The candidate is placed in the role of District Sales Manager for a division of a printing company.

As Sales Manager, the candidate is responsible for the sales team and for managing its goals. Throughout the 4.5-hour Assessment Centre the candidate faces various challenges: he/she has to manage four direct reports; address customer needs; and provide direction to the team. Challenges are presented as In-Basket items that are used to generate interactive role-plays and a District Business Sales Plan. Some of the challenges include:

•   a new Product Launch;
•   addressing Customer Billing Errors;
•   Employee Retention;
•   Team Staffing;
•   Customer Service Difficulties;
•   Team-level Business Plan Creation;
•   dealing with Employee Underperformance; and
•   dealing with Conflicting Priorities.

Role-plays

•   Colleague Interaction: balancing conflicting priorities
•   Coaching Discussion: coaching a direct report about career goals in order to retain the high-potential employee
•   Mediating Discussion: mediating a negotiation between peers solving a key customer's problem
•   Customer Interaction: calming an unhappy customer and building relationships.