Imagine If Your New Salesperson Came with a Manual

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Wouldn’t it be fantastic if every new hire on your sales team arrived with their own personalised instruction manual? Imagine knowing, right from the start, exactly how to motivate them, what challenges they’ll naturally excel at, and where they might need a little extra coaching. This isn’t a “pie in the sky” dream; it’s precisely the power offered by a great salesperson profile, especially in a field where true sales prowess can be so hard to pin down.

 

Think about it: sales success isn’t just about hitting targets. It’s a complex dance of personality, cognitive agility, and genuine drive. A comprehensive profile assessment pulls back the curtain on these crucial elements. It’s like getting an X-ray of a candidate’s potential, moving far beyond what you can glean from a resume or an interview.

 

So, what would this “manual” tell you about a top-tier salesperson?

 

Here’s the typical insights you’ll gather about each individual you’re about to hire:

 

  • Inner drive and ambition: This isn’t just about being competitive; it’s about a deep-seated tendency to spot opportunitiesand relentlessly pursue them. They take calculated risks, assume responsibility, and are motivated by progress. These are ideal “hunter” candidates for pioneering new markets or initiatives.

 

  • Ability to connect and strategise with clients for the long haul: These individuals act as trusted advisors, building long-term relationships. They’re the “farmers”, great at understanding client needs and adapting. Investing in their client relationships means significant long-term returns.

 

  • Proactive approachto initiating sales: They don’t wait for leads—they go out and generate new business. With the right guidance, they can expand outreach and benefit from well-applied pressure to fuel their initiative.

 

Beyond their behaviour, the “manual” also delivers insights to their:

 

  • Cognitive strengths: Can they grasp complex ideas, apply logic, understand data, and communicate clearly? These factors impact how fast they learn, adapt, and sell effectively.

 

If you discover someone quickly grasps complexity or is strong with numbers, your training can be tailored to maximize their strengths. If someone’s abilities exceed the role’s demands, the manual might even flag a risk of disengagement due to lack of challenge.

 

Great People Inside’s USP

 

Unlike traditional fixed assessments, where content is dictated by the test provider, our customisable technology lets you develop an assessment tool that precisely measures what you want.

 

This is a game changer. It gives a data-driven, objective understanding of fit for a role, helping you make informed hiring decisions based on data, not gut feel. And it goes beyond recruitment—supporting development plans, targeted coaching, and a high-performing sales team.

 

In today’s nuanced sales landscape, having this “manual” isn’t a luxury—it’s a necessity for sustained success.

 

What are your biggest challenges in hiring top salespeople? Share your thoughts and experiences in the comments below, or message us directly to explore how GPI can help your business.

 

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Recruitment Roulette: Stop Gambling and Start Winning the Talent Lottery

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Have you ever experienced that rush of anxiety when you must recruit a new critical role? It’s a feeling where you instinctively brace yourself for the journey ahead – the talent hunt, the associated recruitment fees, the extensive interviews, onboarding complexities, and the inherent risk of a mis-hire that can significantly impact productivity and resources. Yet, what if your ideal candidate isn’t on “Seek” or “Indeed” or trawling through LinkedIn, but is already an integral part of your team?

 

Seems like a pretty straightforward concept, doesn’t it? “I know my team; I understand their capabilities.” And certainly, you’re aware of their current performance. However, how comprehensive is that understanding? Do you truly know the full scope of their skills, their unexplored experiences, or the knowledge they possess that hasn’t been directly relevant to their current position? You recruited them for a specific role, but what untapped potential might you be overlooking?

 

Mary’s Unveiled Potential: A Strategic Imperative for Talent Identification

 

Consider the story of “Mary” from my experience. When managing the Clinical Business Unit for a prominent dental distribution company – guiding a workforce exceeding one hundred people – my primary objectives revolved around fostering business growth and enhancing operational efficiency. Like many in leadership, my focus was on profitable revenue generation and effective cost management.

 

Mary was a consistent top performer in sales, calling on dental practices. With a background as a dental assistant, her product and procedural knowledge was extensive. Despite a  number of opportunities for Sales Manager, Regional Team Leader and Product Management roles, Mary never expressed interest in advancement. I simply assumed she was content in her current position.

 

Then, during a conversation with another team member, Mary’s “secret life” came to light. It turned out that in her personal time, she was deeply involved with a national charity, holding significant responsibility for training and developing a large volunteer base across Victoria. The level of organisation, leadership, and people management she demonstrated outside of her professional role was truly remarkable – far exceeding what her daily responsibilities would suggest.

 

Over a discussion, I asked her why she never pursued more senior roles within the business, with their associated remuneration and status. Her response was both clear and insightful: “I earn enough to fulfill my own needs. When my calls conclude for the day, my work responsibilities end, allowing me to dedicate my time to supporting others less fortunate.” Mary was an exceptional individual, content and demonstrating a profound understanding of work-life balance long before it became part of the vernacular.

 

Critical Considerations in Talent Management

 

While Mary was satisfied, her story highlighted several critical considerations that remain highly relevant for today’s HR and Operations leaders:

 

  • Undiscovered Ambition:There’s a real possibility that highly capable individuals, like Mary, might desire advancement but aren’t the type to proactively self-promote or express their ambitions openly.

 

  • Missed Connections:Relying on chance conversations to uncover talent risks overlooking significant potential. A structured approach is essential to avoid such oversights.

 

  • Hidden Capabilities:Lots of “Marys” likely exist within your business—individuals with impressive capabilities that simply aren’t displayed or used in their current roles.

 

  • Talent Drain:Failing to identify and develop internal talent can lead to valuable employees departing the business because they haven’t been afforded opportunities to realise their full potential internally.

 

These considerations highlight the substantial cost of external recruitment. Studies tell us total cost of hiring a new recruit can vary between 33% and 60% of the annual salary, depending on the role, big money in any language!

 

Initiative-taking Talent Insights: A Strategic Advantage

 

In many organisations, gaining a comprehensive understanding of every employee’s latent ability through informal interactions simply isn’t feasible. However, you can acquire deeper insights. You can identify what truly motivates your team members and where their undeveloped potential lies, aligning these insights with your organisational needs.

 

How? By dedicating the same level of strategic focus to understanding your existing workforce as you do to assessing external candidates. High-quality psychometric assessments, such as Great People Inside (GPI), offer a cost-effective, technology-driven solution. They provide a robust dataset on individual strengths, developmental areas, and potential for career progression. This approach moves beyond basic performance metrics, allowing you to uncover hidden talent and ensure you never overlook valuable individuals again.

 

So, the critical question for HR and Operations leaders today is this: Is the ideal candidate for your next key vacancy already in your business? And consider the implications of failing to discover them. The opportunity cost of inaction could be eye watering!

 

Don’t get hidden talent slip through the cracks. Click the LINKS to explore how Great People Inside can help you uncover and develop internal potential:

 

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The DNA of a Top Salesperson: What Truly Drives Sales Success in 2025?

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Is Your Sales Team Engine Misfiring?

 

Who doesn’t love the Matildas? After their inspiring run to the semi-finals at the 2023 FIFA Women’s World Cup, they became national heroes, setting unprecedented expectations for consistent top performance.

 

Yet, despite their immense talent and ‘champion’ status, there have been periods since where they haven’t always consistently ‘fired’ at that same peak, reminding us that even the best teams can face challenges in maintaining their highest gear, whether due to squad depth, immense pressure, or evolving competition.

 

This isn’t just a hypothetical scenario; it’s the stark reality for many sales teams across Australia and New Zealand today. As sales leaders, we’re constantly striving for peak performance, yet finding and getting the best from those ‘star’ salespeople seems harder than ever.

 

In a market transformed by rapid digital adoption and evolving customer expectations, the old playbooks simply fall short.

 

The Hidden Drain on Your Bottom Line 

 

For years, we’ve relied on personality tests, intuition, and traditional hiring methods, perhaps repeating the old adage, “If you can sell, you can sell anything.” But the data paints a different, and frankly, concerning picture.

 

Recent analyses suggest that a significant portion of sales professionals across ANZ are consistently falling short of their targets.

 

Consider these contemporary statistics for 2024-2025:

 

  • Budget achievement rates are often hovering below 50% for many Australian sales teams (based on internal market analysis and recent industry reports from Australian sales recruitment firms). This isn’t just a minor blip; it represents a substantial amount of untapped revenue potential.

 

  • While overall employee turnover has seen some shifts, sales roles in Australia continue to experience higher churn than many other departments, with estimates often ranging between 15-25% annually, depending on the industry and company. This constant revolving door is incredibly costly.

 

  • The cost of a bad hire in Australia can be significant, easily reaching tens of thousands of dollars when you factor in recruitment fees, lost productivity, onboarding, training, and the impact on team morale and client relationships. This isn’t just an expense on the books; it’s a direct hit to your profitability.

 

The stark truth is that a significant percentage of individuals in sales roles may lack the inherent attributes to truly excel, or they’re simply misaligned with the specific demands of their role and the dynamic market.

 

This misalignment isn’t just inefficient; it’s a continuous drain on your revenue, your team’s morale, and your strategic growth initiatives.

Precision Talent Engineering for Sales Success

 

So, how do we shift from managing underperformance to cultivating an unstoppable sales force, worthy of a ‘triple-threat’ status? The answer lies in moving beyond guesswork and embracing a contemporary scientific, data-driven approach to talent acquisition and development.

 

Just as we wouldn’t build a new home without solid foundations and blueprints, we shouldn’t build our sales teams without understanding their inherent “sales DNA.” This is where advanced assessment tools become indispensable. By leveraging objective, validated, and reliable methodologies, you can:

 

  1. Identify Core Attributes: Uncover what truly differentiates your top performers. What are their unique behavioural traits, motivators, and cognitive abilities that drive their success?

Local research and global best practices consistently point to traits like conscientiousness, adaptability, emotional intelligence, resilience, advanced reasoning, motivations, and an empathetic, customer-centric approach as critical for today’s top Australian sellers.

 

  1. Benchmark for Excellence: Create a customised job profile benchmark based on your company’s most successful salespeople, not generic industry averages. It’s a frequent, costly error: headhunting a top salesperson from a direct competitor, like bringing a star from Coca-Cola to Pepsi, only to see them fail within months.

This often happens because success isn’t just about product knowledge and sales competencies; it’s profoundly tied to the specific fit with your company’s unique culture, the leadership style of their manager, and the dynamics of their new team and role.

Advanced assessment tools are precisely designed to uncover these critical ‘fit’ factors, ensuring you secure talent that truly thrives within your specific environment. This allows you to understand the specific “work genes” critical to success within your unique culture and market.

 

  1. Predict Performance with Precision: Make recruitment decisions with significantly higher accuracy. By adopting the right assessment tools, Australian businesses can report up to a 3x increase in hiring success for high performers and a substantial reduction in sales department turnover, often exceeding 25%. This directly addresses the exorbitant costs associated with frequent employee churn, wasted training investment, and lost sales from empty seats.

 

  1. Optimise for Modern Selling: In an era where digital tools and hybrid work models are now standard in Australian sales, understanding how candidates adapt to virtual selling environments is crucial. The attributes for traditional face-to-face success don’t always translate, and assessments can highlight those who possess the adaptability and digital fluency required.

 

  1. Develop Targeted Coaching: Pinpoint specific development areas for average and underperforming reps, allowing for tailored coaching that maximises their potential and boosts overall team productivity. Australian companies investing in ongoing sales training consistently report a significant uplift in individual and team sales results.

 

And remember, these days, integrating sales and marketing efforts is no longer optional; it’s essential for competitive advantage in the Australian market.

 

Businesses with closely aligned sales and marketing teams consistently outperform their peers, demonstrating stronger revenue growth and customer retention. The right assessment tools can help identify candidates who are inherently collaborative and understand the importance of this synergy.

 

If you’re content with average sales results, then by all means, maintain the status quo. However, if you are driven to unlock the full potential of your sales team, mitigate the hidden costs of mis-hires, and significantly increase your business performance, it’s time for a strategic shift.

 

Stop relying on ‘gut feel’ and start building your sales team on a foundation of data and science. Talk to Great People Inside today about our award-winning sales assessments, trusted by organisations across Australia. We’re so confident in our approach that we’ll even let you try us fee-free.

 

Click HERE to connect with us and redefine what’s possible for your sales team.