- August 10, 2006
- Posted by: Dave Kurlan
- Category: Understanding the Sales Force
One large company used OMG’s Sales Candidate Assessments to assess five candidates that were recommended by a standard personality test. To their surprise, all five candidates were very weak and ill-suited for the position. Although I wasn’t surprised, it’s always difficult to help clients through the difficult process of learning that their assessment of choice wasn’t providing the intelligence they had hoped for and required.
Candidate #1 was strong enough. She met both OMG’s and the client’s criteria but she lacked Commitment and Outlook.
Candidate #2 was very weak.
Candidate #3 was was stronger than #2 but not as strong as #1 – not recommended.
Candidate #4 failed to meet both OMG’s and the client’s criteria and was even weaker than #2.
Candidate #5 was the weakest of all, lacking Desire and Commitment, and having all of the major weaknesses.
These candidates weren’t different than the personality test indicated, they weren’t great candidates for this specific sales opportunity. They probably have sales personalities, but sales personalities aren’t predictive of performance!
Are you getting the intelligence you need to select the right salespeople for your company?