Selecting & Assessing your Talent using Behavioural Profiling, Competency Assessment & Role Play-Selecting Assessing your Talent using Behavioural Profiling Competency Assessment Role Play

Selecting Assessing your Talent using Behavioural Profiling Competency Assessment Role Play

Video Transcription

Video Summary

Mark Erskine, founder and director of Seller Performance, gave a webinar on improving sales recruitment and team management by reducing guesswork and unconscious bias. Drawing on 25 years in B2B sales and later consultancy work, he argued that CV-based interviews and instinct alone are not enough to select strong salespeople.<br /><br />His recommended approach combines three elements: behavioral profiling, competency frameworks, and live simulations or role plays. He explained that behavioral profiling helps identify natural sales styles and development needs, while competency frameworks focus managers on leading indicators of performance rather than just results. Simulations test real-world skills such as research, questioning, presentation, and objection handling.<br /><br />Erskine also described the cost of hiring mistakes, stressing that a bad hire can cost roughly a year’s employment expense. He encouraged managers to spend more time selecting the right people, then coaching high performers instead of over-managing weak ones. He also recommended periodic competency reviews and using face-to-face interaction whenever possible, since much communication is nonverbal.<br /><br />In the Q&A, he advised introducing these methods gradually, starting with competencies, and using 360-style feedback to validate behavioral profiles.

Keywords

sales recruitment

team management

behavioral profiling

competency frameworks

role plays

sales hiring

unconscious bias

360 feedback

sales performance