STAFFING THE SALESFORCE: RECRUITMENT AND SELECTION

1. RECRUITMENT AND SELECTION MODULE 5 STAFFING THE SALESFORCE

2. Importance of recruitment and selection: 1. Inadequate sales coverage and lack of customer follow up. 2. Increase training costs to overcome deficiencies. 3. More supervisory problems. 4. Higher turnover rates. 5. Difficulty in establishing enduring relationships with customers. 6. Suboptimal total sales force performance.

3. Introduction to sales force socialization Sales force socialization – refers to the process by which salespeople acquire the knowledge, skills, and values essential to perform their jobs. Two stages of socialization relevant to recruitment and selection: 1. Achieving Realism – This is giving the recruit an accurate portrayal of the job. 2. Achieving Congruence – This is matching the capabilities of the recruit with the needs of the organization.

4. Realism – can be achieved by providing accurate job descriptions and perhaps offering a job preview through a field visits with sales person. Congruence – can be achieved through proper screening and selection of candidates who fit the job and organization.

5. Recruitment and Selection Process First Step Planning activities: conducting a job analysis, establishing job qualifications, completing a job description, setting recruitment and selection objectives, and developing a recruitment and selection strategy to ensure consistency with the objectives, strategies, resources and constraints of the organization. Second Step Recruitment: it is the procedure of locating a sufficient number of prospective job applicants. A number of internal or within the company and external or outside the company sources may be used to develop this poll of candidates. Third Step Selection: the process of choosing which candidates will be offered the job. Evaluation methods, resumes, job application forms, tests, and physical exams are used in this step.

6. Planning for Recruitment and Selection Proper planning provides more time for locating the best recruits. Upper management can be alerted in advance to probable future needs, rather than having to be convinced quickly when the need becomes imminent. Also training can be planned more effectively when the flow of new trainees into the organization is known. Overall, the main benefit of adequate planning for the recruitment and selection process is that it helps prevent the kind of poor decisions that often prove so expensive both emotionally and financially.

7. The key tasks in planning for recruitment and selection are the following: 1. Job Analysis – which entails an organization of the task, duties, and responsibilities of the job, it is completed by human resource manager or other corporate managers, but even then, the sales manager may have input into the job analysis. 2. Job Qualifications – refer to the aptitude, skills, knowledge, personal traits, and willingness to accept occupational conditions necessary to perform the job. - Common sales jobs qualifications address sales experience , educational level, willingness to travel , willingness to relocate, interpersonal skills, communication skills, problem-solving skills, relationships management skills, self-motivation, ability to work independently.

8. 3. Job Description – A written summary of a job is completed by the sales manager or, in many cases, the human resource manager. - Job descriptions are the essential document in sales management. The following are the elements of job description: 1. Job title 2. Duties, tasks, and responsibilities of the salesperson 3. Administrative relationships indicating to whom the salesperson reports 4. Types of products to be sold 5. Customer types 6. Significant Job-related demands, such as mental stress, physical strength or stamina requirements, or environmental pressures to be encountered

9. Recruitment and Selection Objectives : - Determine present and future needs in terms of numbers and types of salespeople - Meet the company legal and social responsibilities regarding composition of the sales force. - Reduce the number of under qualified or over qualified applicants - Increase the number of qualified applicants at a specified cost. - Evaluate the effectiveness of recruiting sources and evaluation techniques

10. Recruitment and Selection Strategy • When will the recruitment and selection be done? • How will the job portrayed? • How will efforts with intermediaries, such as employment agencies and college placement centers, be optimized? • What type of sales force will be hired when developing an international sales force? • How much time will be allowed for a candidate to accept or reject an offer? • What are the most likely sources for qualified applicants?

11. Overthinking leads to negative thoughts. Do more, think less, do it now. Every workout counts, even if it's for 15 minutes, just do it.. Take it Stress free with us, Enjoy!! selection perpetual activities in some sales organization but in others are conducted only when a vacancy occurs. advertisement. ? Recruitment and ? A strategic decision must be made in terms of how the good will be portrayed, particularly in ? Strategy also involves coordinating recruiting needs and activities with the employment agencies and campus centers.

12. RECRUITMENT: LOCATING PROSPECTIVE CANDIDATES ? Internal Source -One of the most popular methods of locating sales is through employee referral programs. These programs are relatively quick and inexpensive compared with other recruiting methods, such as advertising, using employment agencies, and visiting college campuses. - Employee referral programs can be enhanced by publicly recognizing successful referrals, by regularly providing incentives and promptly rewarding successful referrals, by offering proactive programs that encourage employee participation, and by providing feedback concerning status of referrals to those making them. ? External Sources ? Advertisement - One ways to produce a large pool of applicants in short time is by advertising. - On cost-per-applicant basis, advertising is general inexpensive. - Advertising usually requires extensive screening procedures to identify a reasonable number of prospective candidates.