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Most companies comparing sales assessment tools assume they’re comparing rivals. Often times, they aren’t. These tools answer different questions, and picking the wrong one means buying a very good answer to a question you didn’t ask.
If you are comparing Wonderlic and Criteria for sales hiring, The DriveTest® by SalesDrive belongs on your shortlist when your priority is evaluating the Drive to pursue new business.
My recommendation: consider The DriveTest for hunter motivation, Wonderlic Select for combined cognitive, personality, and motivational insight, and Criteria for a broad assessment platform that includes sales-specific options.
As the developer of The DriveTest, I have a clear perspective on where it helps. I also believe you deserve an honest explanation of where another tool, or a combination of tools, may better serve your hiring process.
The starting point is your sales role. A representative building a territory from scratch faces different demands from someone managing established accounts. The assessment you’re considering should reflect those differences.
“The goal is not to collect the most data. It’s to collect the right data to make a better hiring decision—and ultimately, generate more revenue.”
The DriveTest vs. Wonderlic vs. Criteria: Comparison Table
For this comparison, “Wonderlic” refers to Wonderlic Select. “Criteria” refers to its broader platform, with particular attention to the Sales Achievement Predictor (SalesAP) and Criteria Cognitive Aptitude Test (CCAT).
| Comparison factor | The DriveTest® by SalesDrive | Wonderlic Select | Criteria |
| Primary focus | Non-teachable sales Drive and supporting sales skills | Job fit across multiple occupations | Assessment choices across multiple occupations |
| Main measures | Need for Achievement, Competitiveness, Optimism, plus supporting sales skills | Cognitive ability, personality, and motivation | Depends on the tests selected; options include cognitive aptitude, personality, emotional intelligence, and skills |
| Sales-specific approach | Designed for sales; particularly relevant to hunter hiring | Uses job-specific scoring within a broader assessment | Offers SalesAP and other assessments relevant to sales |
| Cognitive testing | Not included in The DriveTest | Included | Available through CCAT and other options |
| Best fit in this comparison | Evaluating Drive in outbound and new-business candidates | Assessing several dimensions of job fit together | Selecting a combination of assessments for sales and other departments |
| Main buying consideration | You still need evidence of learning ability and demonstrated selling skills | Confirm what the selected job profile tells you about your actual sales work | Evaluate the specific test combination, not just the platform’s overall capabilities |
Wonderlic Select: Best for Assessing Several Dimensions of Job Fit Together
Wonderlic is often associated with cognitive testing, but describing Wonderlic Select as an intelligence test alone would be inaccurate.
It combines cognitive ability, personality, and motivation to evaluate candidates against role requirements. That gives employers information about several aspects of potential job fit in one assessment.
For sales hiring, its cognitive component can be relevant when the work requires learning complex products, understanding unfamiliar business problems, or applying new information. Wonderlic describes this component as assessing learning, adaptation, and problem-solving, with its contribution to the overall score varying by job requirements.
When I would consider Wonderlic
Imagine hiring a salesperson who must understand technical specifications and explain their business implications to several decision-makers.
You need more than enthusiasm. You need evidence that the candidate can grasp the material and use it effectively.
Wonderlic deserves consideration in that situation. It may also suit an HR team looking for a consistent assessment approach across different departments.
What to examine before choosing it
Ask the provider to walk through the job profile and explain how its results relate to your selling environment.
For example: What would the report tell you about someone selling a complex product primarily through outbound prospecting? Which findings should you investigate in the interview?
Criteria: Best for a Broad Platform with Sales-Specific Options
Criteria is a platform with multiple assessments. Its portfolio includes cognitive aptitude, personality, emotional intelligence, risk, and skills assessments. That breadth can be useful when different positions require different evidence.
For sales hiring, one important option is the Sales Achievement Predictor, or SalesAP. Criteria lists achievement, cold-calling initiative, competitiveness, sales closing, and sales disposition among its measures. It also publishes sales-related validity information for the assessment.
When I would consider Criteria
Criteria may fit a company that wants to choose different assessment combinations for different sales positions while using the same provider for other departments.
Its recommendations also illustrate why the specific combination matters. For technology sales representatives, Criteria recommends the CCAT alongside the Employee Personality Profile, a personality assessment. That is a different assessment approach from administering SalesAP alone.
What to examine before choosing it
Request a sample report for the exact combination you would purchase. Ask why each assessment is included and how its findings should affect your decision.
A large test library is useful only if the selected tests answer your hiring questions. Otherwise, you can collect more information without knowing what to do with it.
The DriveTest: Best for Evaluating Drive in Hunter Sales Candidates
The DriveTest centers on Drive, a combination of three traits I’ve found to be core to sustained sales production:
- Need for Achievement: The internal push to set demanding goals and pursue excellence.
- Competitiveness: The desire to excel, outperform, and win business.
- Optimism: The expectation of success and resilience to continue after setbacks.
These characteristics are particularly relevant when the salesperson must create opportunities, maintain effort without constant supervision, and recover from rejection.
The report also includes Confidence, Persuasion, Relationship, and Organization, along with hunter and farmer fit indicators, interview questions and development guidance.
When I would consider The DriveTest
Consider an outbound representative whose job is to develop a territory with few established accounts.
The candidate’s presentation skills matter. So does their ability to learn. But neither fully answers your concern about sustained effort when prospects ignore calls and early opportunities fall through.
That is the hiring question The DriveTest is designed to help address.
Where The DriveTest is not enough
The DriveTest does not test cognitive ability, product knowledge, or CRM proficiency. It also does not replace observing a candidate apply selling skills.
A high-Drive candidate can still need substantial training or be wrong for your particular role.
Which Assessment Fits Your Sales Role?
Job titles can hide major differences in the work. Two companies may both hire “account executives,” yet one supplies qualified opportunities while the other expects employees to create their own pipeline.
| Sales Role | Primary Risk | Strongest Starting Point |
| SDR / BDR / outbound hunter | Won’t prospect; quits under rejection | The DriveTest |
| New-business account executive (simple sale) | Low activity, weak resilience | The DriveTest |
| New-business account executive (complex, long cycle) | Can’t learn the product and won’t hunt | The DriveTest + cognitive measure (Wonderlic or Criteria) |
| Account manager / farmer | Service quality, relationship fit | Criteria or Wonderlic |
| Company hiring across many departments | Consistency across roles | Wonderlic or Criteria |
Outbound SDRs, BDRs, and territory hunters
If self-generated activity and rejection recovery are central to the role, put The DriveTest on your shortlist.
Criteria’s SalesAP also deserves consideration because it addresses sales-related characteristics, including cold-calling initiative. Compare what each report tells you and the follow-up questions it enables.
Technical or complex new-business sales
These positions can demand both learning ability and sustained prospecting.
Cognitive assessment information may help you evaluate the learning demands. A focused sales assessment may add useful evidence about the candidate’s motivational characteristics.
The key is determining what each tool contributes to your decision.
Account management and relationship-led sales
Start by clarifying whether the person will primarily retain accounts, expand them, or hunt for new ones.
Do not make hunter potential your dominant criterion simply because the position sits within the sales department. Evaluate the relationship, organizational, problem-solving, and selling requirements of the actual work.
Should You Combine The DriveTest with Wonderlic or Criteria?
Sometimes, yes.
For complex sales roles, I have personally used The DriveTest alongside Wonderlic. My purpose was to evaluate learning and problem-solving alongside sales Drive.
That experience is not proof that every employer needs both—or that the combination is universally more predictive.
Before adding another assessment, ask:
1. What important question remains unanswered?
2. Will the additional results change a hiring decision or interview question?
3. How much does the new assessment overlap with information we already have?
Overlap deserves particular attention when combining personality or motivation measures. Two reports using different labels may still cover similar ground.
Add an assessment because it contributes useful evidence, not because another report makes the process feel more scientific.
Best-For Verdict
- Choose Wonderlic Select if you want one assessment system across many roles, or your sales role demands rapid learning and complex problem-solving.
- Choose Criteria if you want a broad platform, a wider sales profile, or cognitive and personality data under one roof.
- Choose the DriveTest if your central question is whether a candidate has the motivation and resilience to hunt consistently and the role requires responsibility for generating new business.
- Combine them if you’re filling a complex sales role. I’ve used Wonderlic and the DriveTest together myself. Wonderlic helps evaluate the ability to learn and solve problems, and the DriveTest evaluates the Drive to prospect, overcome rejection, and generate new revenue.
How to Use Any Assessment Well
No test should make the hiring decision alone. Whichever tool you choose, run these steps in order:
- Define the role. Hunter or farmer? Short cycle or long? Simple or complex?
- Identify the risk. Can’t learn, won’t do, or wrong fit?
- Choose the tool or combination that gives the clearest evidence on that risk.
- Verify in a structured interview that probes past behavior. My step-by-step guide to assessing sales candidates covers how.
Conclusion: Choose the Assessment Around the Hiring Risk
If you are already evaluating Wonderlic or Criteria, consider what prompted the search.
If you need several dimensions of job fit assessed together, Wonderlic Select deserves consideration. If you want a broad platform with different assessment options, including a sales-specific test, Criteria deserves consideration.
If your recurring problem is hiring people who interview well but struggle to sustain new-business activity, The DriveTest belongs alongside them on your shortlist.
So, what next? Request sample reports and ask each provider to explain how the results would inform a decision about your actual sales role.
For a wider market view, see our full sales assessment tools comparison. You can also read how the DriveTest stacks up against TestGorilla or Predictive Index, and what to expect on sales assessment cost.
Frequently Asked Questions
Yes, for the right purpose. Wonderlic Select evaluates cognitive ability, personality, and motivation against a role, which is useful when learning speed and problem-solving matter. It isn’t built specifically around prospecting Drive, so many sales leaders pair it with a sales-specific measure for hunter roles.
SalesAP is a legitimate sales-specific test validated against sales performance. It reports on cold-calling initiative, competitiveness, and closing. It’s a strong option if you want a wider profile from a broad platform.
Both give information relevant to prospecting and sales performance. SalesAP sits inside a broader suite, while the DriveTest concentrates on one question: whether the candidate has the Drive (Need for Achievement, Competitiveness, and Optimism) associated with sustained revenue production.
My recommendation is to consider The DriveTest when your primary question concerns Drive for sustained new-business development. Criteria SalesAP is another relevant option. Compare role fit, supporting evidence, sample reports, and the information missing from your current process.
No. Assessment results are one source of evidence. Use them with structured interviews, relevant work samples, work-history review, and references. The employee will still need appropriate training, management, and a viable sales opportunity.
About the Author: Dr. Chris Croner is a clinical psychologist and Principal at SalesDrive, LLC. He developed The DriveTest® sales assessment and is co-author of Never Hire a Bad Salesperson Again. He has helped more than 1,500 companies worldwide identify and hire top-performing salespeople. Connect with him on LinkedIn.
