Do Sales Aptitude Tests Really Work?
Sales Aptitude Tests have gone through years of development.
In the beginning, sales aptitude tests measured an applicant's ability to "respond in the right way" to typical sales situations. The focus of these tests was on presenting an objection or a closing sequence to an applicant. The applicant was supposed to pick the right answer from a series of choices.
Whether this type of selling every worked (the Ben Franklin Close, the Alternate of Choice Close) it sure as heck doesn't work today. Yet, Sales Aptitude Tests continue to be sold to unsuspecting Sales Managers. Run, don't walk from this.
Psycholgical mumbo jumbo like Sales Call Reluctance testing is also out there. I struggled to read the book written by the psychologists who developed this test. It's a very impressive book. Unfortunately clients who had used it prior to joining us report it produced mediocre results. Maybe they didn't understand the book either. Too boot it is very expensive.
We suggest, instead, using a profiling strategy that is easy to understand. (And that is priced so you can test every applicant.)
What works in sales aptitude testing is focusing on picking the right personality style -- both values and style. The original work on sales aptitude testing, published in "Harvard Business Review" in 1964, can be found here.
Advanced Hiring System uses the sales aptitude tests cited in this Harvard Business Review article.. For more that 45 years now, top performing sales organizations have been using it because it works.
Here are the simple steps to proper sales aptitude testing:
- First, use a scientifically validated Values assessment.
- Then, after the applicant passes Values, measure Personality Style.
You'll become a sales hiring genius -- and you'll spend less than a week's draw to test every applicant to pick the best ones who should be interviewed.
If you'd like to learn more about Sales Aptitude Tests, call us at 703-229-4224 (US). We're happy to share what we've learned.