Chapter Four

Sales Force Recruitment

and Selection

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 Introduction

Areas of Responsibilities: - The sales manager

has the following two broader areas of
responsibilities:
• Managing the sales functions: - This involves
sales planning, policies, control of sales
operations, design proper distribution network
and channels, and conduct market analysis.
• Managing the sales force: - These involve
sales force planning, recruitment, selection,
training, motivation, compensation, co-
ordination and control.

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 4.2 Sales Force Planning and Job analysis
• What is planning? Plans are methods for achieving a desired result.
• Planning is bridging the gap between the present and the future.
• It is to foresee things in the right perspective. It is the primary function
of any management activity, and begins with the determination of the
objectives of the organization, i.e. deciding the future course of action.
• Planning is all pervasive. It is essential at all levels of management, and
includes objectives, strategies, policies, procedures and programmed.
• Planning is thus “the process of establishing objectives and courses of
action prior to taking action.”
• What is Sales Force Planning?
• Sales Force Planning(SFP): is the process of systematically
reviewing Sales force resource requirements to ensure that the
required number of salespersons, with the required skills, is
available when they are needed.
• SFP is also the process of anticipating an organization’s future sales
force needs and then developing action plans for fulfilling identified
needs.
2.2 Meaning and Definition of Job
Analysis
• A job is a collection of tasks that can be performed by a
single employee to contribute to the production of some
product or service provided by the organization.
• Job Analysis is the systematic process of collecting and
making judgments about all the important information
related to a job.
• systematic exploration of the activities within a job. used
to define the duties, responsibilities and accountabilities
of a job
• The immediate products of this analysis are job
descriptions and job specification that are utilized in
recruitment and selection, compensation, performance
appraisal, and training.
Job analysis…
• In general, Job analysis is a
procedure used to determine:
• tasks, duties and responsibilities
• the qualifications needed for each job.
• the relationships of one job to other
jobs
The components of job
analysis

• What are the components of Job Analysis??

The components of job analysis are:-

i. Job Description
ii. Job specification
iii. Job Evaluation and Job Performance
Standards
What is Job Description?
• It is a written statement of what the jobholder
does.
• It describes job title, duties and responsibilities,
authority, accountabilities and job relationships.
• It portrays job content, job environment, the
machines & equipment used, and conditions of
employment.
• It is a profile of the job
As for example, job description of a sales job
consists of the following aspects:
Sales:-Make regular calls
• Sell demonstrate
• Handle questions and objections.
• Check stock etc.
Service :- Install product or display.
• Report product weakness etc.
Territory Management
• Arrange route for best coverage
• Maintain sales portfolios, sample etc.

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Sales promotion:-Develop new prospects and
accounts
• Distribute pamphlets, posters etc.
Execution:-Each night make plan for next day’s work
• Organize visit plan with minimum travel time and
maximum calls.
• Attend sales meetings.
Good will:-Counsel customers on their problems
• Maintain loyalty for company
• Attend customers meet etc

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• What is Benefits of Job Description?
• It describes the job to the recruiters and
potential candidates.
• It guides newly hired salesperson about what
they are expected to do.
• It is used for performance appraisal of the
salesperson.
What is Job
Specification?
• It states personal
characteristics and
qualifications
needed to perform
the job.
• It identifies
knowledge, skills
and abilities
needed to do the
job effectively.
Job Specifications

• Job Specification: a list of the knowledge, skills,

abilities, and other characteristics (KSAOs) that an
individual must have to perform a particular job.
• Knowledge: factual or procedural information
necessary for successfully performing a task.

• Job Specification:- is the statement stipulating the

minimum desired qualification and experience a person
must posses to suit the job description.
Benefits of Job Specification

• It sets minimum qualifications needed in

potential candidates for recruitment purposes.
• It guides selectors to select candidates with
right qualifications.
What are Job Performance Standards?
• They are the statement of attainable as well as
acceptable levels of job achievement.
• They indicate quality and quantity of job
performance
Benefits of Performance
Standards
• Motivation- they serve as targets which
salesperson feel committed to standards

• Performance evaluation actual performance is

measured against standards.

• Control- Corrective actions can be taken for

deviations in performance.
What is Job Evaluation?
• It specifies the relative value of each job in the
organization.
• It ranks all jobs in a hierarchy.

Benefits of job evaluation:

• It serves as the basis for fixing a fair and
equitable salary and wage structure.
• It an important part of compensation
management in organization.
 Salesforce Recruitment,
Selection And Orientation
After ascertaining the man power requirements
through job analysis, the next process will be
recruitment and selection.
Salesforce recruiting
• Recruiting refers to the process of attracting potential job
applicants from the available labor force to apply for jobs.
• Recruitment is the process of identifying the sources for
potential candidates and to motivate them to apply for
jobs
• Proper steps should be taken to have the right type of
people in the right number and at the right time.
• Outstanding job candidates cannot be selected if they are
not included in the applicant pool.
Recruitment is necessary for taking
care of vacancies arising out of the
following.
• Expansion program
• To compensate attrition due to retirement,
sickness and death
• To take care of personnel turnover in sales
departments.
• Turnover rate of sales department is very high.
This is due to unique working conditions such as
Unsettled nature of work involving extensive
travel and attend psychological stress.
• Scope of job opportunity high with better pay
and perks offered by other firms desperately
looking for experienced hands in sales.
Source and methods of Recruitment

• Basically organizations are available by the two

main sources of recruitment which are:
I. Internal Recruitment
II. External Recruitment
Internal Recruiting Sources

• When job vacancies exist, the first place that an

organization should look for placement is within itself.
• An organization’s present employees generally feel that
they deserve opportunities to be promoted to higher-level
positions because of their service and commitment to
organization. HOW?
• Contacts and Referrals/Recommendations from
company sales personnel
• Job posting
• Promotion from within
• Through transfer from other departments/divisions /
units of the firm.
Discussion(self..)

•What are the

advantages and
disadvantages of
internal source of
recruitments?
Advantages of Internal Recruitment:
1. Provides greater motivation for good performance.
2. Provides greater opportunities for present employees
3. Provides better opportunity to assess abilities
4. Improves morale and organizational loyalty
5. Enables employees to perform the new job with little lost time

Disadvantages of Internal Recruitment:

1. Creates a narrowing thinking and stale ideas
2. Creates pressures to compete
3. Creates homogeneous workforce
4. Chances to miss good outside talent Requires strong
management development programs specially to train for
technology.
II. External Recruiting Sources
• broad variety of methods are available for external recruiting.
• An organization should carefully assess the kinds of positions
it wants to fill and select the recruiting methods that are likely to
produce the best results.
Possible External recruitment sources are:
A. Direct unsolicited applications: These are volunteers, who
applied for positions without advertisement.
B. Employment Agencies and consultants.
C. Trade association
D. Educational Institutions etc.
E. Retired persons etc. Now, the advanced countries like USA,
Japan, Germany etc are following this system. The reason is
those who are more efficient and retired persons especially
handled in the productive and sales oriented and sales force
like marketing executives/ managers etc.
Discussion(Self..)

•What are the

advantages and
disadvantages of
external source of
recruitments?
Advantages of External Recruitment:
1. Provides new ideas and new insights
2. Provides greater diversity
3. Provides opportunities to handle rapid growth if the
organization Opportunities to get people with up-to-
date knowledge education and training
Disadvantages of External Recruitment:
1. It is more expensive and time consuming
2. Destroys incentives of present employees to strive
for promotion
3. More chances to commit hiring mistakes due to
difficult applicant assessment that will lead to
wastage of resources.
The recruitment process

1. Locating the sources of recruitment to identify qualified

candidates. The sources can be:-
a) Internal, within the organization
b) External, outside the organization
2. Attracting qualified candidates to apply for the jobs.
a) Internal candidates can be attracted by job posting, employee
referrals, Memos circulated among the supervisors, etc.
External candidate can be attracted by
1. Direct method- Scouting, campus recruitments etc
2. Indirect method- involves advertisements like news papers, TV
and Radio etc.
3.Third Party methods- Employment Exchanges, Personal calls.
Consultants etc.
 Salesforce Selection
• Selection is the process of choosing from a group of
applicants those individuals best suited for a particular
position.
Selection Criteria:
• Mostly the selection of applicant depends
upon the following factors or criterions.
1. EDUCATION
2. COMPETENCIES
3. EXPERIENCE
4. SKILLS AND ABILITIES
5. PERSONNAL CHARECTRISTICS
 STEPS IN THE SELECTION
PROCESS
Generally the H.R Department is following these
methods for selection process
• Step one: - Objectives and polices:- Here
objectives of selection are identified and various
polices of selection process are finalized. This
includes identification of department or section
which is entrusted with this task and
corresponding authority delegation and
responsibility allocations.

• Step two: - Selection Criteria: - This involves

laying down performance criteria of job like job
analysis (job description and job specification)
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• Step Three:-Selection process- This involves
discrete or comprehensive step is needed, such
as receipt of formal application, interview, tests
etc.
• Step Four:- Decision making- This involves the
decision of selection the right candidate and
rejecting the wrong candidate.
• Step Five:- Communication- Results will be
communicated to the those who are selected in
various methods.

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• During selection process for a
sales person
Designing an Effective
Application Form and Preparing
a Shortlist, making Interview
and doing Supplementary
Selection Aids are necessary.
 Supplementary Selection
Aids
Some firms employ supplementary
selection techniques to provide a
valid measure of potential.
Some of them are:
 Psychological Tests
Role playing
 Induction
• Induction also called orientation, and it is design to provide a
new employee with information which he or she needs to
function’s comfortably and effectively in the organization.
• Once an employee is selected and placed on an appropriate
job, the process of familiarizing him with the job and
organization begins. This process is called induction.
• The new comer is explained his duties and responsibilities,
company policies and rules, and other relevant information
to get acquainted and accommodated with the organization.
“
Objectives of induction
• To help the new comer overcome his natural shyness and
nervous in meeting new people in a new environment.
• The idea is to make the new people feel at home.
• Coordination will developed with co-workers.
• Make good relationship, good initial impression of a company,
work supervision.
• To build up the new employee’s confidence in the organization
and in himself so that he may become an efficient employee.
• To give the new comer necessary information such as location
of cafeteria, toilets and locker room, rest periods and leave rules
etc.
 Placement
After an employee has been hired and oriented, he or
she must be placed in the right job.

• Placement is understood as the allocation of people

to jobs.

• It is the assignment or reassignment of an employee

to a new job.
 Socialization

 It is the process of adaptation.

 It is the process by which new employees

attempt to learn and inculcate the norms and
values of work roles in an organization.