When you are working on landing a new sales job, your task is not only to impress during the sales interview. Most employers will also administer one or more sales assessments to test your strengths and selling knowledge. These sales assessments can seem like a challenge when viewed head on, but if you remember that selling is your business and know what to prepare for ahead of time you can take them in stride as part of the sales interview process.

Personality Sales Assessments: Measuring Who You Are

Personality sales assessments aim to measure your major personality traits in an attempt to determine how well you might fit into a company’s culture and whether your personality is a good fit for the products and services offered. The major traits these sales assessments most often measure are extroversion / introversion; integrity; dependability; and independence.

Personality sales assessments might be the easiest assessment you face in the interview process. After all, you are who you are, and these assessments are not graded as pass / fail. Take the time to consider the questions and answer according to your personal inclinations.

Critical Reasoning Sales Assessments: Gauging Your Analysis Skills

The goal behind critical reasoning sales assessments is understanding how you think when confronted with a problem. Since sales involve verbal communication and communication through numbers, you can expect that your reasoning skills in both of these areas will be tested. Questions on this type of assessment are widely assorted, and can include:

• Mathematical problems: Based on the above graphic, how much more sales share does Company X have than Company Y?
• Verbal problems: According to the paragraph you read on the previous page, which of the following statements are true?
• Written response problems: If you were confronted with the above scenario, how would you arrive at a solution?

These reasoning assessments do not necessarily have a correct or an incorrect answer. Your best approach is to think carefully about what each question is asking before providing the answer.

Selling Traits Sales Assessments: Evaluating Your Sales Characteristics

Selling traits assessments are similar to personality sales assessments, since they are both based on uncovering major traits. However, selling traits assessments are more specifically aligned with determining your selling style and how comfortable you are in different selling roles. Questions on these assessments might be in the following formats:

• Most/Least: Out of the four phrases for each question, pick one that you agree with the most and one that you agree with the least.
• Agree/Disagree: Choose how strongly you agree or disagree with each of the following statements.

As with personality tests, there are no wrong answers on selling trait sales assessments. It takes all types of sales people to make a successful sales team. Answer each question honestly and thoroughly. Certain trait assessments will provide you with information on your “selling type” at the end of the test, which can be useful for self-evaluation.

Ability Sales Assessments: Determining If You Can Sell

Of all the sales assessments that you might face during the sales interview process, the ability assessments are probably the ones foremost on your mind. You might be asked to take an ability assessment in which you self-evaluate your experience and skills, followed by an ability assessment in which someone else is the evaluator. The most common of these is the mock sales call. In any case, the ability sales assessments are your time to shine: Show how well you can sell!

It can be tempting to try to fool or “game” certain types of sales assessments by giving the answer you think the assessment is looking for, even if it is not the truthful answer. By doing this, you are shortchanging yourself; always give completely honest answers to the best of your ability on sales assessments in order to make sure that you find the right sales position with the right company.