Asher Strategies has developed sales-focused assessment solutions designed to help organizations make more informed decisions when hiring, developing, and managing sales professionals. A CPQ aptitude assessment can be used as part of a structured evaluation process to gain insight into the characteristics and capabilities that may influence sales performance. Rather than depending exclusively on resumes and interviews, organizations can incorporate assessment data into their broader hiring and development strategy.
Asher Strategies has a long history of providing sales assessments and training solutions. Its current assessment offering emphasizes the Advanced Personality Questionnaire (APQ), which evolved from the company’s earlier Craft Personality Questionnaire (CPQ). Asher states that the CPQ was developed specifically for sales roles and had been administered more than one million times, while the APQ is its upgraded sales-focused assessment.
1. What Is a CPQ Aptitude Assessment?
A CPQ aptitude assessment is a sales-oriented evaluation designed to provide employers with information about behavioral characteristics relevant to sales positions. Traditional hiring methods can reveal a candidate’s experience and communication during an interview, but an assessment can provide another structured source of information.
The original CPQ was created specifically for sales roles and focused on matching personality characteristics with sales positions based on compatibility. Asher Strategies explains that its assessment history includes extensive data intended to connect assessment results with real-world sales performance.
For organizations, the purpose of an assessment is not simply to label someone as a “good” or “bad” salesperson. Instead, assessment information can help hiring managers understand whether an individual’s characteristics appear compatible with the requirements of a particular sales position.
2. Why Use a CPQ Aptitude Test?
Hiring salespeople can be challenging because sales performance depends on more than previous experience. Two candidates may have similar resumes but demonstrate very different approaches to prospecting, communication, pressure, rejection, and closing.
A structured CPQ aptitude test can provide an additional perspective when evaluating candidates.
Organizations can use sales assessments to:
- Support structured hiring decisions
- Compare candidates using consistent criteria
- Identify potential strengths
- Recognize possible development areas
- Improve role compatibility
- Support coaching decisions
- Reduce dependence on intuition alone
- Create more consistent evaluation processes
Assessment results should be considered alongside interviews, experience, references, job requirements, and other appropriate selection information rather than being treated as the only hiring factor.
3. Sales-Specific Assessment Approach
One important difference between general personality tests and sales assessments is the focus on the actual requirements of selling. Asher Strategies explains that general-purpose assessments may not always be optimized for sales roles. The company’s CPQ was specifically developed for sales positions, while its current APQ is designed for sales and customer-facing roles.
Sales professionals often need to handle rejection, maintain motivation, communicate effectively, manage pressure, and adapt their approach to different customers. A sales-focused assessment can help organizations examine behavioral tendencies associated with these activities.
This information can be particularly useful when the company has clearly defined sales roles and understands the characteristics associated with success in each position.
4. Understanding Sales Aptitude
Sales aptitude refers broadly to characteristics and capabilities that can contribute to success in sales-related work. It is different from simply measuring product knowledge.
A candidate may have excellent product knowledge but struggle with prospecting or rejection. Another candidate may have strong interpersonal skills but require additional technical training.
A sales assessment can help organizations distinguish between characteristics that may already be present and skills that can potentially be developed through training and coaching.
Asher Strategies’ current APQ focuses on traits associated with sales behavior, including areas such as drive to close, rejection tolerance, urgency, empathy and listening, and adaptability.
5. CPQ Aptitude Test for Hiring
Recruiting the right salesperson can have a direct impact on revenue and customer relationships. A structured assessment can be introduced at an appropriate stage of the hiring process to provide additional information before a final decision is made.
For example, an organization might use an assessment to complement:
- Resume screening
- Initial interview
- Sales experience review
- Assessment
- Structured interview
- Reference checking
- Final hiring decision
This approach allows the assessment to become one component of a broader recruitment framework.
Asher Strategies emphasizes moving away from hiring decisions based solely on resumes and interviews and toward more objective sales-aptitude information.
6. Evaluating Sales Personality and Behavior
Personality and behavioral tendencies can influence how salespeople approach their work. Some individuals may naturally prefer pursuing new opportunities, while others may be more comfortable developing existing customer relationships.
The current APQ evaluates behavioral traits that can help organizations understand how candidates may approach different sales environments. Asher Strategies notes that these insights can help answer questions about handling rejection, working independently, responding to coaching, and suitability for different sales environments.
These insights can support more thoughtful placement of salespeople into roles that match their strengths.
7. Using Assessment Results for Coaching
Assessment tools are not useful only during recruitment. They can also support employee development.
Once a salesperson joins an organization, managers can use assessment insights to personalize coaching conversations. Instead of providing identical training to every employee, managers may be able to focus on individual development areas.
Asher Strategies’ current APQ provides coaching guidance in addition to hiring-related information. The company describes the assessment as useful for hiring, coaching, team alignment, and retention.
This creates an opportunity to use assessment data throughout the employee lifecycle rather than treating testing as a one-time recruitment exercise.
8. Identifying Strengths and Development Areas
Every salesperson has a different combination of strengths and potential development needs. One employee may demonstrate strong urgency but need additional coaching in listening. Another may be highly relationship-oriented but need support with closing.
A sales aptitude assessment can help managers begin conversations around these differences.
The objective should be constructive development. Assessment results can be used to identify areas where additional coaching, practice, mentoring, or training may be appropriate.
Asher Strategies describes its current assessment as providing customized coaching tips that can help candidates and salespeople understand their strengths and stretch certain traits toward more effective ranges.
9. Improving Sales Team Alignment
Sales organizations often contain several different roles, including business development representatives, account executives, account managers, sales managers, and customer-facing specialists.
Different positions can require different behavioral characteristics.
An assessment can help organizations think about role compatibility rather than assuming that one profile is ideal for every sales position.
Asher Strategies currently states that its APQ maps assessment results to more than 20 sales job profiles.
This type of role-based approach can help companies consider where individual employees may be most effective.
10. Objective Information for Hiring Managers
Hiring decisions can sometimes be influenced by personal impressions. A confident interview performance, attractive resume, or strong communication style may create a positive impression without necessarily demonstrating long-term sales aptitude.
A structured assessment adds another data point.
Asher Strategies describes sales assessments as tools that can provide organizations with more objective information about potential hires. Its current APQ is positioned as a sales aptitude assessment designed to provide insights into characteristics that correlate with sales behavior and role compatibility.
Used responsibly, this information can complement—not replace—professional judgment.
11. Easy Online Assessment Process
Modern assessment technology allows candidates to complete evaluations online without requiring extensive administrative arrangements.
Asher Strategies currently states that its APQ can be completed online, is self-guided, and generally takes around 20–25 minutes. Results and reports are available immediately after completion.
This makes assessment practical for organizations that need to evaluate multiple candidates or team members without adding significant complexity to their existing recruitment process.
12. Assessment Reports and Decision-Making
The value of an assessment depends largely on how organizations interpret and use its results. A report should provide information that can be connected to actual job requirements.
Asher Strategies describes reports that provide hiring compatibility, coaching guidance, and team-alignment information.
Hiring managers can use this information to generate additional interview questions, identify potential coaching needs, or compare a candidate’s characteristics with the requirements of the position.
13. CPQ Aptitude Test for Existing Sales Teams
Assessment isn’t limited to new applicants. Existing employees can also benefit from structured evaluation.
Organizations can assess current sales professionals to understand team strengths, identify coaching priorities, and consider role alignment.
For example, managers might discover that a team has strong prospecting ability but needs additional development in negotiation or customer retention. Assessment insights can then complement sales-performance data and coaching observations.
The goal is to create a more informed development strategy rather than simply assign a score.
14. Why Choose Asher Strategies?
Asher Strategies combines sales assessment with broader sales training and performance-improvement services. The company says it has worked with more than 2,100 companies over 20 years and positions its assessment technology as a tool for hiring, coaching, team alignment, and retention.
The company’s history with the CPQ and its current APQ offering provide organizations with a sales-specific alternative to generic personality assessments.
Key benefits of a sales-focused assessment approach can include:
- Sales-role compatibility insights
- Structured candidate evaluation
- Behavioral information
- Coaching guidance
- Team-development insights
- Support for hiring decisions
- Role-alignment information
- Online assessment administration
15. CPQ Assessment and Sales Training
Assessment works particularly well when it is connected to training and development. Identifying a potential development area is only the first step; organizations then need an appropriate coaching or training plan.
Asher Strategies offers sales training programs alongside its assessment solutions. Its sales-development approach includes assessment, sales skills training, and coaching resources.
This combination allows businesses to use assessment information as a starting point for employee development rather than treating the test as an isolated HR activity.
Conclusion
A CPQ aptitude test can provide organizations with structured information about sales-related behavioral characteristics and role compatibility. Asher Strategies has a long history with sales-focused assessments, including the original Craft Personality Questionnaire (CPQ), which the company says was specifically developed for sales roles and administered more than one million times. Its current assessment offering, the Advanced Personality Questionnaire (APQ), builds on that sales-focused approach.
For employers, sales assessments can complement resumes, interviews, references, performance history, and other hiring information. They can also support coaching and employee development after hiring. By understanding how individuals approach areas such as pressure, rejection, urgency, listening, adaptability, and closing, managers can have more targeted conversations about role fit and professional development.
Asher Strategies offers a sales-specific assessment approach for organizations looking to make more informed hiring and development decisions. Whether the goal is evaluating prospective salespeople, improving team alignment, or creating more individualized coaching strategies, assessment data can become a valuable component of a broader sales-performance program. For more information about current assessment options, organizations can review Asher Strategies’ official assessment resources and determine whether the current APQ or another solution best matches their hiring and development requirements. For more visit us!
