for competition to address customer needs.

  • Morale suffers as existing team members try to make up the revenue gaps caused by underperformers.

To avoid poor hiring decisions don’t leave the decision up to your gut.   Call on the power of Behavioral Analysis to increase you will increase your hiring accuracy by 91%.

How it works

Step 1:  We provide the benchmark as the first step in the process.  All stakeholders contribute to the data and then a job report is circulated that must be agreed to by the group.  This consensus building makes sure that there is a fixed target for the job and that stakeholders can’t change their criteria for success after the screening process begins.

Step 2:  Validating the job benchmark against existing top performers in the role.

Step 3: Review job description and job postings for any changes needed to reflect the key accountabilities and requirements of the job. 

Step 4:  Compare potential candidates and their behavioral analysis against the job benchmark. 

Conclusion:  So don't let your next hiring decision rely on your gut when there are proven ways to get a more accurate assessment using Behavioral Analysis.  

Next Steps

If you want more information about how to screen your potential hires please contact us at www.TheVirtualCRO.com  

The Virtual CRO combines the behavioral analysis measurement program above with a qualitative assessment of candidates.  This assessment includes a communications audit, a performance review of past accomplishments and a sales presentation review.  If you would like to utilize our services please contact us for an introductory conversation.