How a Small Business Can Avoid
Hiring the Wrong Sales People

A basic sales assessment scoring system to help
small businesses hire their first sales representatives

All successful small businesses, in order to grow, reach a point where they have to hire one or more sales representatives. Many owners put the decision off for as long as possible because they don’t have the experience or skill set to select the right sales people.

Their trepidation is well founded. Even in well established companies, one out of three sales people terminates within 18 months of hiring.

In a small business the consequences of a sales person’s leaving can be traumatic in terms of wasted time and money, not to mention alienated prospects and customers.

Here’s how you can avoid hiring the wrong sales person:

After checking references, contacting previous employers and verifying resume information, find out if the potential new hire can sell your products and services. To do this, we recommend that you require sales candidates to make a simulated sales presentation.

Using the three-step process described below, you can judge sales people the same way prospects and customers do: as the sales person presents your company’s products
and services.

Here’s how it works:

Step 1: Provide sales candidates with information about your company and a typical sample buying company. Along with basic company information, describe a selling situation that includes the buyer’s objectives, current methods, application specifics, cost data and competitive factors.

Step 2: Give the sales person five days to prepare a sales presentation and schedule an appointment for the sales candidate to a make simulated sales call on the sample buying company.

Step 3: Choose someone, perhaps yourself, who is qualified to act as the “buyer” for the sample company and then rate the sales person’s performance in 10 sales skill areas shown on the form below. Grade each sales skill from 1 to 5 indicating Poor to Excellent performance for each sales skill, then add the scores for a total rating.

The resulting numerical score and rating will give you a way to objectively compare sales people for hiring decisions and will pinpoint where they need training and mentoring.

We suggest you perform the basic sales assessment shown below before hiring and after training new sales people. Simply circle a score for each sales skill and add them for a total score.

Sales Competency Profile

Name of Sales Person: ___________________________________________
Date: _____________________________________

Sales Skills Scores:

Poor = 1 Fair = 2 Good = 3 Very Good = 4 Excellent = 5

1. Created a favorable first impression 1 2 3 4 5

2. Use of conversational and listening skills
to engage the buyer's interest 1 2 3 4 5

3. Presentation management – made effective
use of the buyer's time 1 2 3 4 5

4. Created buyer confidence – presentation
of company credentials, products & services 1 2 3 4 5

5. Identified the buyer's needs and solutions 1 2 3 4 5

6. Qualified the buyer & the decision chain 1 2 3 4 5

7. Communicated a Total Value Proposition 1 2 3 4 5

8. Handled buyer objections 1 2 3 4 5

9. Closed the sale - advanced the sales process 1 2 3 4 5

10. Presentation organization 1 2 3 4 5

Overall Sales Competency Rating: __________

10 – 18 Poor – has inadequate sales presentation skills
19 – 27 Fair – requires significant training on presentation techniques
28 – 36 Good – has average sales presentation skills
37 – 44 Very Good – has better than average sales presentation skills
45 - 50 Excellent – has superior sales presentation skills

Remarks: ________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________

Go to www.SalesJudge.com for more information on sales assessment solutions