Sales Force Training

If you're looking for good sales people, and particularly if you're trying to qualify candidates by phone, there is an emotional intelligence protocol you can utilize to better qualify candidates and save yourself time and money.

There has been much research conducted on what makes people successful at sales. EQ or Emotional Quotient competency assessments will help you hire the right sales person for your company.

At L’Oreal, sales agents who were selected on the basis of certain emotional competencies significantly outsold those agents chosen by the company's former selection procedure.

On an annual basis, sales people selected on the basis of EQ sold $91,370 more than other sales people did, for a net revenue increase of $2,558,360. There was also 63% less turnover during the first year of sales people selected on the basis of emotional competence (Spencer & Spencer, 1993; Spencer, McClelland, & Kelner, 1997).

The selection process at Met Life was costing the company losses in training and productivity. They found the new sales people who scored high in one particular EQ competency sold 37% more life insurance in their first two years than those who scored low or who were not tested for EQ (Seligman, 1990).

Emotional competency relates to job retention, as well. Sales reps at a computer company hired on the bases of their EQ were 90% more likely to finish their training, and sales people at a national furniture retailer with higher EQ had half the dropout rate during their first year. (Hay/McBer Research and Innovation Group, 1997).

Another good indicator of character, personality, and sales ability is the StrengthsFinderT Profile. This assessment can reveal whether a candidate has innate strengths, such as WOO (Winning Others Over), Positivity, Communicator, Activator and Focus, or whether the applicant has strengths in the areas of Strategic, Achiever, Relator, Intellection and Empathy.

An online EQ assessment interpreted by an EQ coach gives you valuable information on candidates. Credentials, work history and references are only part of the story, and visual cues are missing in phone interviews. If the person charged with hiring for your company works with an EQ coach on your selection procedure, you will greatly accelerate the learning curve.

Author: James A. (Jim) Baker
James A. Baker is the Chairman and Founder of Baker Communications. Baker is a sales training and development company specializing in helping client companies increase their sales and profits. He can be reached at 713-627-7700 or jim.baker@bakercommunications.com.