Sales Test Blog: Sales Assesment Testing|Connie Kadansky

When you hire a salesperson, you are renting their behavior

Dave, a good friend of mine who has been a sales manager for many years, said that when he hires a salesperson he is “renting their behavior.”

How curious are you as to whether the sales candidate that you are considering has the behaviors that you are willing to rent? The SPQ*Gold will highlight the behaviors that are going to serve your organization well and also shine a light on behaviors that may be a cause for concern.

How serious are you about thoroughly inspecting and investigating before you sign your offer? Please call Connie Kadansky, 602-380-5431 to find out how easy and stream lined her process is to assess you sales candidates prior to hiring them.

How the SPQ helps you avoid the “honeymoon” blinders with new hires!

How often do newlyweds start noticing a habit about their cherished spouse on the honeymoon and they choose to turn a blind eye?

Guess what? Employers do the same! It takes significant time and energy to hire new salespeople. Once hired, employers are on their best behavior. The new hire is on their best behavior. They are both excited about the possibilities. However, in the first couple of weeks, employers can start noticing habits and/or behaviors that are NOT what they want to see. They turn a blind eye and hope for the best.

Very rarely do salespeople have completely developed skill sets! Most employers know that their new-hire is a work in progress who requires training, development and coaching.

The SPQ will not only assist in the interviewing, pre-hire stage; it will clearly define areas for skill development so that employers are not blindsided after months have gone by, a lot of internal questioning and wasted opportunities.

Please feel free to call Connie Kadansky about how to use the SPQ for coaching and development. 602-380-5431

“Will the SPQ tell me if my candidate wants to make money?”

That was a question asked by a real estate broker who wants to hire agents who have the fire in the belly to make money.

Yes, the goal level measurement will tell you whether they are emotionally engaged in their personal and professional goals. The higher the goal level the more fire in the belly.

Please call Connie Kadansky at 602-380-5431 if you do not care about Sales Call Reluctance and only want an assessment that will tell you if your candidate has needs and values that are around money.

Sure-Fire Tips for Spotting Sales Call Reluctance

Here are some insider tips you can use right now to Spot Sales Call Reluctance:

Don’t be fooled by the billboard effect.
Candidates who invest too much energy into looking good don’t have a lot left over for prospecting, which they often find humiliating and demeaning. They may have Hyper-Pro Call Reluctance.
Avoid virtual success.
Is your energetic new prospective seller “empowered”? “Grounded”? “Enabled”? Do they arch their eyebrows and boast of being “values-driven”? Of having “integrity”? If so, stop, squint, and look closer. Overuse of semi-psychological trash words could point to someone who is preoccupied with the self-help seminar industry – always searching, never finding, no time left over to prospect. Visualizing new business is not the same as prospecting.
Demo for dollars.
Trainers, how your new salespeople see you manage your call reluctance is the best predictor of how they will manage theirs – for the rest of their sales career.
All light, no heat?
Listen for rigid, unrealistic optimism throughout the interview. Contrary to popular mythology, frozen optimism is not always characteristic of high self-esteem. When it comes to sales selection it can also indicate entrenched emotional denial which characterizes Role Rejection Call Reluctance.
High potential, higher cost?
Listen carefully when interviewing experienced salespeople. Count the number of times you hear complimentary statements and direct or indirect criticisms. Salespeople with career-lethal doses of Oppositional Reflex Call Reluctance criticize far more often than they compliment. Many never compliment at all. Ever. They also don’t produce. They do, however, waste endless hours arguing about why. (Early studies showed they also tend to look impressive on the surface, which is why they tend to be financed higher than other new salespeople.)

Call Reluctance® is a registered trademark of Behavioral Sciences Research Press, Inc

“You saved me from another bad hire.”

Recently an seasoned owner of an executive recruiting firm interviewed a candidate who seemed to pretty impressive. He invested in the SPQ*Gold assessment and the candidate’s impression management score was high (meaning heads up to embellishment and exaggeration.) Even though some salespeople may score high in this area, they can actually prove that in the past they have been above average producers. I encouraged this owner to request the candidate provide copies of W-2’s for the past two years in order to move forward.

Guess what? He never heard from the candidate again.

The owner called me and said, “The SPQ*Gold test did it again. It saved me from a bad hire.”

Very few assessments have measurements for response consistency, hedging and impression management. That is another reason to invest in the Sales Call Reluctance assessment.

exaggeration — How do you know if your candidate is exaggerating?

Engaged or not engaged?

In addition to assessing for Sales Call Reluctance, the SPQ*Gold assessment will also tell you whether the candidate you are interviewing is truly engaged and emotionally connected to their goals.

Someone can be good at what they do. However, if they are not emotionally connected to the “why” behind what they are doing. . . you may be hiring someone who takes a significant amount of management time to monitor and motivate.

Please call Connie Kadansky, 602-380-5431, to discuss the streamlined process to assess candidates prior to hiring them! Connie@Exceptionalsales.com

Serious CEOs and managers take the SPQ*Gold assessment

what

Another courageous CEO took the SPQ*Gold assessment today. He just hired another salesperson and is determined to set the salesperson up to succeed.

By investing the time and dollars he discovered that he experiences Role Rejection Call Reluctance. Why is this so important? Because Role Rejection Call Reluctance is highly contagious. He’s willing to shift his fixed mindset about selling and identify with the professional, seasoned salespeople versus the underdeveloped amateurs. Leaders can contaminate the very people they intend to inspire.

The research shows that in some sales organizations Role Rejection Call Reluctance is pervasive throughout their organization.

It takes humility to be assessed and find out that “you” may be part of the problem.

Hiring authorities throughout industry count on Connie Kadansky, SPQ*Gold consultant, to assist them in identifying salespeople who will prospect consistently.

A Tired Salesperson is a Lousy Salesperson

My good friend and sales trainer extraordinare Rory Clark, CEO of Focus $elling, says that “A tired salesperson is a lousy salesperson.”

Who could argue with that?

The SPQ*Gold assessment includes a measurement for physical and psychological energy. How important is it to know whether the salesperson you are considering hiring actually has enough gas in their gas tank or juice in their battery to get out there and prospect, generate leads and follow through?

Sometimes salespeople who score low on motivational energy, say “I am a marathon runner, how can I be low on energy?” Well, just becomes someone is a runner, doesn’t mean that they have enough energy left for a full-fledged sales career making and showing up to 12-15 appointments a week.

Connie Kadansky, administers the only assessment in the world that measures Sales Call Reluctance plus motivation, goal level, goal diffusion and problem solving. Please call her at 602-380-5431 or email her at connie@exceptionalsales.com

Sales assessment testing could have saved this employer $3,825!

Recently I cold called an employer inquiring about how his salespeople were doing with prospecting. He was a happy-go-lucky guy and said, “We are doing okay now. However, I just got rid of a guy who didn’t want to interrupt prospects.” This employer paid $4,000 to a salesperson who did not produce one penny.

So, decision time! Does it make more sense to invest $175 in a pre-hire sales assessment or to spend two month’s of base salary to find out a salesperson has Yielder Sales Call Reluctance?

This does not include the time and effort spent to train and develop this individual, plus lost opportunity costs.

Yielder Sales Call Reluctance is the most costly type of call reluctance and the most common. Salespeople with this behavior do not want to interrupt their prospects. They do not want to be pushy or intrusive. They make better account managers than account developers.

Save yourself a whole lot of money, plus headaches, by assessing sales candidates prior to hiring them.

Proper administration of a sales test or assessment is so important

How do you feel when someone wants to give you a “test?” Most of us have a little anxiety around taking a test. I immediately remember how overconfident I was at age 16 when I went to take my first driving test and I did not pass! I was devastated because my girlfriend passed it the same day getting 100%.

We encourage our clients to position the SPQ Gold assessment as a part of their “interviewing” process. Notice “interviewing” process and not “hiring” process. Also we recommend you refer to it as an assessment and not a test.

We recommend that our clients have their candidates take the assessment in their office under standardized conditions. It normally takes 40-45 minutes. If it is not possible to have your candidates take the assessment in your office, please talk with Connie Kadansky as to how to properly administer the assessment through email instructions, etc.

If you are going to invest in an assessment, why not make sure that you are properly administering the assessment? This is positive for you and for your candidates.

Connie Kadansky, authorized/certified licensee providing the only assessment in the world that measures Sales Call Reluctance. connie@exceptionalsales.com or 602-380-5431