The Hunter Trait Measures Understanding of How to Win New Business
The hunter trait is one of the Sales Traits scored on the Aptitude assessments. It measures what a candidate knows about finding new business through cold calls and door to door selling.
What Does the Hunter Trait Measure?
The hunter trait measures the degree of theoretical understanding of the best ways to find and get new business, by making cold calls, door to door selling and so on. The name describes the type of salesperson who is good at generating new business.
What the hunter trait is not
It is not the ability to market oneself, products or services. Consequently, this reading tells you what somebody knows about prospecting, and says nothing at all about whether they will pick up the phone on a difficult morning.
What the Hunter Trait Helps You Evaluate Before You Hire
Ask where their last five new customers came from. Inbound enquiries and referrals are the tell, while somebody strong here can describe how they chose which strangers to approach.
Why the Hunter Trait Matters in Hiring
Prospecting is the part of a sales job that quietly fails to happen, because nothing on the calendar forces it.
This trait scores whether a candidate knows how to do it, and three things about that score are easy to misread.
Knowledge, Not Willingness
A full picture takes the behavioral calling readings too, since knowing how to prospect is quite different from doing it.
More Than the Phone
Cold calling is only part of this. The same reading covers knocking on doors and every other cold approach too.
Three Parts, One Number
The same report scores relationship selling separately, and the gap between the two says which kind of salesperson you have.
How a low Hunter score shows up on the job
New business simply does not appear. Instead, the week fills with existing customers, inbound enquiries and administrative work that all feels productive.
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How the Hunter Trait Is Scored
Eight questions produce this score. The report names six ranges for it, and the three bands below group them.
Low — under 48
A very poor to poor understanding of the best ways to find any new business.
Medium — 48 to 74
Borderline to OK understanding of the best ways to find and to win new business.
High — 75 to 100
A good understanding of finding new business, which becomes an excellent one from 91 upward.
Hunter is one of the Sales Traits on the Sales Ability Test
Each trait in this set scores selling knowledge rather than personality.
However, the Hunter trait points outward more than the others, because a full picture of prospecting needs the behavioral side of the report as well.
Cold Calling
The behavioral willingness to prospect, and getting a full picture of this trait means checking that reading right alongside it.
Calling Comfort
The second behavioral reading named for exactly that same purpose, covering how comfortable somebody actually is when using a telephone.
General Sales
A named relation covering the whole job, since finding the opportunity and then closing it draw on separate knowledge sets.
Assertive
Named alongside it, because approaching a complete stranger cold rests on believing that a direct approach is the right one.
Managing Fear
Named here as Fear. Prospecting means inviting rejection over and over again, which is exactly what that other reading covers.
Sales Traits
The category this trait belongs to. Every Sales Trait is scored from multiple choice questions with one correct answer, so these readings measure what a candidate knows rather than how they describe themselves. This one covers only the prospecting half.
Best Practice: Never fill a prospecting seat on this score alone. A full picture needs the SL Behavioral Assessment, where Calling Comfort and Cold Calling both show whether the knowledge turns into calls.
How to Interpret Hunter Results
Six named ranges cover this trait, and the action below each range assumes you are holding a report. Both the IC Aptitude Test and the Sales Aptitude Test include it.
What to Do Based on Your Hunter Score
Treat as no demonstrated prospecting knowledge at all, and keep this candidate away from any seat expected to open doors.
Expect the leads to come from somewhere else entirely, so decide who supplies them all before you make an offer.
Workable only where scripts and a calling plan already exist, and read Cold Calling before assigning anybody a cold territory.
Compare this against your own role benchmark, since a hunting seat and a farming seat reward two quite different readings.
Put this candidate on winning new business, and confirm Calling Comfort so that the knowledge really reaches the phone itself.
Check the behavioral calling readings before assuming any activity, since understanding prospecting is not quite the same as actually prospecting.
Assessment results support your hiring decisions, they do not replace them. Always read the hunter trait score alongside the full profile and your role benchmarks before drawing a conclusion.
The Hunter Trait Matters for Every Role You Hire
Because a hunting seat and a farming seat reward opposite readings, benchmarks define what each number means. Therefore, review results against the benchmark for the specific job.
Relevant for all role types
Salesperson with Cold Calling Duties
Sales Manager
Sales Closer
Hunter (Telemarketer)
Non-Professional Salesperson
Vehicle Salesperson
Relationship Salesperson
Marketing Manager
If any of these situations sound familiar, this assessment is for you
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Frequently Asked Questions
It measures the degree of theoretical understanding of the best ways to find and get new business, by making cold calls, door to door selling and so on. The name describes the type of salesperson who is good at generating new business.
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