Pre-Employment Tests For Sales Representatives (Technology)
Top Skills and Abilities:
- Oral Expression
- Persuasion
- Social Perceptiveness
- Active Listening
- Speech Clarity
Top 3 Tasks:
- Contact current or potential customers to promote products or services.
- Negotiate prices or other sales terms.
- Gather customer or product information to determine customer needs.
Overview
For some companies, sales representatives are required to have a certain degree of technical or scientific knowledge in order to sell a particular good or service. These technical sales people must be able to explain complex concepts and products to potential customers in an easily understandable and appealing way. This means that listening to the needs of their prospects is an extremely important aspect of the job. They may also be required to negotiate prices, terms, or service agreements. If a sale is made, they may also be required to manage the account or facilitate a hand off to an account manager.
Requirements
Technology sales reps need to be comfortable with both oral and written expression and comprehension. They also need to be comfortable working with and talking about technology.Sales representatives selling software or technical products often communicate through phone calls and computer-based exchanges rather than face to face interactions. This means they need to be adept at communicating across these platforms. Because technical sales require a more consultative approach than transactional sales does, building relationships with customers is an important part of the role. (Read our whitepaper to learn more about how to hire top salespeople.)
Assessments for Sales Representatives (Technology)
When testing technology sales representatives, we recommend administering two tests: the Criteria Cognitive Aptitude Test (CCAT), an aptitude test, and the Employee Personality Profile (EPP), a personality test.The CCAT measures critical thinking skills, problem solving ability, and attention to detail. The test contains specific suggested score ranges for sales representatives. The EPP is a personality test that assess twelve different personality traits associated with success in a variety of jobs. It also contains position-specific benchmarks for sales representatives based on traits correlated with success in the role.
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Source: U.S. Department of Labor