CH-3 Developing sales force

a) Recruiting, Selection & Training of Sales force:

• What is recruitment?

• Recruitment is finding potential job applicants, telling them about the company,& getting them to apply.

• Recruiting efforts should not simply generate applicants,rather,it should find applicants who are potentially good employees.

Recruitment process

• CJA:Conduct job analysis PJD:Prepare job Description• ISJQ:Identify sales job qualification,APSR:Attract pool of recruits• SBR:Select best recruits

CJA PJD ISJQ APOR SBR

1. Conducting a job analysis

• 1. Conducting a job analysis:

• Before a company can search for a particular type of sales person, it must know something about the sales job to be filled. For this reason a job analysis should be conducted to identify the duties, requirements ,responsibilities ,& conditions involved in the job.

A proper job analysis involves these steps:

• 1.Analyze the environment in which the salesperson is to work.

• a) What is the nature of the competition faced by the sales person in this job?

• b) What is the nature of the customers to be contacted, what kinds of problems do they have?

• c) What degree of knowledge, skill & potential is needed for this particular position?

• 2.Determine the duties & responsibilities that are expected from the sales person.

• In doing so, information should be obtained from • a) salespeople• b) customers• c) the sales manager• d) other marketing executives, including the

advertising manager, marketing services manager, distribution manager, marketing research director, credit manager

• 3.Spend time making calls with several sales people, observing & recording the various tasks of the job as they are actually performed. This should be done for a variety of different types of customers & over a representative period of time.

2.Preparing a job description

• The result of a formal job analysis is a job description.

• Since a job description is used in Recruiting,selecting,training,compensating,evalu ating the sales force, the description should be in writing so that it can be referred to frequently.

• The written job description lets prospective job applicants, as well as current Sales personnel.

3.Developing a set of job Qualifications

• The duties & responsibilities set forth in the job description should be converted into a set of qualifications that a recruit should have in order to perform the sales job satisfactorily.

• 1.Personality Traits.

• 2.Levels of Qualification

• 3.Models of Success.

a)Personality Traits

• A classic study by two industrial psychologists suggested that a successful sales person needs only two personality traits:

• Empathy

• Ego drive

• “Empathy”was defined as the ability to feel as the other fellow does”

• Ego drive makes the sales person want & need to make the sale." The sale then becomes a conquest & a powerful means of enhancing the ego. As a result, the sales person has the drive & need to make the sale, empathy gives him or her the connecting tool with which to do it.

• According to studies conducted by McMurry & Arnold .They observed that a

Super sales people have an inherent flair for winning the acceptance of others.

Six attributes of successful sales people identified in their study is

1.High level of energy

2.Self confidence

3.A persistent hunger for money

4.Ability to work hard without close supervision.

5.A habit for perseverance(determination)

6.A natural tendency to be competitive.

b)Levels of qualification

• The sales manager should have good idea of the qualifications that a person should have to fill the position.

• A person over qualified-will generally not be happy in a position that offers a little challenge.

• A sales manager need to understand certain characteristics of selling & sales people.

• 1.Travel

• 2.Supervision (self starter)

• 3.Little work Experience Majority have little or no work experience)

• So certain job qualification is required

c)Models of success

• Usually companies who have a large sales force usually analyze personal histories of present & past sales people to determine job qualifications.

• Today firms use computerized data files & to develop statistical models to differentiate high performers from low performers.

4.Attracting a pool of Applicants

• The importance of starting with a large pool of applicants helps as a automatic screening system.

• When High caliber sales people are needed, a greater number of the applicants must be screened before one is found who meets the hiring specification

5.Select the best Recruits.

?

• 1.What are the steps involved in the recruiting process?

• 2.Why should Sales manager Conduct Job analysis before recruiting sales people?

• 3.Why should sales managers develop a set of job qualifications? Is this a difficult Process ?Explain.

Exercise

• You have been working as a sales rep for an industrial firm for last two yrs.Recently you were asked to help out with this yrs recruiting of entry level sales people. Sales manager informs you that it is very difficult recruiting college students for industrial selling jobs.

• What are your suggestions? What can be done to attract top college graduates?

• Case:1

• I’ve been the sales manager of seven sales representatives & three telephone order representatives. My problem is that they don’t always report to me .Instead, they bypass me