The Sales Manager Trait Measures Knowledge of Selling and Managing Sellers
The sales manager trait is one of the Sales Traits scored on the Aptitude assessments. It measures what a candidate understands about marketing, closing and running a sales team, which makes it the reading to check before promoting a producer.
What Does the Sales Manager Trait Measure?
The sales manager trait measures the degree of theoretical understanding of the best ways to market oneself, products or services, close sales and manage sales people.
In other words, it adds the management half to everything the general selling reading already covers.
What the sales manager trait is not
It is not the ability to make cold calls. Consequently, a strong reading here says nothing about whether somebody will pick up the phone to a stranger, which matters whenever a sales manager is expected to carry a territory too.
What the Sales Manager Trait Helps You Evaluate Before You Hire
Ask a producer how they would coach a rep who is missing quota. Listen for whether they diagnose that rep's particular problem, or simply describe what they would do in their place.
Why the Sales Manager Trait Matters in Hiring
This is the promotion reading. Because selling knowledge and management knowledge arrive as a single number, it tells you whether a strong producer actually understands the job you are about to move them into.
The Promotion Reading
Selling knowledge and management knowledge arrive as one number, which is exactly the pair that a promotion decision turns on.
Not a Cold Calling Signal
Making cold calls sits outside this trait entirely, so check Hunter separately whenever the manager also carries a territory too.
Relations on Both Sides
Supervisor Strength and Coaching Strength both appear among the named relations, alongside Closer, Hunter and the general selling reading itself.
How a low Sales Manager score shows up on the job
The classic failure is a strong producer who cannot transfer any of it. Consequently, the team loses its best seller and gains a manager who coaches by anecdote.
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How the Sales Manager Trait Is Scored
Twenty-three questions produce this score.
The report names six ranges for it, which the three bands below group together.
Low — under 46
A very poor to poor understanding of marketing, closing sales and then managing sales people.
Medium — 46 to 70
A borderline to OK understanding of marketing, closing sales and managing sales people all together.
High — 71 to 100
A good understanding of marketing, closing and managing, which becomes excellent from 82 points upward.
Because this trait covers selling and management together, benchmark the number against the specific job rather than reading it as a general grade.
Sales Manager is one of the Sales Traits on the Aptitude assessments
Each trait in this set scores selling knowledge rather than personality.
However, its named relations reach into the people side of the report as well, because managing sellers is not only a selling skill.
General Sales
A named relation covering the selling half without the management half. Read the pair to see which one is weaker.
Closer
A named relation covering closing alone. A manager who cannot close well will struggle to coach anybody else through it.
Hunter
A named relation covering new business, and the reading to check whenever a manager carries their own territory as well.
Supervisor Strength
A named relation from the people side, covering the accountability half of running a team rather than the selling half.
Coaching Strength
A named relation from the people side. Developing a struggling seller is quite a different job from simply directing one.
Assertive
A named relation, because believing a direct approach works matters as much when managing sellers as when selling to customers.
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.Â
Best Practice: Never promote a producer on this score alone. Read Supervisor Strength and Coaching Strength beside it, since managing sellers needs the people side of the report as much as selling does.
How to Interpret Sales Manager Results
Six named ranges cover the Sales Manager trait, and the action below each range assumes you are holding a Sales Ability Test report.
What to Do Based on Your Sales Manager Score
Treat as no demonstrated knowledge of either half, and keep this candidate away from any seat managing any other sellers.
Expect to teach the management half from scratch here, so weigh that cost carefully before you move a producer upward.
Workable only where a more senior manager stays closely involved, and read Supervisor Strength before handing over a whole team.
Compare this against your own role benchmark, since a player coach and a pure sales manager demand quite different readings.
Split the picture with Coaching Strength before you decide how much developing this particular manager will actually have to do.
Confirm the behavioral profile before assuming performance, since knowing how to manage sellers is not the same as doing it.
Assessment results support your hiring decisions, they do not replace them. Always read the sales manager trait score alongside the full profile and your role benchmarks before drawing a conclusion.
The Sales Manager Trait Matters for Every Role You Hire
Because a player coach and a pure manager need different readings, benchmarks define what each number means. Therefore, review results against the benchmark for the specific job.
Relevant for all role types
Sales Manager
Executive
Manager with Supervisors
Marketing Manager
Relationship Salesperson
Salesperson with Cold Calling Duties
Non-Professional Salesperson
Vehicle Salesperson
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 market oneself, products or services, close sales and manage sales people. The reading covers selling and management together rather than treating them as separate skills.
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