Outside Sales Representative Skills Test

What the Outside Sales Representative Skills Test Measures

This is a behavioral assessment. It scores six traits that show up in day-to-day sales work:

1. Achievement Drive: how competitive they are, and how hard they push toward a number.
2. Assertiveness: willingness to speak up, take the lead, and ask for the sale.
3. Extraversion: comfort walking into a room and starting conversations.
4. Go-Getter Attitude: initiative and independence when nobody is watching the calendar.
5. Self-Confidence: whether they hold steady after a deal falls apart.
6. Work Ethic: dependability and follow-through on what they promised a customer.

These line up with the work styles the U.S. Department of Labor lists for sales representatives. O*NET names self-confidence, initiative, and perseverance among the traits this occupation depends on. A sales abilities test that skips them tells you very little.

Using This Test for B2B Outside Sales Hiring

B2B outside sales is a long game. Deals involve several decision makers, and the cycle can run for months.

That work rewards patience and steady follow-up more than quick charm.

Achievement Drive and Work Ethic scores show you who keeps a pipeline warm between meetings. A high Assertiveness score points to someone who will call a stalled deal directly.

Turnover in this field is steady. BLS projects about 142,100 openings a year for wholesale and manufacturing sales reps through 2034, mostly to replace people who leave.

Which Sales Jobs This Test Fits

Use this test any time a person sells away from the office and runs their own day.

• Outside sales representatives covering a defined territory
• Field sales representatives who travel to customer sites
• Account executives handling new business and renewals
• Business development reps doing outbound prospecting
• Route and distributor sales positions
• Manufacturers’ representatives and independent agents

A field sales representative pre-employment test earns its keep early. It saves you from spending interview time on someone who needs daily supervision to get moving.

What Your Score Report Includes

Every finished test produces a report you can read in a couple of minutes. It includes:

1. Total Score Summary: one overall percentile that averages the six scale scores.
2. Score Details: each trait plotted on its own scale, with a percentile and a score band.
3. Scale Score Interpretations: what each score means, plus the Expected Behaviors you can watch for on the job.
4. Management Strategies: coaching notes for each trait, useful once you make the hire.
5. Interview Guide with Scored Follow-Up Questions: questions aimed at the areas where a candidate scored lower, each with a 1 to 7 rating scale.

The report also shows how long the candidate spent on each scale, which tells you who read the questions and who rushed.

How to Read the Score Bands

Each score lands in one of three bands:

1. Caution (1 to 29)
2. Moderate (30 to 69)
3. High (70 to 99)

A Caution score points to a trait worth digging into during the interview. A strong closer with a Caution score on Work Ethic is worth a longer conversation about follow-through.

How the Outside Sales Representative Skills Test Works

Getting started takes a few minutes:

1. Buy test credits pay-per-test in blocks and we set up your account.
2. Sign in to your dashboard and pick the Sales Hunter Profile.
3. Email a test link to your candidates. They take it online at a time that works for them.
4. Get the score report as soon as a candidate finishes, then compare applicants side by side.

Our tests are written and reviewed by subject matter experts, so the scores mean the same thing every time you run them.

Where This Test Fits in Your Sales Hiring Process

Run it right after the resume screen, before you spend calendar time on interviews.

Then bring the report into the interview itself. The SHRM Foundation’s guide to selection assessment methods rates structured interviews with standardized rating criteria among the strongest predictors of job performance available to employers.

The Interview Guide covers both halves of that. Every candidate answers questions tied to their own scores, and you rate each answer on the same scale.

Testing works best as one step among several. Here is how we think about using behavioral assessments for hiring alongside interviews and reference checks.

Other Suggested Tests

Sales hiring rarely comes down to one measure. Pair this test with:

1. Cognitive Ability Test: how quickly a new rep picks up your product line and territory.
2. Customer Service Aptitude Test: how they handle an unhappy account after the sale closes.
3. Emotional Intelligence Profile: how well they read a room during a negotiation.

Most teams run two tests per candidate. Start with the one that matches the biggest gap in your last few hires.