How a B2B firm cut poor-performing sales hires by 80%
See how better hiring decisions are driving stronger performance across a B2B sales team.
Traits measured
Achievement Drive
Assertiveness
Reliability
Self-Confidence
Service-Mindset
Stress Management
The client's challenge
For companies selling complex B2B products, every sales hire can make or break revenue targets. One firm discovered that 20% of its sales team consistently underperformed, costing time, money, and missed opportunities.
Resumes and interviews alone weren’t enough to predict success. While leadership knew traits like drive, resilience, and confidence were critical, they had no objective way to identify candidates with the right mix for high sales performance.
The solution
Working with our assessment experts, the firm implemented a custom pre-hire assessment designed to identify the traits that lead to top-performing salespeople.
Step 1: Defining success DNA
Six key traits were identified as essential for high-performing sales hires: Achievement Drive, Assertiveness, Reliability, Self-confidence, Service-Mindset, Stress Management.
Step 2: Building the assessment
A tailored tool was developed to measure these traits objectively, giving the firm a clear, data-driven way to evaluate candidates.
Step 3: Validating the tool
Candidate scores were benchmarked against current sales performance and manager ratings, confirming that high scorers consistently outperformed lower scorers.
The results
The firm achieved dramatic improvements in sales hiring:
80% fewer poor performers — underperforming hires dropped from 20% to just 4%.
Proven predictive power — the assessment showed a 0.52 correlation with overall performance and 0.45 with sales results, outperforming traditional interviews or experience alone.
Higher-caliber hires — top scorers were rated 14% higher by managers (5.31 vs. 4.65), confirming the tool’s ability to identify candidates who deliver.
By replacing guesswork with data-driven hiring, the firm turned sales recruitment into a reliable engine for growth, building a clear competitive advantage and stronger, higher-performing teams.
80%
Fewer Poor Performers
.52
Proven Predictive Power
14%
Higher Caliber Hires