Monday, January 19, 2015

Making DISC Personality Tests Work for Your Workforce

Have you tried giving your staff members Dominance, Influence, Steadiness, and Conscientiousness (DISC) personality tests? If you did, you could use the results to find people who exhibit leadership qualities. Perhaps one of your sales experts or another professional possesses the untapped potential to run one of your divisions.

The DISC personality profile test, which millions of people have taken since its debut in 1972, is adept at identifying traits that are key for managers. One is the ability to focus on and achieve results. Now, this characteristic is more complex than it sounds. It requires a person to have a clear vision and to set goals that are specific, challenging, and realistic. What's more, it demands toughness. Leaders must hold others accountable for their actions and ensure that people are doing what they're supposed to be doing.

At the same time, to be a great leader, it's not enough to be smart and tough. That's why a DISC personality profile exam also delves into one's interpersonal skills and powers of persuasion. That is, it explores how effectively a person can communicate objectives to others and how inspiring he or she can be. Someone who's confident yet humble, enthusiastic, calm at all times, optimistic, and open to feedback is likely to make others feel motivated and ready to do their best. 

Monday, January 5, 2015

The Right Employee Will Boost Your Sales

Just as it's less expensive to retain customers than it is to gain new ones, hiring new employees is a costlier endeavor than rewarding qualified candidates with competitive pay and benefits. So, how do you weed out unqualified prospects from the pool of candidates? The right pre-employment aptitude test can help you decide who is right for the job -- and who isn't.

Going Beyond the Resume

From keyword-searching software to employing recruitment firms, companies go to a lot of effort to find qualified employment-seekers. Their efforts are justified; the hiring process can be a lengthy and expensive one. Many managers and business owners do the hiring themselves due to lack of resources or a desire for more control over who is hired.

They Sell Themselves -- But What About Your Products?

Trusting that you'll find the perfect candidate based on CV or resume and interview alone is risky, since many people look great on paper and are skilled at selling themselves in person. While these abilities are fantastic assets in themselves, they offer no guarantee that the interviewee is suited for the position for which he or she has applied.

That's why a pre-employment aptitude test is a boon to decision-makers in charge of hiring. While a job-seeker may excel at persuading you he or she is the perfect candidate, other key skills may be missing. Don't risk losing sales when testing is available to find someone who can actually boost them.

Tuesday, December 23, 2014

Why Chose DISC Personality Profiles?



Small and large, non-profit firms and fortune 500 companies have all asked the question: Why should we conduct DISC personality profiles? The answer for many of these organizations has been simple: because they work.

We discussed, albeit in short, what a DISC personality test is in our previous blog. In doing so, we touched on a few of its key benefits. Owners and managers build powerful teams, develop effective training programs, improve customer retention, and increase productivity using the information obtained through a DISC profile. Test results also help operators enhance counseling programs, improve conflict management skills, helps train sales teams, and improves customer service.

Knowing an individual's personality profile helps managers lead more effectively. When you involve everyone, it helps individuals work together more effectively, too. That is because the profile puts a non-bias name to personality categories that everyone can understand. This facilitates conversations that quickly work around the conflicts that keep teams from producing what they should. In short, knowing the details of the DISC personality test helps teams communicate.

Good, confident communication is the key to business success. It changes everything for the better, from making sales to leading meetings and hiring the best personnel possible. The best way to see these results is through a DISC personality profile.

Tuesday, December 9, 2014

DISC Personality Profiles - What Are They?


Understanding your workforce is a key factor for getting the most out of your company. It is crucial to effective management and it is vital to productivity. Enter the DISC personality profile (also known as the DISC personality test). This non-judgmental system analyzes behavioral differences people have, helping you understand your employees and optimize the work they do.

DISC stands for: dominance, influence, steadiness, and conscientiousness. These are the four, core factors measured by the personality test and used to create the profile. Though they are all very different, they are not dissimilar. For instance:

·         Dominance-based individuals are characterized by and individual who focuses on results.
·         Influence types tend to place meaning on influencing others. They are also very open.
·         Steadiness is characterized by cooperation, a sincere persona, and reliability.
·         Conscientiousness is a person who focuses on value and accuracy. They want to be the experts.

The aforementioned characteristics are seen in everyone—even if they are seen in small amounts. Identifying the strong traits along with underlying accent traits is essential to a number of business and management operations. This includes building winning teams, constructing training materials, and focusing coaching techniques.

Whether you are looking to build the ideal sales force, improve customer retention rates, or increase operation capacity. An accurate, non-bias DISC personality profile is a solid step in the right direction.

Tuesday, November 25, 2014

Finding the Right Personnel

Locating the ideal job candidate in a job posting is like finding a needle in a stack of needles. With unemployment rates hovering and employed persons more apt than ever to seek other positions, it's no wonder that your job postings produce hundreds and even thousands of responses. Out of that resume stack though, which person is the right person for the job?

Sorting through piles of resumes is time consuming and it is something we increasingly do not have time for. Fortunately, there is a better way. There is a more accurate way. Moreover, there is a better, more scientific means of churning the milk and helping the cream rise to the top.

Enter psychometric pre-employment testing. These tools relieve the pressure related to finding ideal qualified professionals. Most importantly, through these tools, you and your hiring staff access branded job boards, unlimited listings, usable reports, and friendly application processes. More specifically, your company creates a pipeline for its future job needs.


In addition to providing you with the information you need to select the best of the best, our system supplies you with measureable, itemized results. This data is vital to a company's success this day in age. Everything is fast paced in our world today. Your ideal applicants will not be there for months, waiting for the best prospect. They will be enticed by the first. Our tools help your business be that prospect.

Friday, November 21, 2014

Sales Professionals - Hiring Benefits of Employee Screening

As employers, we want the best sales experts possible. We want top-performing, focused individuals who are self-motivated and driven by success. When you find these princes and princesses of profitability, we know it. Wouldn't it be nice if there was a better way to know who is on the level and who is not?

Applicant testing is the key to discovering sales professionals, weeding out individuals who don't have the right stuff, and arming your company with the personnel it needs to grow. Remember though, when you want the best of the best, you must trust the best of the tests.

Detailed analytic tools like our employee screening (SSI) test measure every aspect of a sales professional. They take personality elements into account, quantify relationship building skills, and calculate basic as well as advanced sales skills.

Our SSI Test Assesses Skills Like:
Prospecting
Impression and Approach
Qualifying
Persuasion
Closing


In addition to providing you with tangible evidence, our test gives you a recommended basis for the aforementioned and other measurements. This makes selecting the best of the best as easy as averaging grades—and our test does the math for you. Moreover, it puts additional training needs into focus by noting how below or above a person is relative to each field. 

Wednesday, November 19, 2014

Keeping Your Workforce Happy - Our Employee Retention Strategies

Maintaining your existing workforce is just as important as adding new faces through business growth and development. We understand that managers provide the greatest value when they motivate their team and have a positive influence on their co-workers. Using our coaching tools, we can show you how to overwrite failure patterns, and measure employee satisfaction.

Our employee retention strategies use 3 different tools to maximize effectiveness:
  • Corporate Coaching Tools – A corporate coach measures an employee’s attitude toward the company and their position, while improving development and morale. This set of tools allows for improved communication between employees and managers, along with providing various training solutions.
  • Emotional Intelligence Quotient – Measuring self-awareness, motivation, self-regulation, empathy, and social skills, an EIQ is designed to improve an employee’s ability to interact with and influence others around them. This helps managers and other officials make difficult and complex decisions.
  • Professional Development Coach – used for management, staff, and sales training purposes, this toolset measures how an individual’s approach to his or her job reflects personal attitudes, interests, and values. This helps you understand, engage, and develop each employee in your organization.
Contact us today at AptitudeAnalytics.com to learn more about employee retention and other strategies to maintain key individuals at your business.