Are We Hiring the Wrong Salespeople for the AI Era?
About this episode
Dr. Peter Kerr discusses the impact of analytical skills on sales performance in the AI era.
In this episode of SalesTV, Dr. Peter Kerr, Chair of Applied Research in Sales at the University of New Brunswick, shares research drawn from LinkedIn hiring data and quantitative performance studies to examine how salesperson analytical skills directly influence sales performance and strengthen the effort-to-results relationship. The conversation explores whether sales leaders should optimize for both soft interpersonal skills and hard analytical skills, why working smarter often outperforms working harder, and how job design, hiring strategy, and training must align when navigating trade-offs in the AI-driven sales environment. Chapters 00:00 – Are We Hiring the Wrong Salespeople for the AI Era02:01 – What Skills Actually Drive Sales Performance07:24 – LinkedIn Data Reveals Analytical Skills Surge08:58 – Direct and Moderating Effects on Performance09:54 – Two Dimensions of Analytical Skill12:03 – Will AI Replace Analytical Skills13:21 – Should We Hire for Both Soft and Hard Skills15:48 – The Compromise Candidate Problem18:09 – Analytics Dashboards vs Analytical Thinking19:26 – Working Harder vs Working Smarter20:16 – The One Thing Sales Leaders Must Decide In this episode, we…
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