SALES FORCE

MANAGEMENT
MKT 205
Main references
Joseph F. Hair (Jr.), Rolph E. Anderson, Rajiv Mehta, Barry J. Babin (2020) Sales Force
Management, Wiley.
Sales Force Management 2017 by Gregory A. Rich &

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 CHAPTER 7:

RECRUITING & SELECTING SALESPEOPLE

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Introduction
• What is the recruiting and selection process?

• What are the sources of salespeople?

• What are the steps of sales force selection?

• How do firms make the selection of salespeople?

• What is sales force socialization and why is it important?

Importance of Recruiting and Selection

• Most confuse recruitment and selection as being one and the same—when, in actuality,
they are not.

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

• Selection refers to activities involved in choosing qualified candidates that have the greatest
aptitude for the job.
Scope of Sales Force Staffing Process

• Plan the recruiting and selection process

• Recruit an adequate number of applicants
• Select the most qualified applicants
• Hire those people who have been selected
• Assimilate the new hires into the company

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 Determining the Number of People Needed

Strategic Plans
Total
Eliminated/
New Terminations/ new
- combined + Promotions + Retirements + =
territories resignations reps
territories
needed
Eliminated one
Promoted two One
rep by combining Two retirements
Expansion salespeople to termination
A1 and A2 expected
management expected
territories
4 - 1 + 2 + 2 + 1 = 8

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Importance of Recruiting and Selection

Sales departments experience the highest turnover

rates, which is expensive to a company for due to
recruiting, selecting and training costs.

Ineffective recruitment and selection can result in:

1. Wrong salespeople being hired
2. Cost a company thousands of dollars a year in
training
3. Lost productivity
The Recruitment Process
The 5 steps in the recruitment process are:

3.Identify 4.Attract
1.Conduct 2.Prepare 5.Select
sales job a pool
a job a job best
qualifications. of sales
analysis. description. recruits.
recruits.

The outcome of formal job

A job analysis analysis is a job
entails steps to
description, which
identify the duties,
explains the duties and
requirements,
responsibilities of the
responsibilities, and sales position, the skills
conditions of the job.
needed on the job, and
on what basis the new
and current employees
will be evaluated.
The duties and
firms need to continuously
responsibilities
identify, locate, and attract
of the job
incumbent salespeople. Candidates pools
detailed in the
job description
should be
converted into
a set of job
qualifications.

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 When conducting a Job Analysis

1. Steps in 2.
Analyze the conducting a Determine duties and
environment in which responsibilities
the salesperson
job analysis expected from
is to work. the salesperson .

• What is the competition

the salesperson faces? Obtain information from
3. these sources:
• What kinds of Talking to sales person, • salespeople
customers will be Observe and
• channel partners
contacted, and what record sales tasks
being performed.
• customers
problems do they have?
• distribution manager
• What knowledge, skills,
and potential are
needed for this
position?

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The Recruitment Process
2. Preparing a Job Description
A job description explains the duties and responsibilities of the sales position, the skills needed on the
job, and on what basis the employees will be evaluated.

1.
Sales
Activities 2.
6.
Goodwill Servicing
Functions
Preparing a
Job Description
5. 3.
Executive Account/Territory
Activities 4. Management
Sales
Promotion
The Recruitment Process
3. Developing a Set of Job Qualifications
Responsibilities of the job incumbent detailed in the job description should be converted
into a set of job qualifications:

Developing
1. 2.
Personality Traits a Set of Job Qualifications
Qualifications
Developing a Set of Job Qualifications
Critical Personality Traits Qualifications Models for success
 intelligence
 decisiveness Certain Characteristics The characteristics of good,
 energy and enthusiasm of a sales job that average, and poor
 results orientation required travel, Little salespeople can be compared
 maturity
supervision and high to the recruits.
turnover bedsides the
 assertiveness - predictive statistical models to
necessary qualification
 sensitivity project performance
related to job.
 openness
 tough-mindedness

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10 traits and abilities of top salespeople
Trait Related ability

1. Emotional 1. To understand customers, to adapt

intelligence 2. To solve problems
2. Analytical intelligence 3. To sell idea, to adapt
3. Creative intelligence 4. To build trust
4. Integrity 5. To build relationships
5. Social competence 6. To be innovative
6. Risk taker 7. To handle rejection
7. Optimism 8. To complete the sale
8. Resilience 9. To work hard
9. Self-motivation 10. To work on team
10. Cooperativeness

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The Recruitment Process

4. Attracting a Pool of Applicants

• Next, sales managers need to continuously identify, locate, and

attract salespeople.

• Applications are invited, which then then become the pool from
which new salespeople are screened and chosen for interviews.
 Referrals

Part-time Current
workers employees
Sources of
sales force
recruits Employmen Recruiting Other
companies
t agencies
Sources •Competitors
•Customers

Job ads in:

Educational •Employment
websites
institutions
•Newspapers
•Trade journals
Company
website

Rich 2017 15
Referrals
• A referral is a recommendation by one individual that another be hired for
a position
• Salespeople currently working for the company are an excellent source of
referrals
• They know the job
• They know and regularly interact with qualified individuals from other
companies
• Most sales executives say that referrals is their preferred source of recruits
• Only problem: Not enough of them

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Current Employees

•Promoting from within builds morale

•These workers are acquainted with the product and
already understand company policies and programs
•Relatively inexpensive source to both recruit and
train

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Other companies
:

• Recruits from competitor firms

• Tend to know the product and market very well
• Are experienced sellers and so require less training
• May struggle unlearning old practices, making adjustments to new culture
• Presents an ethical dilemma to some (called “pirating”)

• Recruits from customer firms

• Same pros and cons as recruits from competitors
• Less likely to present an ethical dilemma, though must be handled
diplomatically
• Common concern is that these recruits may not stay long

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Job Advertisements
Assume a firm buys a job ad on
salesjobs.com that…
• Can be placed in
• Employment websites (e.g., monster.com)
• Newspapers
• Costs $198 per month
• Generates a monthly
• Trade journals
average of 5.5 applicants
• Tends to produce many applicants for low cost, but the • Brings in applicants that can
average quality of the applicants is questionable be hired at the rate of 10%
• Applicants from ads in trade journals tend to be higher quality (that is, the firm hires 1 out of
than those from newspapers 10 applicants).

Given this, what is the

cost per hire?

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The company website
• Companies should have a “Join our team” section on their
website
• Cost of obtaining these recruits is very low
• These applicants have shown initiative to apply for a job with the
company; so they tend to be enthusiastic and genuinely
interested in the position

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Educational institutions
• Job fairs at college campuses provide a large number of individuals who
are educated and need a job
• Some companies work to gain a positive image among students
(potential recruits) by speaking to classes and getting involved in student
organizations
• Some companies recruit for sales positions by sponsoring university sales
competitions

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Employment agencies

• These agencies do the initial screening

• A relatively expensive source of recruits
• Fees usually range from 10 to 40 percent of the new
employees’ annual compensation
• Results in higher quality recruits

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Part-time workers
• Are easy to contact, readily available, and usually can work
flexible hours
• Sometimes have family obligations that require them to work
from home
• Are used commonly for in-home selling organizations, such as
those that market jewelry, cosmetics, housewares…

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Factors to Consider in Evaluating candidates sources
• nature of the product
• nature of the market
• promoting from within
• sales training provided by the company
• personnel needs of the company
• sources of successful recruits in the past
• recruiting budget
• legal considerations
The Recruitment Process

5. Selecting Best Recruits

• Then candidates become the pool from which the best, most
suited new salespeople are finally selected to work for the firm.
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The Sales Force Selection Process
The steps in the process for selecting successful salespersons include:

1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6.
Initial Reference In-Depth Employment Follow-Up Making the
Screening Checking Interviews Testing Interviews Selection
The Sales Force Selection Process
1. Initial Screening

• Initial screening eliminates undesirable recruits as soon

as possible.

• Initial screening may start with:

a. Application Forms
b. Initial Screening Interviews and Tests
c. Automated Screening Techniques, and
d. Online profiles
a. Application Forms

Application items that predict performance

• Employment: Currently employed at time of hiring.
• Prior sales experience: Selling experience at most recent job
• Knowledge of job requirements: Has an understanding of the selling position offered.
• Recruitment source: Recruited through the use of newspaper or Internet advertising rather than
through unsolicited applications.
• Residential moves: Has made fewer residential moves.
• Education: Has a bachelor’s degree.

Application items associated with low turnover:

• Career aspirations: More interested in a career sales position than using the selling job as a
steppingstone position.
• Employment: Currently employed at time of hiring.
• Prior sales experience: Selling experience at most recent job, but less overall sales experience.
• Employment length: Has spent more time at most recent job.
b. Initial Screening Interviews and Tests are conducted in person or over the telephone
with the best candidates being invited back for in-depth interviews.

c. Automated Screening Techniques speed the gathering and analysis of data from
applicants.
d. Online Profiles
• Screen social media like Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter for applicant profile
• Ensure it is positive, or at least neutral
• Check for unacceptable behavior, such as:
1. Excessive drinking
2. Drug usage
3. Photos of questionable activities
4. Racist comments against protected groups
The Sales Force Selection Process

2. Reference Checking

 Reference checking is a screening tool that enables a company

to obtain information from:
1. Former and current bosses
2. Coworkers

 In addition to reference checks, standard reviews on all

applicants should also be conducted, which include:
a. Physical examinations
b. Background checks.
The Sales Force Selection Process

3. In-Depth Interviews

In-depth interviews help determine issues such as:

 If a person is right for the job
 Why does the candidate want to change sales positions?
 Has the candidate worked alone or as a team member?
In-Depth Interviewing
The interview also serves as a two-way channel of communication because the
company as well as the applicant can ask questions and learn about each other. Help to
determine issues like

• Whether a person is right for the job

• Was the candidate a salesperson or an account manager?
• Source and quality of candidate’s past sales leads.
• Length of sales cycle the candidate has been successful with.
• Level candidate has been selling to.
• What compensation plan does the candidate succeed under?
• Has the candidate worked alone or as a team member?
• Why does the candidate want to change sales positions?
 2 Types of In-Depth Interviews
2.
1. Unstructured
Structured interview
interview

In informal interviews, probing

Each candidate receives the
same set of standardized
questions designed to
determine the applicant’s
fitness for a sales position.
questions are used to learn the
following:
a) whether candidate is self-motivated
b) whether candidates will work on
their own
c) whether the candidate has a pattern
for winning or recovering from loss

In semi-structured interviews, the interviewer has a planned list of

questions but allows time for interaction and discussion.
Applicants’ Responsibility in an Interview

• Applicants should prepare for interviews by learning about

the company and trying to anticipate questions that may
be asked.

• Some questions candidates typically ask interviewers:

1. What percentage of the job will require travel?
2. What is the likelihood of relocation?
3. What are the starting salaries for a particular position?
Applicants’ Responsibility in an Interview

• Applicants should be aware of the negative factors that frequently lead to rejection
during employment interviews include:

1. Poor appearance
2. Overbearing, overaggressive, conceited attitude
3. Inability to express self clearly; poor voice, diction, and grammar
The Sales Force Selection Process
4. Employment Testing

Six basic employment tests are Personality tests measure

used in selecting sales personnel: behavioral traits, such as:
1. Intelligence tests 1. Emotional intensity
2. Knowledge tests 2. Intuition
3. Sales aptitude tests 3. Motivation
4. Vocational interest tests 4. Sensitivity
The Sales Force Selection Process

5. Follow-Up Interviews.

Strong candidates often go through initial and

follow-up interviews with other members of the
sales team, such as other sales managers,
division managers, and sales reps.
The Sales Force Selection Process

6. Making the Selection

• Some key points to cover upon making a formal offer

are:
1. Duties of the salesperson
2. Compensation, such as salary, draw, bonus,
commission and expenses
3. Termination of employment terms
Details refer : Table 8.10 Hair et al 2020
 Sales Force Socialization

• Sales force socialization refers to the proper introduction

of the new recruit to:

1. Company practices, procedures, and philosophy, and

2. Social aspects of the job
Sales Force Socialization

• Benefits of socialization programs include:

1. Greater job satisfaction
2. Increased employee commitment

• Socialization contributes to person-organization fit (POF),

which describes how consistent a salesperson’s value system is
with those of the firm.

• Positive job outcomes of POF include:

1. Higher job satisfaction
2. Lower stress
Types of Socialization

1. Types of 2.
Initial Extended
Socialization Socialization Socialization
Initial Socialization

a. 1. b.
Recruiting Initial Socialization Selection

c.
Introductory Training
2. Extended Socialization: Is used as a means to build esprit de corps in
the sales organization.

2.
a. b.
Long-Term Training Extended Socialization Job Rotation

c.
Corporate Social Activities