Sales Managers Mastermind: Micro-Learning

Why Testing Matters

Hey, it's Jody from Sandler Keystone. In this video we're going to talk about testing candidates in the recruiting and hiring process. This video is important because many sales managers go with their gut, or they overestimate industry or resume experience in the interview process. They get so emotionally involved that they're not objective, and they don't have any validated testing data to surface hidden weaknesses or things they may miss in the screening process.

Without a test, it's very common for me to be coaching a manager — maybe 20 years into their career — who isn't using testing at all. They're no dummies, and they'll say, "I know the industry, I'm good at reading people, I've hired a ton of people over the years — do I really need a test?" But then I'll ask: of the 20 people you've hired over the years, have they all worked out? Of course the answer is no. So the ones that didn't work out — you're smart, you know the industry, you have a good gut, yet you still hired them and made a mistake. The purpose of a test or screening tool is to take the emotion out of the process so we can more objectively get a third-party, outside opinion from someone who isn't emotionally involved, giving us their take on what we may be missing in the interview.

The True Cost of a Wrong Hire

When managers do the math on what it costs to have the wrong hire, they're not always factoring everything in. They'll say, "We pay them 75 grand a year, got it." But what about the cost of training them? Flying them to the home office? Product knowledge training? That might be 10 grand. Formalized sales training? Another 10 grand. Benefits? Around 20 grand. Travel? Auto?

Then if they're around for a year and don't work out, they've probably burned through leads, maybe messed up a territory, screwed up an account, and failed to prospect and grow the territory the way a good seller would have. That can cost half a million to a million dollars. So a wrong hire isn't just a lost salary — when most people do the full math, it's a half-million to million-dollar-plus mistake. When someone tells me they're not sure they want to spend a small, insignificant amount on testing, it's like — really?

When to Test in the Process

Most people test after they've reviewed a resume, done a phone interview, and maybe a face-to-face interview. That's not horrible, but the best practice is to test earlier — so you're not wasting time on people who aren't going to pass the assessment anyway. Imagine a manager spending time interviewing four or five candidates, only to find three of them don't pass the objective assessment. Four interviews, four people traveling, all that complexity — and three are going to get kicked out of the process because the assessment clearly shows they're not hireable. Why wouldn't you do that earlier?

Some people test as soon as someone applies. Others do it after a brief 15-minute phone screen to determine whether a candidate moves to a longer interview. Either way, moving the test earlier in the process is the best practice, and most people don't do that.

What a Good Assessment Should Measure

When it comes to testing, there are a number of good tools out there. The best ones look at things like a candidate's desire for success, their ambition, their drive — that energy that is universal among top salespeople. They also examine mindsets and attitudes toward selling, as well as skill sets around hunting, farming, or account management.

There are plenty of salespeople with impressive resumes where the interview won't surface the fact that all those years they were primarily account managers. That's fine if you're hiring an account manager, but most sales managers today are looking for hunters — people who can open new doors, grow existing business, and close. The resume says 20 years in sales, but maybe they've been babysitting accounts and just maintaining them. If that's what you're looking for, great, but most people today need someone who's hungry, has hunting skills, and can grow business.

Another thing to look for in an assessment is how effectively candidates qualify opportunities. Are they chasing and quoting early, doing what we call unpaid consulting — just throwing a bunch of stuff at the wall? Or are they good at consultative selling, asking the right questions, getting to multiple decision makers, and managing a complex sale from start to finish? Any assessment you look at should be covering all of those things.

The challenge is that some people use assessments that are essentially personality tests. You certainly want to know if someone is psychologically well-balanced, but a psychological test isn't necessarily a good indicator of whether they can close, prospect, or deal with rejection. Someone may be psychologically balanced, but that might not be the profile for someone dealing with rejection day in and day out. You need someone with a thick skin.

Test Every Single Candidate

If you take one thing from this video, it's this: test. It sounds simple, but I can't tell you how many people don't do it. If you do it later in the process, that's better than not doing it at all — but I recommend earlier. Test every single candidate. Don't cherry-pick who you assess.

There are candidates you'll be fooled by — you'll say, "I don't need to test them, they know our industry, I've known them for 15 years." They'll get through, and there will be a problem. There are others where you look at the resume and think you're not sure about them, and then the assessment comes back and you think, "Whoa — that's someone worth interviewing." So test, test, test. Now that we've talked about testing, you may want to watch my video on interviewing.