Tale of Two Assessments - Comparing the Value

Guest post by: Dave Kurlan
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Sales Leadership Challenges to Having a World Class Sales Force - By Dave Kurlan

A potential client wanted to know how Objective Management Group could justify the cost of a 25 person license (unlimited assessments for one year or 25 salespeople hired for $18,000) versus a $3500 per 100 assessment price for DISC.

There are several factors here but they are all worth noting.

1. Actual Use. Conducted properly using best practices, you would assess candidates as their resumes come in using our simple automation process. Our data shows that you would assess at least 20 candidates per hire for a total of 500 assessments or more (which puts DISC at - $17,500!). Don't know where you would find 500 candidates? We provide more than just the use of a great tool; we also help you build a process that impacts the quantity and quality of the candidate pool. If you follow our process the candidates will come!
2. Predictive Validity. Objective Management Group's assessment was built for sales and is only used for sales. As such it is highly predictive of on the job success with a predictive validity around 95%. 92% of the candidates we recommend that are hired end up in the top half of their sales force within 12 months and 75% of those we don't recommend who get hired anyway (clients who are smarter than we are) fail within 6 months. Behavioral Styles assessments (like DISC) are not predictive of on the job performance. But suppose the DISC was predictive. How much more predictive would our assessment have to be in order to justify the higher price - not just the $500 extra, but the whole $14,500 extra? I'm sure you'd agree that if we were simply one candidate more predictive it would more than justify the difference.
3. Case Histories. One company asked us to assess their top producers. If they were applying for a job, our assessment would have recommended 90% of their top producers.
4. Intended Use. Behavioral Styles and personality assessments were designed to show how people are different. That's essentially their purpose. Today they show the different ways in which people communicate, and how they might behave in different scenarios, given their tendencies and traits. Objective Management Group's assessment was built to predict sales success in your company and industry, selling into your market, against your competition, with your pricing strategy, expectations, sales cycle and challenges all factored in. There isn't a one size fits all sales assessment. Could you imagine having the same criteria for selecting a route salesperson selling Leggs versus a salesperson who must sell 6-figure custom designed capital solutions? Of course not, but that's how DISC and others like them are used.
5. Price Comparisons. - If one is to compare prices, it should be on the exact same assessment from different sources; comparing the price of DISC to the price of OMG is like comparing the price of a Kia to the price of a Lexus!
6. Summary. I'm biased. I developed OMG's assessments nearly twenty years ago and continue to enhance them to be more an more predictive with every passing month. What is the cost of a single sales hiring mistake? And what is the upside to getting it right and selecting a strong, successful salesperson? Use the right tool within the right process and you'll succeed each and every time.

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Sales Leadership Challenges to Having a World Class Sales Force - By Dave Kurlan

About the Author: Dave Kurlan

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Dave Kurlan is a best-selling author, top-rated speaker and thought leader on sales development. He is the founder and CEO of Objective Management Group, Inc., the industry leader in sales assessments and sales force evaluations, and the CEO of David Kurlan & Associates, Inc., a consulting firm specializing in sales force development. Dave has been a top rated speaker at Inc. Magazine's Conference on Growing the Company, the Sales & Marketing Management Conference and the Gazelles Sales & Marketing Summit. He has been featured on radio and TV, including World Business Review with General Norman Schwarzkopf, in Inc. Magazine, Selling Power Magazine, Sales & Marketing Management Magazine and Incentive Magazine. He is the author of Mindless Selling and Baseline Selling – How to Become a Sales Superstar by Using What You Already Know about the Game of Baseball. He created and wrote STAR, a proprietary recruiting process for hiring great salespeople, and he writes Understanding the Sales Force, a popular business Blog and is a contributing author to The Death of 20th Century Selling (Dan Seidman), Stepping Stones (Deepak Chopra and Brian Tracey) and 101 Great Ways to Improve Your Life, Volume 2 (David Riklan).
Click here to visit Dave's website.

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