The two most common and useful assessments are:

• DISC - Communications and behavior style assessment
• SSI - Sales specific assessment that gives you clear insight into the selling skill of existing sales personnel or sales staff candidates

DISC

It may help if you think of the different styles as each "broadcasting" on different channels. Knowing how to broadcast on the "channel" on which the other person is "listening" greatly improves your ability to sell to, influence or place them in a job that best fits their style.

DISC is the universal language of observable human behavior, or "how we act." DISC does not measure education, experience, values or intelligence. It simply measures an individual's behaviors, or how they communicate.

DISC is a group of psychometric tests based on the 1928 work of psychologist William Moulton Marston. The tests classify four aspects of personality by testing a person's preferences in word associations.

DISC is an acronym for:

• Dominance - relating to control, power and assertiveness
• Influence - relating to social situations and communication
• Steadiness - relating to patience, persistence, and thoughtfulness
• Compliance (or conscientiousness or caution) - relating to structure and organization

These four dimensions can be grouped in a 2X2 grid with D and I sharing the top row and representing extroverted aspects of the personality, and C and S below representing introverted aspects. D and C then share the left column and represent task-focused aspects, and I and S share the right column and represent social aspects.

The DISC report is the core report showing the styles, the PIAV report shows what motivates the person. The tests take about 20 minutes to complete online and you will receive a complete report via email immediately.

SSI - Sales Skills Index

The Sales Skills Index or "SSI" answers the following questions any organization dependent on a sales staff must know to hire the right sales person or to upgrade the skills of existing sales personnel.

• Can they sell?
• How well do they understand the sales process?
• How do they compare to top sales performers?

The Sales Skills Index helps you assess your sales team to determine the answers to these questions and much more. The report also complements your sales training strategies as a guide to tailor your training to individual needs as well as provide a measurement for training effectiveness.

Use the SSI before you hire or to help understand why a salesperson is not as effective as they need to be . . . Combined with DISC, the SSI gives you an excellent picture of the success factors, sales knowledge, traits and behaviors of a potential sales person before you hire.

Do not waste tens of thousands of dollars in salary costs, lost revenue, training cost, lost staff time plus incur the cost of having to start the search all over again when you hire the wrong person. Why wait months to learn the hard way that the person did not have the skills or drive to be an effective sales person when you can gain so much information and insight up front? Hire the right person the first time.