Part IV
SALES FORCE COMPETENCIES
Chapter 7:
Recruiting and Selecting
Sales Personnel
Chapter 7: Outline
Recruitment
Recruitment Recruit
Recruit Select
Select Validating
Validating
And
AndSelection
Selection Candidates
Candidates Prospects
Prospects the
theProcess
Process
Planning
Planning
Total Quality Management
Comparisons
Business
Six Sigma Standard Error Rate Application
6 Sigma + 3.4 per million Airline flight safety
5 Sigma 300 per million Typical world-class
manufacturers
4 Sigma 6 per 10,000 Manufacturing
average
3 Sigma 30 per 100 IRS phone tax advice
1.6 Sigma 45 per 100 Typical employment
selection and
deployment
Source: “Total Quality Sales Management, The HR Chally Group, 2008
Turnover Rates in Selected
Industries
Turnover
Industry Rates
Construction 13.8%
Office Equipment 47.0
Retail 51.2
Wholesale (Consumer Goods) 18.5
Electronics 14.1
Business Services 26.2
Pharmaceuticals 8.3
Banking 4.3
Real Estate 11.9
Source: Dartnell’s 30th Sales Force Compensation Survey (1999), p.187.
Company Culture and the
Hiring Process
Develop a hiring process related to
core culture.
What are the core cultures of these
companies?
Aligning People to Core
Job Responsibilities
The Chally Group, a sales consulting company,
found that matching a person’s skills set with the
skills required by the sales job led to higher
performing salespeople and greater job satisfaction.
What skill sets are needed for the following
sales positions?
– Missionary?
– Sales Support?
– New Business?
Aligning People to Core
Job Responsibilities
Missionary:
– Technical skills, relationship building skills
Sales Support:
– Empathy, relationship building skills
New Business:
– Assertiveness, persuasiveness, time
management, ability to close
What Purchasing Agents Like
About Salespeople
PERCENT OF RESPONDENTS
TRAITS WHO RATED MOST VALUED
Willingness to fight for customer:
Thoroughness/follow through:
Market knowledge/
willingness to share:
Knowledge of product line:
Diplomacy in dealing with
operating departments:
Imagination:
0% 25% 50% 75% 100%
Recruiting Sources
Classified Ads
– Reaches wide audience
(trade publications may narrow the reach)
– Used if high turnover
– Tend to over-produce under-qualified candidates
Present Employees
– Familiar w/ company products & procedures
– Established job histories
– Sales as a promotion
– Over-rely on previous experience
Recruiting Sources
Referrals/Networking
– Company executives understand needs, culture and
potential fit for sales responsibilities
Employment Agencies
– best if company pays
Schools & Colleges
– Poised & easily trained
– Lack experience & become bored
Customers, Suppliers & Competition
– Good if need w/out much training
– Legal & ethical issues
– Common: insurance, stock broker, office equipment, clothing
Direct recruit to control
location or phone number
Complete application
blanks
Hiring
Conduct screening
criteria interviews
for Check credit and
sales background
jobs Complete psychological
used and achievement tests
to Secondary interviews
guide
selection Make offer for sales
process position
Physical exam
Modify hiring
criteria, tests or
Interview procedures Measure subsequent
Reject
Reject
success on the job
Figure 7-3: A Model for Selecting Salespeople
RESUME ANALYSIS
1. Account for all dates.
2. Examine the number of jobs and
length of time spent on each job.
3. Reasons for leaving job.
4. Is there a pattern of growth?
“MGM Mirage Chairman and Chief Executive J. Terrence Lanni,
one of the gambling industry's most powerful figures,
announced late Thursday he would step down from his
executive posts.
The resignation was announced publicly, however, on a day
when Mr. Lanni found himself in a dispute with his alma mater
over his academic credentials after questions were raised by
The Wall Street Journal.”
– WSJ 11/14/2008
In a 2004 survey of human-resource professionals, 61% said
they "often" or "sometimes" find résumé inaccuracies when
vetting prospective hires, according to the Society for Human
Resource Management.
QUESTIONS ABOUT
INTERVIEWERS
What Research Shows
Does extensive interviewing experience help an interviewer to
make better judgments?
Does pressure to recruit impair the judgment of experienced
interviewers less than inexperienced interviewers?
When interviewing multiple recruits, do interviewers tend to use
previous applicants as the standard of comparison for
subsequent applicants?
Will the positive effects of good appearance offset an
unfavorably rated personal history for a recruit?
QUESTIONS ABOUT
INTERVIEWERS
What Research Shows
How much of the factual information presented in an interview
will the interviewer remember immediately after a short
interview if no notes are taken?
How will lack of notes and factual recall affect the interviewer’s
rating of the recruits interviewed?
How reliably can a group of interviewers rate a recruit’s
qualifications for a job?
How reliably can a group of interviewers rate future job
performance by a recruit?
COMMON INTERVIEWER
MISTAKES
1. Failure to establish rapport
2. Lack of plan
3. Insufficient time
4. Not listening
5. Personal bias
6. Questions
7. First impressions
TYPICAL INTERVIEW
QUESTIONS
What is the interviewer trying to determine
in the following questions?
1.What was the most monotonous job you
ever had to do?
– What are your values and general orientation
in life?
– How creative were you in eliminating
boredom?
TYPICAL INTERVIEW
QUESTIONS
2. In thinking about people you like, what is it
you most like about them?
– Reflects what person is and desires to become
3. Up to this point in your life, what do you
consider to be your biggest disappointment?
– Have you done anything? -- more active = more
disappointments
4. How willing are you to relocate?
To what extent are you willing to travel?
– Motivation in wanting job -- involves travel
TYPICAL INTERVIEW
QUESTIONS
5. How do you feel about the way your previous
employer treated you?
– How you react to supervision & organizational cultures
6. What are your long-term financial objectives
and how do you intend to achieve them?
– Are you realistic & mature?
– Will this company enable you to achieve these goals?
7. What was the most difficult decision you ever
had to make as a leader?
– Were the leadership positions in your resume demanding
or ceremonial in nature?
– What is your leadership style & philosophy?
TYPICAL INTERVIEW
QUESTIONS
8. Why should we hire you?
– How badly do you want the job?
– What do you think of yourself?
– Do you believe in yourself?
9. Sell me this pen.
– Do you really know how to make a sales
presentation?
– Did you mention the main product benefits?
– Did you ask for the order?
ASKING THE RIGHT
QUESTIONS
About two weeks after starting a new job, doubts
creep into your mind. The gap between what you were
told and what’s actually happening gets wider by the
day. When you’re on the job for three weeks, you say
to yourself, “I think I made a mistake.” One way to
avoid making a costly mistake like this is to ask the
right questions when interviewing. What questions
would you ask when applying for a field sales position
to avoid accepting the wrong job?
ASKING THE RIGHT
QUESTIONS
1. Where will I get my leads?
2. May I review your sales literature?
3. When are your slow times?
4. May I go with you on a sales call?
5. May I visit your marketing department?
6. May I look at your resume?
PREVIOUS EMPLOYER
REFERENCE CHECK QUESTIONS
Dates of Employment?
What was the job?
What type of selling was involved?
How did the applicant get along with his/her manager?
Customers? Fellow salespeople?
How did his/her job performance compare others?
Applicants strongest points? Weaknesses we should
help him/her overcome?
Why did s/he leave your company?
Would you rehire the applicant? Why?
Validity of Predictors for Entry-Level Jobs
Predictor Validity
Ability composite (tests) .53
Job tryout .44
Biographical inventory .37
Reference check .26
Experience .18
Interview .14
Training and experience ratings .13
Academic achievement .11
Education .10
Interest .10
Age .01
What’s in a Signature?
Small letters such as “a,” “e,” These people tend to be enterprising and
and “o” are more than ¼ inch in are usually risk takers, take charge
height and farther to the right leaders, and pacesetters. They are your
side of the page. typical salesperson.
These people tend to be objective
Small signatures, less than 1/8 observers. They keep cool, don’t get
inch tall with an upright slant excited under pressure, and in general
and placed towards the left hand make good listeners and negotiators.
of the page They might be better for high-level sales
to established clients.
These people are your team players.
Interaction is their byword and they tend
Medium-sized signatures
to play strictly by the rules. They take
(about 1/4 inch).
calculated risks, with emphasis on the
calculations. Not generally sales types.
WHAT MAKES A SUPER SALESPERSON?
Personal Computer Photographic Equipment
Manufacturer Manufacturer
Threshold Competencies Threshold Competencies
Communication Decisiveness
*Information Collection *Information Collection
Personal Sensitivity *Organizational Awareness
*Relationship-building *Relationship-building
Technical knowledge Systematic thinking
Differentiator Competencies Differentiator Competencies
Concern for personal impact *Focused achievement
*Focused achievement Interpersonal diagnosis
Initiative Job commitment
*Organizational awareness Persistence
Personal time-planning Presentation skills
Quick thinking Stress tolerance
Targeted persuasion *Use of influence strategies
*Use of influence strategies
* These traits were found in salespeople at both companies.
Typical Interview Questions
Why should we hire you?
Regardless of the company and type of sales position
for which you may interview, there are some
interview questions that are typically asked. You
may not be asked each of these questions in every
interview, but you should be prepared to answer
them all. After reading each question, think about
what the interviewer’s purpose may be in asking the
question. What is he or she trying to determine?
What should your response be to each question?
Typical Interview Questions
What do you regard as your major strengths and
limitations?
What have you accomplished or achieved in life that
you are most proud of?
Success means different things to people. What does it
mean to you?
If there was a job that had everything you are looking
for, what kind of a job would it be?
What goals have you established for yourself in the
short and long term?
JOB DESCRIPTION FACTORS
Selling Requirements
New vs. established account selling Written proposals
Selling through distributors Individual vs. team selling
Entertaining customers One time vs. systems selling
Level of buying authority Type of prospects/customers
Physical activity required One-on-one vs. group selling
Technical knowledge Travel: how much & what kind
Relocation Program or concept selling
Nonselling Tasks
Reports to management Educational seminars
Customer service and training Collecting receivables
Sales promotion Marketing plans
Degree of Responsibility
Negotiations of pricing Travel and entertainment
Career Paths
Compensation plan Earnings potential
Promotion timing Promotion leaders
Performance Expectations
Activity level requirements Minimum sales volume or profits
