Our hiring and development assessments are based on proprietary scientific research on actual mortgage production results and compare a candidate's responses to top, middle and low performers. Our approach removes the guesswork for lenders on what candidates should advance in the interview process, saving time and money hiring the right salespeople.
Finding the right assessment can be difficult because so many firms claim to predict sales success, but few can deliver on this promise for mortgage positions. A good assessment has several important characteristics that follow the guidelines established by EEOC's Uniform Guidelines on Employee Selection Procedures and the generally accepted Standards for Educational & Psychological Tests including:
Make sure that that the assessment profile your company is considering is based on accepted scientific approaches regarding sampling size methodologies and meets EEOC legal requirements.
The composition of the sample size is very important. It should include a mix of top, average and low sales performers. A sample of just top performers is not scientifically sound.
Many assessment firms say they have complied with scientific standards or that they will let a company test 10 of their current sales people to show that their assessment works. The facts are that an accepted sample size is over 100 cases. Therefore, testing 10 or even 20 people at a company isn't enough and does not tell you whether an assessment works. Additionally, the assessment company should be willing to give you a copy of their written validation study that shows what scientific approach has been used and what their assessment predicts.
The value of a good assessment is its ability to predict the sales success of a particular candidate. In order to have a predictive assessment, it is necessary for an assessment company to conduct research that is expensive and time-consuming. As a result, very few of the assessments for mortgage positions on the market today are based on this type of research. The research requires performance data, manager reviews and over 100 salespeople to complete a questionnaire. With a large enough sample size, the assessment using a predictive validation approach should generate a profile that will distinguish between low sales performers and those who are above average.
In today's business environment, assessments need to be easy to use, web-based and instantly score the candidate's questionnaire. The assessment system should be self-contained and one that managers can use 24/7, 365 days of the year. The testing system should include reports that comply with EEOC requirements, such as whether the questionnaire has any adverse impact on protected groups.
Additional considerations include when was the research validation study completed and does the assessment provide customized behavioral probes for the interviewer to ask?
Please note: Any of our pre-hire and development assessments can be further customized to meet your company's specific needs. Contact psherlock@qfsconsulting.com for details.
Designed for originators — whether they are in retail, TPO or inside sales — our pre-hire assessment helps managers identify sales candidates who have an above-average probability for success.
Our sales development assessment helps sales professionals and their managers identify and target the behaviors required to improve an employee's sales results.
When sales producers fail to make their goals, many senior managers turn to event training as a solution. They hold sales rallies with motivational speakers or outside trainers and hope that better results will happen, but the improvement never occurs. Why does this happen?
This event approach is flawed because each sales person has different strengths, weaknesses and sales learning issues. In order for sales professionals to improve performance, sales training must be tailored to each individual's gaps in sales knowledge. Event or mass training doesn't work because it operates on the premise that everyone has the same knowledge issue which managers know is not true.
Our proprietary sales knowledge assessment helps managers spend their training dollars wisely by determining what the originator needs to learn to be a more effective originator. Our 80-question test measures an originator's skill levels in six essential consultative selling areas which helps companies provide a more targeted training solution.
Our sales knowledge assessment takes the guesswork out of the equation. It helps identify specific training the originator needs and provides managers with an objective measurement on where to spend their time and training dollars.
Making a poor decision when hiring an originator can be costly, but hiring the wrong manager can be more damaging to a company's bottom line because of the impact that the manager has on the sales team.
Our pre-hire manager assessment identifies candidates who possess the 10 competencies that matter most for sales management success. Our assessment benefits companies and hiring managers in a number of ways including:
Our manager development assessment helps the supervisor and the manager have a meaningful discussion on the individual's strengths, weaknesses and subsequent action plan needed to improve their competencies.
*Reports are accessed quickly and easily through our online system.
After the direct supervisor, the most important person for an originator is the processor. An effective processor enables loan officers to increase their production significantly.
While this position has become more demanding over the years, many managers don't set a high enough skill standard when hiring processors.
Mortgage firms that realize the value of this position understand that they need to take a closer look when interviewing for the processor job. Processors are no longer simply file organizers but now have a significant amount of communication with the borrowers and originators.
In our research, we have identified the traits of a good processor. We discovered good processors possess 12 personality traits. Our processor pre-hire assessment helps companies determine whether they have the right candidate in place who can meet the demands of the processor's critical role in origination.
Delete underwriter section Similar to processors, the underwriter position has also undergone changes and managers can benefit by using an underwriter pre-hire assessment to raise the hiring standard. When it comes to risk management, the underwriter is a company's first line of defense. This position is more important than ever with the increase in government regulations and compliance requirements.
Hiring the wrong underwriter can have a lasting negative impact on a company's performance. We have identified nine competencies that good underwriters possess.