Commercial Capability Assessment

The full picture of
your sales force.

Know which sales reps perform, where your team needs to grow — and how to restructure with confidence. Based on data, not assumptions.

Fact-based clarity

What the assessment reveals

One structured process. Three things CEOs finally get clarity on.

01

Who is driving your results

Get an unbiased view of each sales rep’s individual performance — based on data, not self-assessment. Know exactly which reps to build around, and where to make changes in your commercial team.

02

Where training creates real impact

Identify exactly which skills, roles and sales reps would benefit most from development — so every training investment is focused where it creates the biggest commercial uplift for your team.

03

How to restructure with confidence

Understand the full picture of your commercial organization — benchmarked against your industry — so restructuring decisions are grounded in fact, not gut feeling.

Who needs this assessment

Built for leaders who need hard answers

The Commercial Capability Assessment gives you objective, external data on your sales force — not assumptions — so you can make commercial decisions with confidence.

CEO / Owner

Considering restructuring or a strategic pivot

You need to know which roles and people to build around — and which decisions to make before the next phase of growth.

CSO / Sales Leader

Performance gaps you can’t fully explain

Numbers are off, but the cause isn’t clear. The assessment pinpoints exactly where the breakdown happens in your sales team — and why.

Board / Shareholders

Accountability and transparency on the commercial org

You need reliable, external data on the commercial capabilities of your sales reps to back leadership decisions and make informed investment choices.

M&A / Integration

Evaluating or integrating a commercial team

Before or after an acquisition, you need an objective baseline of what you are working with — fast and without political noise.

The process

How it works

1
2
3

Define success profiles

Together we define clear success profiles for your key roles — Hunters, Farmers, Key Account Managers — tailored to your business and grounded in industry benchmarks.

Assess against the target

Your team is assessed against the defined success profiles, providing clear insights into strengths, gaps and performance differences across individuals and peer groups.

Turn insights into decisions

You receive comprehensive individual and group reports — a clear, external basis for decisions on structure, development, and the right people in the right roles.

Assessment Results Sample · 16 Participants
Overall Team Score 6.8 / 10
4
Top Performers
9
Development Focus
3
Role Misalignment
Score by Dimension
Hard Skill Assessment7.2
Soft Skill Assessment6.1
Time Spent Analysis4.8
Business Case7.9
The methodology

Four dimensions of assessment

Each dimension highlights a different layer of commercial performance — together they form a complete and unbiased picture.

1. Hard Skill Assessment

Measure real knowledge, not perception.

  • Assesses expertise in products, competition and business
  • Compares self-perception with external evaluation
  • Identifies concrete knowledge gaps and misalignments
  • Creates a clear basis for targeted development

2. Soft Skill Assessment

See performance and untapped potential.

  • Identifies talents and how strongly they are used today
  • Measures role fit (Hunter, Farmer, Key Account)
  • Reveals underused potential and development areas
  • Based on scientifically validated Profiling Values* and DISC
Sales Force Strength Sample · Sales Manager
Role
TARGET
Sales Competence
Customer Orientation
Self-confidence
Sales Orientation
Achievement Motivation
Future Orientation
Decisiveness
Leadership
Responsibility
Results Orientation
Change Competence
Employee Development
Values & Profile
1 4 7 10
Actual Score Target
Performance Analysis Sample · Team View
Time Distribution
Selling & Client Contact 38%
Internal Meetings & Admin 26%
Reporting & CRM 22%
Travel & Dead Time 14%
Business Case Score
Market Knowledge 7 / 10
Pricing Strategy 8 / 10
Competitive Positioning 5 / 10
Customer Strategy 6 / 10

3. Time Spent Analysis

How much time actually goes into selling?

  • Identifies value-add activities vs. time killers
  • Identifies inefficiencies and lost productivity
  • Highlights where focus needs to shift
  • Creates a basis for process and role optimization

4. Business Case

Test real business performance.

  • Evaluates strategic thinking and market understanding
  • Covers pricing, positioning, competition and customer strategy
  • Assesses ability to identify and drive business opportunities
  • Fully customizable to your business context
45m+
DISC assessments worldwide
ρ=.92
*Spearman’s rho reliability
2,500+
sales reps assessed by CPM
100%
GDPR compliant
The experience

Built around your people

Your sales reps are guided through a transparent, easy-to-navigate process — with clear communication at every step. Minimal disruption, maximum insight.

Talent Portal shown on a laptop

Talent Portal

  • Navigate the entire process through a centralized, intuitive platform
  • Flexible scheduling based on personal availability
Development feedback video call

Development Feedback

  • 30-minute individual feedback session with our experts
  • Clear insights on strengths and concrete development areas
Individual capability report shown on a laptop

Individual Report

  • Comprehensive capability report covering sales, leadership and core competencies
  • Clear, structured and directly actionable insights
The deliverables

Preview your assessment reports

Explore example reports and see how your capabilities would be visualized.

01

Individual Capability Report

  • Understand strengths, development areas and untapped potential
  • See role fit across Hunter, Farmer and Key Account profiles
  • Gain clear insights into soft skills, business acumen and sales capabilities
  • Identify where targeted development will drive the biggest impact
Download sample ↓
02

Team Capability Report

  • Get a complete overview of performance across teams and roles
  • Identify capability gaps, misalignments and performance differences
  • Segment your organization (top performers, development needs…)
  • Define where to act — hiring, development or structural changes
Download sample ↓
03

Talent X-Ray App

  • Full transparency on skills, capabilities and team structure
  • All data, visualizations and insights in one application
  • Enables direct analysis, comparison and decision-making
  • Built to support ongoing development and strategic planning
Book a call
Trusted by leaders

Clarity that drives decisions

How senior leaders used the Commercial Capability Assessment to make decisions about their commercial teams.

“The assessment gave us clear visibility on strengths, gaps and development areas across our commercial organization. It created clarity and brought real energy into developing our people and moving the organization forward.”

Daniel Prillinger
Daniel Prillinger
Sales Director

“The assessment provided unbiased, fact-based clarity on our commercial capabilities. It allowed us to make data-driven decisions, refocus our priorities and restructure our organization. CPM continues to be a trusted partner in developing our teams.”

Lionel Bonte
Lionel Bonte
BU Leader / Chief Commercial Officer

“As experienced CEO, I can confidently say that CPM’s services have made a significant impact on our business. Their expertise and support have transformed our sales operations and driven measurable results.”

Tom Schäbinger
Tom Schäbinger
Latest position CEO – led 2bn EUR businesses
Commercial Capability Assessment

Ready to see what your sales force can do?

Interested in assessing your sales force? Get in touch via the form below or book a direct info session with Stefan Pogatsch, Head of Consultancy at CPM Group.

Stefan Pogatsch

Stefan Pogatsch

Head of Consultancypogatsch@cpm-group.at+43 676 6314859
Book an Info Call
Hinweis: Formular noch ohne Versand-Anbindung – siehe Notiz am Projektende.
FAQ

Questions people ask before getting started

Everything you need to know — from what the assessment actually measures to how your team will experience it.

What exactly is a Commercial Capability Assessment?+
A Commercial Capability Assessment is a structured, data-driven evaluation of your sales team’s capabilities across four dimensions: hard skills (commercial knowledge and sales competencies), soft skills (personality and working style via DISC and Profiling Values), time analysis (how reps actually spend their time versus how they should), and a business case scenario (commercial judgment under realistic conditions). The result is an objective picture of each rep’s strengths, gaps and potential — benchmarked against your industry and against what great actually looks like in your context.
Who is this for?+
The assessment is designed for sales leaders, CSOs, CEOs and HR leaders who need objective data about their commercial teams. It is used for hiring decisions (assessing candidates before an offer), performance management (understanding why results vary across the team), promotion decisions (identifying who is ready for a senior or leadership role), and team restructuring (deciding where to invest development resources and where to make changes).
What does the process look like from start to finish?+
The process runs in three phases. First, together with CPM you define success profiles for the roles you want to assess — what does great actually look like in your context and your market? Second, participants complete the assessment through an online Talent Portal at a time that fits their schedule. Third, you receive individual and group reports, and each participant gets a 30-minute feedback session with a CPM expert. Total elapsed time is typically two to four weeks.
How long does it take for each person?+
Each participant typically completes the assessment in two to three hours, spread across several online sessions they can schedule flexibly. There are no in-person requirements, no disruption to day-to-day selling activity, and the platform is intuitive enough that no prior preparation is needed.
What do we actually receive at the end?+
You receive: an Individual Capability Report for each participant, a Team Capability Report covering the full sales force, and access to the Talent X-Ray App — an interactive tool for filtering, comparing and acting on the data across your team. Each participant also receives a 30-minute individual feedback session with a CPM expert. Sample reports are available for download on this page.
How is this different from a standard personality test?+
Most personality tests give you a profile of how a person sees themselves. The Commercial Capability Assessment goes further: it combines self-assessment with external evaluation, compares results against validated success profiles for specific sales roles, adds hard skill testing and a business case scenario, and benchmarks results against industry data. The outcome is not just a personality profile — it is a multi-dimensional capability picture with direct implications for hiring, coaching, development and sales team design.
Will my sales team react negatively to being assessed?+
In CPM’s experience, the majority of participants value the process — particularly because each person receives their own individual feedback session and a personal copy of their report. The assessment is designed to give, not just take: participants come away with a clearer picture of their own strengths, working style and development areas. On the data side, everything is handled in full compliance with GDPR. Individual results are shared only with the assessed person and — based on prior written agreement — with designated leaders. CPM does not retain or use data beyond the agreed scope. Being transparent with your team upfront about what will be assessed, how the data will be used, and who will see it makes a significant difference to how the process is received.
How reliable are the results?+
The soft skill component is built on two of the most rigorously validated psychometric instruments available: Profiling Values, which carries a Spearman’s rho reliability of ρ=.92, and DISC, a behavioral framework with decades of research and global validation. Profiling Values maps deeper motivational and personality drivers, while DISC captures observable behavioral patterns and communication style. The hard skill test and business case element are calibrated specifically to your sales context and role requirements. Together, the four dimensions deliver a degree of reliability that no single-method tool can match.
Is the data GDPR compliant?+
Yes, fully. All data is processed in accordance with GDPR regulations. Individual results are shared only with the assessed person and — depending on the agreed setup — with designated leaders. Group reports aggregate data in a way that protects individual privacy. CPM Group operates under Austrian law and EU data protection standards.
How many people need to be assessed for it to make sense?+
There is no minimum. A single critical hire or high-stakes promotion decision is reason enough — the individual report alone delivers a complete picture of that person’s commercial capabilities, behavioral profile and role fit. Many organizations start with one key appointment and expand from there. Group reports and team comparisons become especially powerful from around eight to ten participants, enabling pattern recognition across the sales force and informed decisions about where to invest development resources.