Slide 13.

CHAPTER 6

SALES FORCE RECRUITMENT AND

SELECTION

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1. Appreciate that salesperson

selection is a key to ultimate
selling success

LEARNING 2. Apply interview and

OBJECTIVES selection procedures in the
context of recruiting
salespeople

3. Understand the advantages

and drawbacks of certain
tests and procedures related
to selection

Jobber and Lancaster, Selling and Sales Management, 9th edition © Pearson Education Limited 2012
Slide 13.3

IMPORTANCE OF SALESFORCE
SELECTION
• There is wide variability in the effectiveness
of salespeople.
• Salespeople are very costly.
• Associated with personal characteristics.
Similarly, motivational techniques may
stimulate salespeople to achieve higher sales
but they can do only so much.

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Stages in the recruitment and selection process

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PREPARING A JOB DESCRIPTION

• The title of the job.

• Duties and responsibilities – the tasks which will be expected of new
recruits, e.g. selling, after-sales service, information feedback, range of
products/markets/type of customer with which they will be associated.
• To whom they will report.
• Technical requirements, e.g. the degree to which the technical aspects of the
products they are selling need to be understood.
• Location and geographical area to be covered.
• Degree of autonomy – the degree to which salespeople will be able to
control their own work programmes.

Jobber and Lancaster, Selling and Sales Management, 9th edition © Pearson Education Limited 2012
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• Once generated, the job description will act as the blueprint for the personnel specification
which outlines the type of applicant the company is seeking.
• The technical requirements of the job, for example, and the nature of the customers which the
salespeople will meet, will be factors which influence the level of education and possibly the
age of the required recruit.
• determining the qualities looked for in the new salesperson. 2 qualities essential to selling –
empathy and ego drive.
• Empathy is defined as the ability to feel as the buyer does;
• to be able to understand the customers’ problems and needs.This is distinct from sympathy.
• A salesperson can feel and understand without agreeing with that feeling.
• The other basic determinant of sales success, ego drive, is defined as the need to make a sale in
a personal way, not merely for money.

Jobber and Lancaster, Selling and Sales Management, 9th edition © Pearson Education Limited 2012
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PERSONAL SPECIFICATION MAY

REQUIRE...
• Physical requirements: e.g. speech, appearance.
• Attainments: e.g. standard of education and qualifications,
experience and successes.
• Aptitudes and qualities: e.g. ability to communicate, self-
motivation.
• Disposition: e.g. maturity, sense of responsibility.
• Interests: e.g. degree to which interests are social, active,
inactive.
• Personal circumstances: e.g. married, single, etc.

Jobber and Lancaster, Selling and Sales Management, 9th edition © Pearson Education Limited 2012
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6 SOURCES OF RECRUITMENT

Company’s Recruitment
own staff agencies

Educational
Competitors
establishments

Other
Unemployed
industries
Jobber and Lancaster, Selling and Sales Management, 9th edition © Pearson Education Limited 2012
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Jobber and Lancaster, Selling and Sales Management, 9th edition © Pearson Education Limited 2012
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Qualities required of trainee and senior sales executives

Source: Reprinted from Mathews, B. and Redman, T. (2001) ‘Recruiting the wrong salespeople: are the job ads to blame?’, Industrial Marketing Management, 30, pp. 541–50.
Copyright © 2001, with permission from Elsevier.

Jobber and Lancaster, Selling and Sales Management, 9th edition © Pearson Education Limited 2012
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DESIGNING AN EFFECTIVE APPLICATION

FORM AND PREPARING A SHORTLIST: 4
CATEGORIES OF INFORMATION

Jobber and Lancaster, Selling and Sales Management, 9th edition © Pearson Education Limited 2012
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INTERVIEW

• Criteria to look for:

1. Physical requirements: e.g. speech, appearance, manner, fitness.
2. Attainments: e.g. standard of education, qualifications, sales
experience and successes.
3. Aptitudes and qualities: e.g. ability to communicate, empathy,
self-motivation.
4. Disposition: e.g. maturity, sense of responsibility.
5. Interests: e.g. identification of social interests, interests related
to products that are being sold, active versus inactive interests.

Jobber and Lancaster, Selling and Sales Management, 9th edition © Pearson Education Limited 2012
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INTERVIEW SETTING:

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GUIDELINES OF INTERVIEW

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INTERVIEWING TECHNIQUES

“Playback” Use of
Technique rewards

Use of silence Use of Probes

Use of neutral
Summarising
questions
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Jobber and Lancaster, Selling and Sales Management, 9th edition © Pearson Education Limited 2012
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• Using a psychological test can guide hiring managers towards the

types of personalities that would be more likely to succeed
within the company.
USES OF • It may also reduce surprises when hiring key people. The
PSYCHOLOGICAL structured approach of psychological testing in the candidate
TESTS IN
assessment process can offer insights into how well a candidate
RECRUITMENT
fits the culture and how they will grow within the company.
• These tests can also point to areas the company needs to be
mindful of when hiring a potential executive. Having an objective
and professional common denominator in the hiring process
also can help to smooth out discrepancies in experience and
skill level among hiring managers.
• Personality tests are used to determine personality type, values,
interests, and skills. They can be a simple assessment of an
executive’s type or can be used more specifically to determine
“emotional aptitude” for a certain type of position.

Jobber and Lancaster, Selling and Sales Management, 9th edition © Pearson Education Limited 2012
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EXAMPLE: PERSONALITY TEST

Some questions personality tests can help you answer

include:

• Which personality type best fits the job and the

company?
• Will the candidate’s personality traits allow them to
grow within the organization?
• Does the candidate have enough “emotional intelligence”
to work effectively in our company?

Jobber and Lancaster, Selling and Sales Management, 9th edition © Pearson Education Limited 2012
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Each position has unique needs and expectations. The
psychological profile report can address specific
position requirements if, prior to testing, the testing
facilitator understands the following:

• Characteristics of the position

• Core competencies for the position and the
company
• Possible barriers that could confront the successful
candidate
• History of past incumbents
• Culture of the team surrounding the position
• Culture of the organization
• Short- and long-term expectations of the position
• Possible career path for the successful candidate
• Further readings: https://www.kmco.com/resource-
center/article/looking-forward/role-psychological-
tests-hiring-process/
Jobber and Lancaster, Selling and Sales Management, 9 edition © Pearson Education Limited 2012
th
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SUPPLEMENTARY SELECTION AIDS

• Psychological Tests, the drawbacks:

1. Easy to cheat
2. Many tests measure interest rather than sales ability
3. Tests have been used to identify individual personality traits which
may not be associated with sales success. Factors such as how
sociable, dominant, friendly and loyal a person is have been measured
in order to predict sales success. While some of these factors may be
useful attributes for a salesperson to possess, they have failed to
distinguish between high- and low-performing sales personnel.

Jobber and Lancaster, Selling and Sales Management, 9th edition © Pearson Education Limited 2012
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ROLE PLAYING

Jobber and Lancaster, Selling and Sales Management, 9th edition © Pearson Education Limited 2012