Resumes and interviews rarely tell the full story.
Candidates can present themselves well, but that does not mean they can prospect, reach decision-makers, or sell value.
Too often that gap shows up in MSP environments after you’ve gone through the hiring process and realize your new salesperson lacks the skills required to close.
Sending an assessment before reviewing resumes or scheduling interviews prevents that. Candidates are evaluated based on how they sell, not how they present.
Key takeaways
- Sales assessments reduce bias by evaluating candidates before resumes and interviews
- They uncover skills like consultative selling, coachability, and prospecting ability
- Assessments reduce time to hire by eliminating unqualified candidates early
5 ways assessments improve sales hiring
1. Screen candidates without bias
Bias appears early in the hiring process. Shared experiences between the interviewer and candidate, or strong personalities, influence decisions before skills are validated.
Assessments remove that variable. Every candidate is evaluated against the same criteria before background or personal preferences enter the process.
2. Reveal skills you can’t see on a resume
You need salespeople who can navigate complex buying groups, reach decision-makers, and close.
Those skills rarely show up on a resume.
Objective data highlights where candidates are strong and where they struggle. For example, aggregated data from sales candidates shows that 96 percent of salespeople handle rejection well. They’re comfortable hearing no. Far fewer (25 percent) are strong consultative sellers. Only 15 percent demonstrated they are skilled social sellers.
For IT providers, those gaps directly impact pipeline quality and deal progression.
3. Reduce time to hire without lowering standards
Sales roles attract a high volume of applicants. Reviewing resumes and managing early interviews takes hours each day.
Assessments reduce that workload fast. In one hiring process, an assessment eliminated 95 candidates before interviews began. Instead of reviewing every applicant, the team focused only on pre-qualified candidates.
4. Build a repeatable hiring process
MSPs can reduce the time it takes to hire if they follow a structured process. KLA Group sales hiring coaches recommend you always:
- Define the role and expectations
- Send the assessment early
- Interview only qualified candidates
- Align on performance expectations
- Support with onboarding and coaching
This removes guesswork and keeps hiring aligned across leadership.
5. Reduce the risk and cost of a bad hire
The cost of a bad sales hire is more than salary.
It includes:
- Time spent writing job descriptions, posting roles, reviewing resumes, interviewing, and onboarding
- Fixed costs such as compensation and benefits
- Lost opportunities when the salesperson fails to meet expectations
- Additional expenses like training to fill skill gaps
For MSPs, lost opportunities often mean delayed contracts, stalled pipeline growth, or missed expansion within existing accounts.
How to use sales assessments effectively
Choose a sales-specific assessment
Personality tests explain behavior. They do not predict sales performance.
At KLA Group, we use Objective Management Group’s assessments. These flat-rate tests are priced by role, not applicant. You could evaluate 10 candidates, or 110 candidates, for the same price. OMG’s evaluations are comprehensive, evaluating key competencies tied to success, including:
- Will to sell
- Sales DNA
- Hunting
- Consultative selling
- Reaching decision-makers
- Coachability
- Selling value
- Figure-it-out factor
These factors determine whether a candidate can perform in your sales environment.
Define what matters for your role
Different sales roles call for different skillsets.
An MSP focused on new business needs someone who can reach and influence decision-makers. A role focused on account growth needs consultative selling and relationship management.
Use assessment data to set clear thresholds. If reaching decision-makers is critical, and only 41 percent of candidates demonstrate that strength, you immediately narrow your focus.
Send the assessment before interviews
Candidates who interview well can create false confidence. Running the assessment first keeps the process grounded in their capabilities, not your biases.
Eliminate unqualified candidates quickly
Assessment platforms categorize candidates clearly, often as Recommended, Worthy of Consideration, or Not Recommended.
Focus on candidates who meet your criteria. Limit exceptions unless their strengths align directly with your role requirements.
Follow up fast with top candidates
Once a candidate meets your criteria, act. Delays increase the chance they accept another offer.
Bring structure to your hiring and avoid costly mistakes
Sales assessments reduce bias, cut down candidate volume, and highlight the skills that matter most in complex sales environments. More importantly, they help MSPs hire salespeople who can reach decision-makers, sell value, and generate revenue.
Discover the power of sales assessments
See how using a sales assessment led to a new hire generating three opportunities in five weeks and closing their first deal in 46 days.
FAQs
What’s the difference between a personality test and a sales assessment?
Personality tests explain how someone prefers to work. Sales assessments evaluate whether someone can perform in a sales role, including prospecting, consultative selling, and closing.
Should MSPs test candidates before or after interviews?
Before. Early testing filters out unqualified candidates and prevents interview bias from influencing decisions.
Why do sales hires fail in MSP environments?
Most failures come from unclear roles, hiring based on personality instead of skill, or lack of onboarding and coaching.
Photo: Andrii Yalanskyi / Shutterstock
This post originally appeared on Smarter MSP.