Predictive Sales Hiring Assessment | Treeline, Inc. Sales Recruiting

Remote Salesperson Hiring Assessment

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Inspiration

Value: This type of team tends to require more patience. They prefer to work in their own office or a private area. They are accustomed to selling a more complex type of solution or product and focus their efforts on creating exceptional presentations. They seek perfection on every call and do all the research necessary to move the prospect to a close. This team typically sells to higher-level executives looking for a solution to a complex problem. They sell fewer products with a larger sale size and longer sale cycle.

Volume: Your team focuses on volume and high activity. Sales forces that thrive on volume thrive on a higher level of daily and weekly prospect engagement which generally correlates to hire transaction volume. They are equally comfortable making calls in a noisy bullpen or multi-tasking on the road. This team typically makes commodity-driven sales with a lower dollar value and shorter sales cycle. Closing frequent deals gives them confidence and comfort, and they enjoy using their personality and relationships to close business. Their focus is typically on the small business owner.

We all think of the ultimate sales professional as a hard worker, someone with an entrepreneurial spirit and the desire to get the job done regardless of the sacrifices involved. He/she would be nothing without a strong work ethic…but what kind? In sales, one focuses on quality, the other on quantity. Which type does your sales team possess?

Sales Type

Transactional: Your salespeople are transactional and prefer to manage many concurrent sales processes that are shorter in duration. There is no RFP process and your team is built around high daily activity volume and many "wins." Typically the average dollar value of each transaction is smaller and the sales cycle is shorter. Additionally, the loss of a sale is less impactful given the higher volume of late stage prospects in the pipeline.

Strategic: Your salespeople are strategic and prefer fewer concurrent sales processes that are longer and more complex. Opportunities of this nature involve more pressure because of increased sales costs, dollar value, internal exposure, and a smaller number of late stage opportunities. The team is accustomed to a lower margin of error and the stakes are higher. The intellectual challenge and rewards are also greater. The nature of these sales tends to require a high intellect and a strong comfort in establishing relationships with multiple C-Level executives.

When assessing your sales type it is important to understand your sales process. Review your recent sales. Are they more strategic or transactional? If multiple decision-makers and a team approach were required to close the deal, your sales type is more strategic in nature. If your sales are relatively simple and quick to close, your sales type is more transactional. The way you track your team's sales is also telling. Do you monitor your team's sales forecast on a daily, weekly, monthly or quarterly basis? The shorter the tracked sales forecast the more transactional the sales type; longer forecasts typically indicate a more strategic sales type.

Recognized Need

Unrecognized: Your sales process is based on a unrecognized need. Your sales calls revolve around a buyer that did not understand your solution prior to the call, but clearly perceived value at the conclusion of the call. Your prospects often have a need, but do not necessarily initiate an evaluation and selection process due to a lack of awareness that a solution exits. As a result, budget is often not established in advance and the evaluation and selection process is not defined. Creating a need is substantially more difficult and time intensive. Your sales people need to be creative and enjoy the challenge of creating a need.

Recognized: Your sales process is based on a recognized need. Your sales calls revolve around a buyer that has a perceived need. In many cases, your clients perceive a need which precedes the evaluation and selection process initiated by the team. Explore the sales process to validate instances of perceived need. Your sales people may have a longer sales process with multiple meetings and find the sale to be more complex.

As sales professionals, it is our job to uncover a need. Some sales people are highly skilled at creating a need, while others are better at selling to an established need. Review your sales process and examine past successes. Look for instances in which your sales team had to create need. Did you find sales calls where the buyer did not understand the solution prior to the call, but clearly perceived value at the conclusion of the call? This is an example of a created need.

Sales Approach

Hunter: Your team's sales approach is that of a hunter. They are not afraid of rejection and have a high level of comfort prospecting, cold calling and introducing themselves to people they've never met. Hunters have "thick skin" and enjoy the thrill of the chase. They have a high level of self confidence and share a driver-type personality. A hunter is creative but unrelenting. They keep relationships business-like and have a take-charge attitude. They don't give up easily and are committed to the close.

Farmer: Your team's sales approach is that of a farmer. The farmer approach is more empathetic in nature. They are incredible at building relationships and are attentive to client needs. They are liked by others and work to leverage their relationships to secure additional business. They are very good at servicing their clientele and identifying additional buyers in an existing account. They tend to up-sell clients on additional products and services.

Salespeople vary in their ability to handle rejection and difficult client interactions. Prospecting, for instance, requires a “thick skin” and the ability to handle a lot of rejection, while account management requires a great sense of empathy and tolerance. Explore your current sales approach to see if your team is driven by cold calling and rejection or relationships. There are two types of sales people. The “hunter” enjoys the thrill of the chase and is not afraid of rejection. The “farmer” is more focused and comfortable working with his/her current clients. Which type of personality is a better fit for your team?

Drive

Assertive: Your sales team is assertive and perceives the responsibility to guide the prospect to a close. They find themselves obligated to advise prospects on their position. They can close business and are able to comfortably lead the prospect to the conclusion of the sales process and close at the appropriate time. They can move a person to seeing their point of view and advise on the necessary choice to satisfy a need.

Passive: Your sales team is assertive and perceives the responsibility to guide the prospect to a close. They find themselves obligated to advise prospects on their position. They can close business and are able to comfortably lead the prospect to the conclusion of the sales process and close at the appropriate time. They can move a person to seeing their point of view and advise on the necessary choice to satisfy a need.

Salespeople vary in their ability to close business at the natural conclusion of a sales process. Some put in a basic effort while others feel obligated to find a solution. Some respond uncomfortably if a client or prospect does not agree with them. Salespeople manifest persuasion in different ways. Some are more interested in agreeing with others to keep the peace while others will advocate and defend their position. They differ in the degree to which they will engage with the purpose of overcoming the objection.

Audience

General Decision-Maker: Your sales people find comfort in selling to the general decision-maker. They find common interests and tend to gravitate toward the average person. They could sell to a myriad of different people including gatekeepers, office managers, managers, directors, small business owners etc. They do not directly prospect and close the C-Level suite.

C-Level Executive: Your sales people resonate with the C-Level Executive suite. They find common interest and gravitate toward the top brass in a company and feel comfort in commanding the room when delivering a presentation. They are confident, impactful and find success by influencing the executive group. They do not find value in building relationships with the average decision maker. This is not the audience your sales people court. They consider it a waste of time unless the relationship is necessary.

Certain sales people resonate with C-Level buyers while others feel more comfortable with lower-level decision-makers. Explore your current sales process to determine with which audience your sales team finds the most comfort. Do they find common interests and comfort with the average professional? Or are they involved with C-Level buyers and complex processes with multiple buyer influences across several people?

Inside vs. Outside

Inside: If your sales team fills its pipeline mostly through the telephone, they are considered inside sales professionals. They are activity-driven, articulate and highly energetic. Most of all, your team feeds off each other, are very competitive and constantly push each other to succeed. They have strong phone presence and are very successful in building a rapport and relationship over the phone. They can ask for the order without meeting a prospect face-to-face. Typically, they are very comfortable with a matrix- driven sales environment where Key Performance Indicators help tremendously in their success. When adding to this team, it is imperative that prospective hires have the necessary skills and fit the culture.

Outside: If your sales team's pipeline is filled mostly through face-to-face contact, they are considered outside sales professionals. They are a team of autonomous, entrepreneurial professionals who gain market share by being in the field. They are incredibly resilient, hold themselves accountable and feel comfortable being on their own. They may enjoy the comradery of the team but don't need it to find success. They enjoy local, regional or national travel and are sometimes noted as "Road Warriors". They have welcoming personalities and find more success building relationships in face-to-face encounters. They close business because of their ability to present effectively in front of decision-makers. Any new additions to this team must be well-organized self-starters.

Every sales force is built around either an inside or outside sales model. Many companies vary the model and have inside sales representatives close business up to a certain dollar value while everything above that is passed to the outside sales team. Some sales forces have sales representatives cold call inside via the telephone but close in the field on appointments. This is considered an outside sales model because the sale is dependent on face-to-face presentation.

Average Deal Size

$0 - $10,000

$10,000 - $50,000

$50,000 - $250,000

$250,000 - $1,000,000

$1,000,000 - $3,000,000

The averages sales size is self-explanatory. It is the average revenue closed per sale. If your team is used to closing a deal with a product that costs $5,000, and on average three items are sold at a time, then the average sale size is $15,000. If the average sale includes products and services delivered over time and the cost ranges between $1-2 million, then the average sale size is $1.5 million.

Sale Cycle

One call close

1 Month - 3 Months

3 Months - 6 Months

6 Months - 9 Months

9 Months or more

The sales cycle is the average time it takes to work an opportunity from prospect to close. Some sales professionals enjoy a one-call close, and thrive on a quick decision from one decision-maker. Others are accustomed to the emotional highs and lows of a long sales cycle. They prefer a more methodical, detail-oriented and lengthy sales cycle with many variables and decision-makers.

Quota: What is the individual quota you assigned to each territory? (Ex: $1,200,000.00)

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