If hiring decisions are informed and justified, it can reduce most of the chances of recruitment mishaps in both the short and the long term. But, a minor hiring hazard can result in a staggering 80% turnover within a year, causing irreparable damage to your organization (HBR). 

Fortunately, with the onset of digital recruitment, gone are the days of a belief that only “a good hire takes time.” In this article, we'll unveil the sources of sales hiring issues and suggest a game-changing solution that can revolutionize your recruitment process with psychometric assessments.

What is the Problem?

1. Approximately 60% of interviewers will decide within 15 minutes whether a candidate is a good fit. 
2. According to HR professionals, a lack of soft skills was the biggest proficiency gap in their workforce after hiring. 
3. It was reported by Gallup that 74% of HRs had hired the wrong person for the job. 
4. The average job interview process lasts around 28 days, with stages lasting between 45 and 90 minutes.
5. Survey data from 251 salespeople showed that the analytical skills of a salesperson affect sales performance in various trading situations, and remain unassessed during traditional hiring.

Why are these challenges faced?

1. Biased Evaluation: The final evaluation is based on the first impression of the candidate, which may be biased.
2. Incomplete Evaluation: Inability to assess the behavioral or cognitive aspects of the applicant. 
3. Inaccurate assessment: Lack of objectivity while evaluating sales candidates.
4. One-to-one interview: Unnecessary consumption of time and energy, with  HRs losing patience. 
5. Language Barrier: Gap in communication due to cultural influence on voice and accent. 

A Step Towards Digital Recruitment:

The evolution of recruitment trends is heading towards the use of technology and data science when hiring. The use of technology provides tailored reports on candidate profiles with the utmost accuracy and in real time. The psychometric assessments facilitate the right matchmaking for the organization with top talents. It also projects a personalized candidate experience by the employer. In other words, digital recruitment aka pre-employment tests results in hiring smart and quick. These psychometric assessments also provide a great brand impression of the company, due to the smooth recruitment experience of the candidates.

(1) Competency Assessed in Sales Profile Test:

Did you know? 67% of HR managers said they would hire a candidate with strong soft skills even if his or her technical abilities were lacking. And only 9% of recruiters are willing to hire someone with strong technical credentials but weak soft skills. A salesperson needs to possess a few critical sales competencies in the right proportion to maintain high productivity. 

The benchmarks for a sales representative are determined by the ideal needs of the organization. Each sales competency differently influences the overall on-job performance of the sales candidates. For instance, it can be in regard to their process and flow of outbound sales. This makes it easy for talent managers to provide appropriate sales training. Some prominent traits of an ideal sales rep can be listed as follows:

• Social boldness- To be able to deal with situations like pitching their product, selling challenges, and interacting with strangers.
• Positivity- To be able to bounce back from difficult situations after constant rejections. 
• Workplace Motivation- To achieve targets, with internal and external motivation toward a job.
• Group orientation- To be open to constructive criticism, take other people's opinions seriously, and work cooperatively. 
• Liveliness- To maintain client relationships, by being an ambivert and by being positive.

(2) Different Sales Assessments for all Types of Sales:

Just like the various requirements of an industry or organization, the job role in sales also influences the benchmarks of sales skills and competencies. Hence, customizable psychometric assessments are more efficient in the candidate evaluation process to find potential sales leads. Some sales aptitude tests that PMaps provides for the assessment of outbound sales candidates in all types of sales are as follows:

• Direct Sales Assessment – For B2C sales: Identifying the right candidate with the best approach and relationship-building skills, and assessing the applicant's awareness of the art of selling services and products directly to individuals.
• Channel Sales Assessment – For B2B sales: Analyzing the distribution and reselling skills of the sales candidates. Gauging their best abilities to reach businesses and customers through third-party channels.
• Telesales Assessment – For inside sales/remote sales: Testing a candidate's soft skills and communication skills test suitability for objection handling and emotion control while dealing with prospects via the phone or online.

What PMaps Sales Assessment has to offer?

What makes the PMaps set of Sales Assessments stand out? The answer is simple…These sales test profilers are flexible to accommodate the different types of sales domains… Once the targets of hiring are set, a group of experts arranges a pilot test to identify the appropriate benchmarks for each of the competencies. The arrangements are made regarding the client organization's hiring concerns. 

The sales aptitude tests are thereby neatly integrated with data-driven algorithms. These drive the reliability and validity of the sales aptitude test, obtaining highly trustworthy results in real time. They also predict and formalize sales development for the sales team. Some of the more exclusive features of the PMaps Sales Assessment are mentioned below:

• Effectively hire the right candidate in less than 20 mins. 
• Secured platform 
• Proctoring facilities
• Customizable assessments
• Language Agnostic; Visual-based
• Bias-proof
• Predictive analysis
• Can tap  talent orientation
• Wide range of device compatibility
• User-friendly and engaging
• Cost-efficient
• In-depth understanding of the candidate's personality and attitude 

Conclusion 

How often do you compromise on hiring the ‘right sales candidate' towards building a ‘perfect sales team'? Perfection is a myth, and similarly enough, finding an ideal sales rep is an unachievable quest. However, that does not mean recruiters have to helplessly watch the hiring process go from bad to worse,  resulting in a great loss of both time and money. The right hire is not about the perfection of the candidate but about the compatibility of the individual with the organization and its values. PMaps promises to help you attain your recruitment goals quickly but without any undue hurry. This will ensure that you always make the right hiring decision!

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