{"id":144249,"date":"2026-02-17T08:00:43","date_gmt":"2026-02-17T13:00:43","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/trainingindustry.com\/?post_type=articles&p=144249"},"modified":"2026-02-13T02:06:32","modified_gmt":"2026-02-13T07:06:32","slug":"case-study-how-hiring-assessments-help-build-high-performing-sales-teams","status":"publish","type":"articles","link":"https:\/\/trainingindustry.com\/articles\/sales\/case-study-how-hiring-assessments-help-build-high-performing-sales-teams\/","title":{"rendered":"Case Study: How Hiring Assessments Help Build High-Performing Sales Teams"},"author":52,"featured_media":144251,"template":"","tags":[36625,36626,3855],"class_list":["post-144249","articles","type-articles","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","tag-hiring-assessments","tag-role-benchmarking","tag-sales-hiring","global_topic_tax-onboarding","global_topic_tax-sales"],"acf":{"sponsored":false,"gated":false,"gated_content_type":"","file_attachment":null,"gated_content":"","form_instruction_header":"To access the full article, please fill out the form below:","pardot_html_embed":"","author_override":true,"author_name":"Michelle Richardson","author_image":"","author_bio":"Michelle Richardson is the vice president of sales performance research at The Brooks Group<\/a>, where she spearheads industry research and ROI initiatives.\r\n\r\n ","excerpt":"Bruckner\u2019s Truck & Equipment demonstrates how hiring assessments and role benchmarks can accelerate sales onboarding, reduce turnover and guide long-term coaching.","main_content":"Founded in 1932, Bruckner\u2019s Truck & Equipment is one of America\u2019s largest and oldest dealers of Mack and Volvo trucks and equipment, with locations from Arkansas \u200bto Washington. Bruckner\u2019s began using hiring assessments to streamline its selection process in 2016. Since then, the company has conducted over 1,000 assessments and built a stable, high-performing sales team.\r\n\r\nFor learning and development (L&D) professionals, the case also offers practical insight into how assessments can inform hiring decisions, accelerate onboarding and guide long-term coaching and development.\r\n

Using Hiring Assessments to Identify Top Performers<\/h2>\r\nOver the past decade, Bruckner\u2019s has grown rapidly from nine locations to 45\u200b and from 220 employees to 1,400\u200b. This expansion made it imperative for the company to find the right candidates, hire and onboard quickly \u2014 in all roles including sales professionals, regional sales managers, corporate sales managers and sales coordinators. It also became even more important to reduce turnover so the company could keep the employees they were hiring.\r\n\r\n\u201cWe\u2019ve grown our feet on the street about 14% throughout the last year,\u201d said Brian Murphy, vice president of sales at Bruckner\u2019s Truck & Equipment. \u201cWe\u2019re hiring an average of one new salesperson every week.\u201d\r\n\r\nBruckner\u2019s hiring process includes initial resume submission, online application, one-on-one interview, hiring assessment, assessment debrief, executive review, reference check and background check. Using the assessment dramatically shortened the hiring process and enabled the company to hire top performers quickly.\r\n\r\n\u201cI can look at the assessment and, in about two minutes, determine if the candidate is a definite yes or a no,\u201d said Murphy. \u201cYou have to have velocity in this. Your big producers are going to move fast,\u00a0and you will lose them if you can\u2019t move at the speed they expect you to.\u201d\r\n\r\nOne of the main benefits of using an assessment is it takes the emotion out of hiring. The tool reveals sales professionals\u2019 selling skills, working styles, communication preferences, job competencies, driving forces and sales acumen.\r\n\r\n\u201cWe love having a third party who\u2019s never interviewed the person look at them on paper and give us their red flags or the confidence they\u2019re the right hire. Taking the emotion out is huge,\u201d said Murphy.\r\n

Job Benchmarks Show What Good Looks Like<\/h2>\r\nTo fully deploy the assessments, the company\u2019s L&D and human resources (HR) team partnered to create job benchmarks that identify the most important characteristics of the roles Bruckner\u2019s is hiring for. Hiring managers compare each candidate\u2019s assessment to the benchmark to make sure they\u2019re a good fit.\r\n\r\n\u201cWhat we\u2019re looking for is the best person for our organization \u2014 somebody who\u2019s going to have the highest\u00a0chance of succeeding. It\u2019s different for a manager, a salesperson or a sales coordinator. It\u2019s not one-size-fits-all to us,\u201d said Murphy.\r\n\r\nThese benchmarks gave L&D a shared definition of success that could be carried from hiring into onboarding, coaching and performance development.\r\n

A Guide for Ongoing Training and Coaching<\/h2>\r\nUsing the hiring assessment has allowed Bruckner\u2019s to shrink its onboarding time from a year to 90 days. The debrief gives new hires an awareness of their strengths and helps them understand where they need to develop. The company builds onboarding from there and uses the assessment as a guide to improve ongoing training and coaching.\r\n\r\n\u201cWe used to bring new hires into corporate for three days to learn about product and our processes,\u201d said Murphy. \u201cNow, with a newly onboarded person, we talk about how they\u2019re built, their\u00a0training opportunities as well as their strengths. It\u2019s a career-long document that you can always keep and learn from.\u201d\r\n

How L&D and HR Partner on Hiring Assessments<\/h2>\r\nBruckner\u2019s case study shows there are several practical steps L&D professionals can take when working with HR and sales leaders to improve sales hiring outcomes.\r\n

Benchmark the Role<\/h3>\r\nWhat\u2019s the right fit? Before hiring for any position, define what \u201cgood\u201d looks like with a role benchmark built precisely for each position. Develop the benchmark with the hiring manager and survey internal experts who understand the job to learn essential competencies.\r\n

Assess the Candidate<\/h3>\r\nIs the candidate wired for selling? A hiring assessment will show selling skills, working styles, communication preferences, job competencies, driving forces, and sales acumen. Assess candidates and compare individual reports to the benchmark to determine compatibility with the role.\r\n

Use the Assessment as a Guide<\/h3>\r\nDoes the candidate know how to sell? Use the assessment to determine skills levels, identify strengths and diagnose areas of improvement. Once hired, debrief both the candidate and the hiring manager to target coaching and development throughout the lifecycle of the new hire.\r\n\r\nKnowing what \u201cgood\u201d looks like and focusing on role-specific profiles and team fit gives Bruckner\u2019s confidence that they\u2019re choosing the best candidates \u2014 and gives L&D a clear foundation for developing those hires throughout their careers.","full_width":false,"content_band":[{"acf_fc_layout":"social_callout","blockquote":"Before hiring for any position, define what \u201cgood\u201d looks like with a role benchmark built precisely for each position."},{"acf_fc_layout":"content_area","wysiwyg":"[hubspot type=\"form\" portal=\"47185625\" id=\"e4e19551-ca10-4a5d-b1c3-0fdc37355374\" version=\"v4\"]"}],"tice_sponsors":"","custom_dfp_keywords":""},"yoast_head":"\nSales Hiring Powered by Role Benchmarking<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Discover how structured hiring assessments and role benchmarks help sales 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