Sales Case Study

Problem and Setting
A large Business to Business sales organization contacted PsyMetrics looking to implement a new assessment program. The organization was not satisfied with its existing assessment vendor. They felt the assessments they were using were not effective in screening out poor sales performers.

Strategy The Professional Sales position examined for this study involved selling business products to management and executive level personnel. Based on a review of the job, the organization’s management determined that the following PsyMetrics Scales aligned with the sales position’s requirements: Achievement Drive, Assertiveness, Reliability, Self Confidence, Service and Stress Management.

In order to document the test battery’s validity and to assist in the setting of an appropriate cut score, these scales were administered to the organization’s sales staff. Supervisors were then asked to rate their employees on sales performance. Statistical analyses were then performed to determine the degree to which the PsyMetrics Scales were able to predict these sales performance ratings.

Conclusion The results of the statistical analyses concluded that the PsyMetrics scales were highly predictive of overall sales performance. By selecting candidates who score above the 70th percentile on the assessment, low performing sales employees were reduced from 20% to 4%; a reduction of 80%.

Use of these assessments significantly increased the
standardization, objectivity, fairness and validity of the
sales position selection process.