Research Highlights

Take a glimpse into the trends and best practices we've found common among Winning Sales Organizations across the globe. The featured datapoint, which sheds light on a specific differentiator that makes top-performing organizations consistently stand out from the pack, can support your benchmarking initiatives to understand how you compare to your peers and how you can better identify areas for improvement.

We Use Web-Based Assessments to Support Hiring Decisions

The 2008 Miller Heiman Sales Best Practices Study points to a few areas where technology sales organizations lag behind other respondents. For one thing, the research reveals a gap between how technology sales organizations and other respondents approach the hiring process: tech sales organizations are 20 percent less likely to say they use web-based assessments to support hiring decisions.

Miller Heiman sales vice president Rich Blakeman believes this goes to the portability factor, i.e., people move around in the industry, so a lot of hiring decisions are based on what you know and who you know in the marketplace. "It's less of a science," says Blakeman. "It's more personal. Managers often hire people they know, so they see less need for assessment testing."

Miller Heiman sales consultant David King says he wonders why the tech companies don't "take their own medicine!" He says a lot of managers in the industry believe they can eyeball it better than the assessments can.

Greg Yates, a Miller Heiman sales consultant and industry expert, agrees that a lot of hiring in the industry involves people bringing people with them to their next job. "There's a large pool of talented people, and people know people, they have networks." Still, decisions are often subjective, emotional, and not the best fit for the company's culture.

The energy industry does a great job of leveraging technology in recruiting and retaining talent. According to the study, energy sales organizations were 37 percent more likely than other industries to use web-based assessments in the hiring process.

According to Leigh Hooker, Miller Heiman's executive vice president of sales and marketing operations, energy sales organizations have a reputation for sophisticated recruiting practices. "This includes a comprehensive interviewing process," Hooker said.
 
* The preceding discussion was excerpted from Miller Heiman's industry reports in Technology and Energy.
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