Sales Exam Part One - Sales Skills Assessment

Expert Products - Services - Solutions:

1. I have expert knowledge of my organisation’s products, solutions, and services.

Validation Response:

How did you acquire your expertise, and what might you say to substantiate your expertise?

Expert Customers: 

2. I know what my organisation’s important customers must do to succeed in their business or purpose and how we contribute to their success.

Validation Response:

For the customer you know most about, describe what they must do well to succeed in their business and how your organisation contributes to their success.

Expert Differences: 

3. I understand how my organisation’s products, solutions, and services are different from competitive offerings, and I can explain each difference in two or three sentences.

Validation Response: 

How are your organisation’s primary products, services, or solutions different from those of your main competitors?

Advocate Writer:

4. My sales emails, letters, and sales proposals are very convincing and effective at persuading those I have not met to support buying from us.

Validation Response: 

If asked to advise a colleague how to write a winning proposal, what advice would you offer?

Advocate Presenter:

5. I am a very confident presenter and could give an impromptu ‘stand up’ product, solution, service presentation at a prospect’s board meeting, with five minutes' notice.

Validation Response: 

If asked, what advice would you offer others on delivering a board-level customer presentation?

Advocate Value: 

6. I am very good at explaining and presenting the bottom-line contribution or fiscal value that my organisation’s products, solutions, or services create for customers.

Validation Response: 

Give examples of the value created for customers by what you sell.

Communicator Listening:

7. I know that the mind filters information for what we want to hear. I counter this tendency and listen attentively when I need to. I use specific techniques to enhance my listening skills.

Validation Response:

What techniques do you use to listen attentively?

Communicator Questions:

8. I have very good questioning skills and find it easy to obtain sensitive and even confidential information from customers and colleagues.

Validation Response: 

How do you encourage disclosure of sensitive or confidential information?

Communicator People Reader:

9. I am very good at reading people from their circumstances, surroundings, appearance, communication, and online presence.

Validation Response: 

What indicators do you look for to assess personality, background, character and circumstance?

Mentalist Likability:

10. I understand the factors governing people’s first impressions of others and actively use this knowledge to create a positive impact through the first impressions that I leave with new people I meet.

Validation Response:

What are the top five things that you do to create a good first impression?

Mentalist Communicator:

11. I am conscious of the nonverbal communication that I project in conversations, and I take care to ensure that it is consistent with the things I say and the messages I want to convey.

Validation Response:

What are your main strategies for managing non-verbal communication?

Mentalist Harmoniser:

12. I understand how to quickly gain rapport with other people and habitually use my knowledge to increase harmony with the individuals and groups I interact with.

Validation Question:

What are the main things that you do to build rapport with people in sales situations?

Persuader Coaxing:

13. I know how to persuade other people to change their minds and adopt a different point of view, and I use my knowledge to help people achieve what they want to achieve.

Validation Response:

What do you do or say to change someone's opinion about something?

Persuader Influence:

14. I am very effective at influencing the actions of other people and can persuade them to do things that they do not want to do.

Validation Response:

What would you say or do to persuade someone to do something they did not want to do?

Persuader Sourcing:

15. I find it easy to have others do things for me or get help, time, and resources when needed.

Validation Response:

What do you do or say to get resources, time, or help from others:

Door Opener Prospecting:

16. I usually have enough sales leads and prospects to work on and know how to find more easily, if I need to.

Validation Response:

What do you do when you don’t have enough leads and sales prospects to work on?

Door Opener Engagement:

17. I achieve a high success rate when approaching senior executives to initiate a sales conversation.

Validation Response:

What do you say or do to achieve a high success rate when approaching senior executives?

Door Opener Networking:

18. I have a large network of customers, suppliers, business partners and other professionals. I usually find that someone in my network is connected directly or indirectly to those I want to reach.

Validation Response:

How often do you obtain an introduction to a sales prospect via someone in your network?

Qualifier Analyst:

19. I am very good at recognising and qualifying sales prospects based on public and published information that can be gathered without contacting them directly.

Validation Response:

What information do you look for to qualify sales prospects before you contact them?

Qualifier Predicting:

20. I know how to assess the likelihood of winning any particular sales opportunity and sometimes qualify out of a sale because we would have a slim chance of success.

Validation Response:

What questions do you ask to assess the likelihood of winning a sales opportunity?

Qualifier Forecasting:

21. My sales forecasts are usually more accurate than those of my peers and are normally within plus or minus 20% of my sales results.

Validation Response: 

What actions would you take if you had to improve your forecast accuracy?

Dealmaker Competition:

22. I know how to find out which competitor or solution is a customer’s preference, and I know how to change the customer’s preference when necessary.

Validation Response:

How would you discover a potential customer's preference if they declined to tell you, and what would you do to change their preference if it was for a competitor?

Dealmaker Timing:

23. I know the signs that indicate when buyers are ready to make a buying decision and take advantage of my knowledge to close sales.

Validation Response:

What are the signs that a potential customer is ready to make a buying decision?

Dealmaker Negotiation:

24. I know how to maximise customer satisfaction and our retained profits through effective negotiation, and I use my knowledge to good effect.

Validation Response:

If asked, what negotiation preparation guidelines, rules, and advice would you offer?

Organiser Preparation:

25. I prepare thoroughly for all important projects, conversations and meetings.

Validation Response:

List the things you do at the start of a sales year to ensure you achieve your annual target:

Organiser Planning:

26. I anticipate the threats, challenges and opportunities that I will face in my work and plan how to deal with them in advance.

Validation Response:

If you were forced to accept a 50% increase in your sales target 6 months into the year, what actions would you take to maximise your chances of achieving your revised target?

Organiser Process:

27. I use a multi-stage sales process to guide my actions, shorten the sales cycle, and progress sales opportunities.

Validation Response:

What are the stages in your sales process, and what criteria do you use to determine when a sales opportunity moves into each stage:

Problem Solver Solutions:

28. I find it easy to come up with solutions to difficult problems.

Validation Response:

What has been the most difficult work problem you have faced, and how did you solve it?

Problem Solver Methods:

29. When the solution to a problem isn’t apparent, I use a variety of methods and techniques to find a way forward.

Validation Response:

What are the techniques and methods that you use to overcome obstinate problems?

Problem Solver Prophet:

30. I am very good at estimating, anticipating, or predicting the outcome of a series of actions, or the output of systems based on known or estimated inputs. I am often able to predict what will happen because of a given event or set of events.

Validation Response:

What aspects of your competence enable you to predict what will happen in the future?