As a sales leader, you already know the cost of a poor hire is high. That cost ranges from wasted budget on onboarding, training, salary, and benefits, to lost revenue and increased stress for everyone. It\u2019s estimated that a bad sales hire costs your organization 30% of the annual salary \u2026 and that figure doesn\u2019t even take into account problems like excess time spent on ramp-up, cultural problems, and higher turnover. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
When we\u2019re hiring, we often make decisions based on gut instinct, and while these instincts may sometimes help us spot great salespeople, neglecting to take the time to hire more systematically can be expensive, and not just financially. We end up investing significant time and effort spent training and coaching someone who\u2019s not a great fit for the job or the organization \u2013 and who shouldn\u2019t have been hired in the first place.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Luckily, there is a secret weapon that can help us get a clearer picture of candidate\u2019s likelihood to succeed. The DISC behavioral assessment helps us put together a thoughtful questioning strategy that can not only validate strengths and reveal weaknesses, but also identify a candidate\u2019s level of self-awareness.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
What Is DISC?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n DISC is a personality assessment system initially developed and refined by the psychologists William Moulton Marston and Walter Clarke. It categorizes individuals based on four distinct communication styles. DISC is an acronym the primary communication styles the system identifies: Dominant (D), Influencer (I), Steady Relator(S), and Compliant(C). (In some individuals, the styles overlap.)<\/p>\n\n\n\n Dominants<\/strong> are often opinionated people who need to take action. They like to be in charge of situations. When they aren\u2019t in control, they are uncomfortable.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Influencers<\/strong> are personable and trusting. They like to talk\/interact, and often prefer to leave the action to others. Since they want to be liked, they are eager team players.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Compliants<\/strong> are cautious thinkers. Detail-oriented perfectionists, their high standards follow the book. Since they are usually busy getting one more fact in search of the perfect answer, they may be slow, or even unwilling, to commit to a course of action.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Steady Relators<\/strong> are amiable, patient people who know how to keep the peace and avoid conflict. Since they practice and prefer constancy and consistency, they don\u2019t like changes or surprises. They are deliberate and can appear slow to make decisions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n It makes sense to do a DISC assessment of anyone you are seriously considering hiring as a salesperson, because knowing their profile can help you to create a customized set of interview questions. Compare interviewing prospective sales hires to speed dating: You\u2019re given a relatively brief period to ask questions that will help you to analyze whether or not there is a good fit. A DISC profile helps you to make the most of that time.<\/p>\n\n\n\n DISC Helps You Create Better Interview Questions<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n When interviewing prospective sales hires, an effective sales leader analyzes the needs of the role. Then, they apply DISC-guided questioning to uncover relevant strengths and weaknesses \u2026 and, just as important, they determine whether the candidate possesses the ability to self-assess and adjust their behaviors and communication strategies to maximize the strengths and compensate for the weaknesses. <\/p>\n\n\n\n While anyone can recite a \u201cboilerplate\u201d list of interview questions, thoughtful consideration and questioning with the person\u2019s DISC style in mind can result in a unique, and far more insightful, interview. For instance, you may choose to construct a question designed to uncover how a \u201chigh D\u201d candidate handles conflict situations. Here\u2019s an example:<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cTell me about a time when you disagreed with a colleague about something important. What happened?\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n If this \u201chigh D\u201d candidate cannot provide an example of effective conflict resolution, or denies ever having experienced conflict at work, they are failing to self-assess. That failure is something you want to know about. It means, among other things, that they are unlikely to fit into a sales team where collaboration has been identified as an important cultural value. <\/p>\n\n\n\n On the other hand, suppose the candidate says something like this:<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cWell, one thing I know about myself is that I\u2019m very goal oriented. There have definitely been a couple of times when, in order to serve what I thought were the client\u2019s best interests, I made my own case for moving forward, and I tuned out people on the service and delivery side when I thought they were being too conservative about what we could deliver. They said something I wanted was unrealistic and I\u2019m afraid I found ways to ignore them. Once, we lost a big account because of a failure on my side to listen to what the customer support people were saying about our schedule and our capacity. Ever since that happened, I\u2019ve made a point of becoming a better listener. I\u2019ve also been more careful about how I set client expectations \u2026 about getting other people in the organization involved in important discussions \u2026 and about confirming that delivery dates are realistic before I share them with outsiders.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n This is the kind of answer you receive from someone who understands both the advantages and the limitations of their own personal communication style. Without the DISC assessment, though, you might not have asked the question.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Notice that we\u2019re not just talking about identifying blind spots. Understanding a person\u2019s DISC profile helps us uncover critical strengths, too. In my own business, one of my most successful hires came to my team after 12 years working as a waitress at a mom-and-pop restaurant. By using a DISC assessment and appropriate behavioral based questions, I uncovered that she was an incredibly loyal team member \u2013 a Steady Relator \u2013 and capable of taking on a large workload. Even though she did not have the direct experience in our industry that I initially thought I was looking for, she had the behavioral profile and the capacity to self-assess that helped me to free up more of my time. She was a perfect fit for the position.<\/p>\n\n\n\n