THE PRIMARY ASSESSMENT
The SPQ*GOLD sales test
Some people interview brilliantly. Others are already in your business and proving difficult to unlock—or too valuable to misunderstand.
SPQ*GOLD adds objective, sales-specific evidence to the decision. Use it to investigate what may be holding a current salesperson back, understand the selling profile of a proven performer or reduce the risk behind an important new hire.
NOT JUST FOR HIRING
One assessment. Three valuable people questions.
The most useful person to assess is the one you most want to understand—not necessarily the person you are about to hire.
1 · STRUGGLING
What is really getting in their way?
SPQ*GOLD helps separate the visible symptoms from the possible underlying sales barriers. It can identify where prospecting discomfort, motivation, resilience, goal clarity or avoidance of particular behaviours may be restricting performance.
2 · PERFORMING
What supports their success?
Use the profile to build a clearer view of the sales behaviours, energy and goal focus behind a strong performer’s results. That evidence can make coaching, development and future expectations more relevant to the individual.
3 · HIRING
Will the interview translate into performance?
SPQ*GOLD helps you look beyond polished answers and a strong CV to examine whether the candidate appears comfortable with the real sales activity, pressure and persistence the role requires.
WHAT IT ADDS
Keep the interview. Add some science.
Sales activity
Evidence about likely comfort with proactive prospecting, sustained effort and the everyday demands of generating opportunities.
Specific risks
Focused concern areas that may otherwise remain hidden behind confident, polished or well-rehearsed interview answers.
Practical action
Role-specific questions, watch-fors, onboarding priorities and management actions—not simply a score or automated test output.
THE COMMERCIAL CASE
The cost of a bad sales hire is not confined to payroll
Recruitment fees, salary, commission guarantees, onboarding and training are the visible costs. The larger loss is often the revenue that never appears.
Lost opportunities
Prospects are not contacted, follow-up weakens and potentially valuable conversations are allowed to drift.
Management time
Managers spend months coaching, monitoring and compensating for activity or resilience that never becomes consistent.
Starting again
Once the mismatch is clear, the business absorbs the disruption and delay of replacing the hire and rebuilding the pipeline.
TWO REAL REPORT EXAMPLES
What a good profile and a very mixed profile look like
These examples show why SPQ*GOLD is decision support—not a simplistic pass/fail test. Both reports turn the evidence into questions and actions, but the scale and commercial significance of the concerns are very different.
GOOD PROFILE · LEWIS
Overall score: 228
- Above the recommended activity threshold
- Accuracy indicators clear
- Strong prospecting motivation and solid goal focus
- Two primary concerns requiring focused interview probing
- Targeted onboarding around assertiveness and commercial closing
Decision implication: broadly positive sales evidence, with two clearly defined risks to test rather than ignore.
VERY MIXED PROFILE · SAMUEL
Overall score: 143
- Below the recommended activity threshold
- Accuracy indicators clear
- Eight primary concerns across motivation, goals and core sales behaviours
- Additional secondary concerns to investigate
- A materially more intensive onboarding and management requirement
Decision implication: a far more substantial mismatch risk for a proactive sales role, requiring careful evidence before proceeding.
The comparison above and the Decision Support Filter preview are drawn directly from the supplied very mixed report.
What the comparison demonstrates
The difference is not that one candidate has concerns and the other does not. Lewis still has important risks to test. The difference is the volume, severity and operational relevance of the evidence—and therefore the confidence, questioning and management commitment the hiring decision should require.
How the process works
01 — Context
We establish the role, the individual and the question you want to answer.
02 — Secure assessment
The individual completes SPQ*GOLD online.
03 — Interpretation
You receive a contextual report with the relevant evidence clearly explained.
04 — Practical action
You receive focused questions and clear hiring, coaching or management actions.
Who would be most valuable for you to understand—the struggler, the star or the potential hire?
Tell us who immediately springs to mind, and we will explain how SPQ*GOLD could help.
