Building a high-performing sales team requires more than evaluating just skills and experience. Have you ever wondered why some teams excel while others fall short? Often, the answer lies in the personalities of the team members.
Using a sales assessment platform that integrates the Big Five (OCEAN) personality traits—Openness to Experience, Conscientiousness, Extraversion, Agreeableness, and Emotional Stability (Neuroticism)—can revolutionise how you hire and build your sales team. By leveraging these insights, you can create cohesive, high-performing teams that drive results.
The meritt Sales Personality Profile
The meritt sales assessment platforms that uses the NEO Personality Inventory or the Big Five Inventory help employers understand candidates' personalities beyond the standard resume and interview.
These assessments reveal where a candidate stands on each of the Big Five traits, providing a more comprehensive view of how they will fit within your team and the demands of the role. The traits are:
Openness
Openness involves curiosity, creativity, and a willingness to embrace new ideas. High openness benefits dynamic roles requiring adaptability, like customising pitches for diverse clients, while low openness suits roles focused on established, consistent sales methods, providing reliability and structure.
Conscientiousness
This trait reflects reliability, organisation, and self-discipline. High conscientiousness thrives in detail-oriented, long-cycle sales, where persistence and meticulous follow-up are key. Lower conscientiousness can excel in fast-paced sales environments, where flexibility and quick decision-making are advantageous.
Extraversion
Extraversion relates to sociability, energy, and assertiveness. Highly extraverted individuals flourish in client-facing, relationship-driven roles, making them effective in networking and business development. Lower extraversion is well-suited to research-focused or data-driven sales, where listening and analysis take priority.
Agreeableness
Agreeableness is associated with empathy, cooperation, and rapport-building. High agreeableness enhances customer satisfaction in consultative sales, fostering long-term relationships. Lower agreeableness can thrive in competitive or high-pressure sales, where assertiveness and firm negotiation are often required.
Emotional Stability (Neuroticism)
Emotional stability denotes resilience and the ability to manage stress. High stability supports persistence in high-stakes sales, where rejection is common. Lower stability can drive urgency and motivation in fast-moving sales settings, where immediacy and high energy are key.
Building a team using the Big Five
Analysing Current Team Composition
Before bringing in new hires, it’s crucial to analyse your existing team’s personality makeup using a sales assessment platform. Identifying the dominant traits in your team will highlight any gaps, enabling you to hire talent that complements or fills those areas, whether it’s creativity, attention to detail, or leadership potential.
Integrating New Hires Using Personality Insights
Once new hires are brought on board, leveraging personality insights from the sales assessment platform ensures they integrate smoothly. Matching individuals with complementary traits, like pairing someone adaptable with someone highly organized, fosters collaboration and boosts overall team efficiency. Additionally, ensuring roles align with both individual traits and team needs enhances productivity and job satisfaction.
Navigating Team Interactions with Personality Insights
Understanding how different personality traits interact is key to navigating team dynamics effectively. Openness and Conscientiousness often complement each other, driving innovation and execution. Similarly, balancing extroverts and Introverts ensures both networking and in-depth client analysis are covered. However, it's also important to manage potential conflicts, such as between assertive and agreeable team members, through clear communication strategies to avoid misunderstandings.
Maximising the Impact of Personality Assessments
To make the most of personality assessments, choose a sales assessment platform that offers validated, accurate tools tailored to your company’s goals. Regularly reassessing team dynamics is also crucial, as personalities evolve and team compositions shift over time. Offering professional development opportunities that help employees grow, whether in stress management or communication skills, can also boost team performance.
Summary
Leveraging personality assessments through a sales assessment platform is a game-changing strategy for building balanced, high-performing teams. By matching the right personality traits to specific roles, you can enhance productivity and create a more positive, collaborative work environment.