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Basics of Sales Management

Chapter

Recruitment and Selection

Dr. Fatima & Ms Nivedita STC Gurgaon

Basics of Sales Management

Introduction
Recruitment is the process of locating and attracting job applicants. Recruiting and selecting a new sales force is an important aspect of the sales managers job. The basic objective of sales force planning is to balance supply and demand. This requires consideration of a wide range of variables, including (1) Market conditions such as increased competition in the form of new goods and services (2) Economic conditions, such as increased inflation or economic growth (3) Demographic conditions (4) Technological developments.

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Basics of Sales Management

Variables Which Influence the Forecasting of Sales Force Requirements

Internal and External Sources l Market conditions l Economic status l Demographic conditions l Operational plan l Technological development External Sources Analysis of sources such as l Competitors l Other industry sources l Universities l Colleges l Employment agencies l Terminations Internal Sources Analysis of current workforce l Abilities l Skills l Talents l Promotions l Transfers

Forecast of sales force needed l Numbers l Work experience l Abilities

Comparison of

Forecast of External Supply of Sales Forces l Numbers l Work experience l Abilities

Forecast of Internal Supply of Sales Forces l Numbers l Work experience l Abilities

Reconciliation of any differences

Basics of Sales Management

Preparing The Job Description And Specification

The sales manager should prepare the job description before recruiting the sales force. The following factors should be included in any job description: a. b. c. d. e. f. Title of the job Duties and responsibilities Reporting methods Technical requirements Territory to be covered Degree of autonomy
Cont.

Basics of Sales Management

Jobber and Miller have described certain important qualities of salespeople.

Communication Skills Personality Determination Intelligence Motivation/Self-motivation Product Knowledge Educational Background Confidence Appearance Important Qualities Resilience and tenacity of Salespeople Business Sense Intergrity Ambition Acceptability/likeability Empathy Initiative Self-discipline Experience Adaptability Persuasiveness 0% 10% 20% 30% 40%

Basics of Sales Management

Recruitment Sources
There are five main sources of recruitment: 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. Advertisements From inside the companys own staff Recruitment agencies Educational institutes Competitors and other industries

Basics of Sales Management

Selection Procedure
Selection, as the name implies, involves picking and hiring a few people from the total number of candidates applying for the sales job.

Selection is done by comparing the requirements of a job with the applicants qualifications.
7 6 5 4 3 2 1 Interview Job offer

The following are some common steps in any selection process:

Physical examination

Reference check

Psychological testing

Application scrutiny

Hiring profile

Basics of Sales Management

Legally Workable Performance Appraisals

A. A focus with respect to performance appraisal is the involvement of subjective judgments. In general, the courts have shown tolerance for subjectivity and performance appraisals, particularly when the positions involved are "upper level" jobs involving skills, attributes and abilities arguably not susceptible or at least less susceptible to objective measurement. Elements of a Successful Performance Appraisal System: 1. Clear instructions and training for performance raters. 2. Performance-rater familiarity with the nature and importance of job duties on which employee is being rated and with the employee's actual performance. 3. Use of an appraisal system that is as job-related and understandable as possible. 4. Precautions against improper bias by performance raters. 5. Some additional level of review and signature beyond the performance rater. Cont.

B.

Basics of Sales Management

1.

C.

Some amount of monitoring to ensure uniform approach or application of the standards in the performance system. 2. Employee right to review and comment. 3. Employee signature to signify reading of review but not necessarily agreement with any rating. 4. Employee right of appeal if the system is oriented toward that. 5. Whether the system is numerical and traditional, or collaborative, some means to ensure specific and mutually agreed-upon goals. 6. Some statistical evaluation for adverse impact. Practical considerations: 1. Make sure the appraisals are actually done. 2. Try to ensure that the written text in the appraisal matches any numerical rating. 3. Use some form of review process to help ensure against arbitrary decisions. 4. Try as best as possible to ensure honest and candid appraisals so that, to the extent that the appraisal is set up to do this, it distinguishes between high and low performers. Cont.

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D.

Basics of Sales Management

Most truly effective performance appraisal systems are characterized by the fact that those administering the performance appraisals are well trained. Instead of offering simple instructions to performance raters, organizations that want the most from their appraisal process usually implement training programs to correct a rater's common mistakes. A list of common mistakes is as follows: 1. Halo effect rating employees excellent in many categories when they excel only in one. 2. Leniency/stringency very low or high ratings instead of finding any category in which the employee is average. 3. Contrast effect evaluation an individual in relation to other employees performance instead of on job requirements. 4. Similar-to-me effect rating employees favorably because they mirror the rater's self-image. 5. Central tendency error putting every employee's performance in the middle of the rating scale.

Basics of Sales Management

Some Management Considerations

A. As noted, a major issue with performance appraisal systems is defining the goals of the system and matching goals with the right tools and techniques. 1. An emphasis on selection of employees for promotion or training and\or granting of compensation increases favors a traditional, quantitative appraisal with unilateral goal-setting by management. a. b. B. Managers may be more comfortable with numerical or scale rankings. Quantitative measures sometimes are easier to defend against legal challenges than qualitative appraisals.

If the emphasis is on communication, matching expectations between supervisor and subordinate, and mutual goal setting, then a collaborative approach aimed at helping employees develop and become more effective is Cont. preferable.

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C.

Basics of Sales Management

A system incorporating both traditional and collaborative approaches may be desirable, but such systems require sophistication and considerable attention to design. Employers should be wary, as noted, of imposing more goals on a performance appraisal system than it can be expected to accomplish.

D.

Whatever system is used, a good measure of success is how those appraised and compensated perceive the accuracy and fairness of the

program. A program that is seen as fair an personalized, regardless of

sophistication, will likely be motivational. A good first step in deciding whether changes are needed in a performance appraisal system may be a survey of management and employee attitudes about appraisal practices and

compensation.
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Basics of Sales Management

Problems with forced ranking approaches 1. With respect to discrimination issues, because forced raking presents the possibility that a satisfactorily-performing employee may nonetheless be ranked at the bottom and discharged as a result, the employer must be prepared to present a thorough explanation of the program, including its emphasis on comparative rather than actual job performance, in order to avoid findings of pretext and/or discriminatory intent.

2.
3.

To avoid disparate or adverse impact claims, the employer must ensure against disproportionate effect on employees in protected categories.
Such systems do not impose honesty in performance evaluations more often they artificially deflate ratings. Because employee performance is rated in comparison with performance of other employees, it may have little to do with actual job performance. Cont.

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4.

Basics of Sales Management

Even if all employees are performing well, some will be ranked at the bottom, which may punish those organization that have recruited and trained well, but weeded out poor performers.
At the senior or executive-level, a company may not be accepting of the proposition that a certain proportion of employees are unworthy of retention. If a forced ranking system is pushed too many levels down from senior and executive level positions, the tendency may be to impose the forced lower ranking on employees in positions which are less crucial, so that ranking becomes more dependent of job than quality of performance. Forced ranking systems provide little allowance for market factors some positions are difficult to fill because the labour market includes few persons with necessary skills. An employee in such a position may be marginal performer, but hard to replace, so that a discharge based on forced ranking be an unwanted result.

5. 6.

7.

Basics of Sales Management

Sales Force Training

The purpose of sales training is to achieve improved job performance. In the absence of training, job performance improves with experience. Training

substitutes for job experience so that trained sales personnel achieve high
job performance levels faster. The overall efficiency of a companys personal selling operation is influenced by the state of relations with customers and prospects. The sales force plays a crucial role in moulding and maintaining these relations. Contrasted with inexperienced sales personnel, experienced sales personnel maintain better continuing relations and make better impressions on prospects. Sales training contributes by accelerating the process of learning through experience.
Cont.

Basics of Sales Management

Aim of Training Building Sales Training Programmes Identifying Initial Training Needs Training on Market Place Training in Handling the Competition

Training on Communication
Training on Negotiating Training Methods