Development and validation of the salespeople forced choice behavioral style test in the information technology industry

This study aimed to develop a Salespeople Forced Choice Behavioral Style Test (SFBT) to reliably and validly predict sales performance. In Study 1, statements collected from literatures and interviews with salespeople were rated and put into 41 pairs to form the SFBT. In each pair, the two statements have a similar preference, but a different discrimination ability, and only one statement represents better sales skills. In Study 2, 359 information technology salespersons were tested with the SFBT. Results showed that SFBT scores had good reliability and high predictive validity for performance. Implications for identifying salespeople’s behavioral styles and skills and for personnel recruitment are discussed.