Recruiting Sales Personnel

Fielding the sales personnel needed to service the’ company’s customers and prospects is a key responsibility of sales executives. Discharging’ this responsibility requires that the sales executive implement personal selling strategy in terms of both the kind and number of sales personnel. Implementation is by no means a simple process. Having determined the desired kind of sales personnel, implementation requires Job analysis, the writing of job descriptions, and the deriving of job specifications so that recruiters will know the qualifications they should look for in prospective sales employees and sales trainers will know what additional qualifications they should aim to provide newly recruited sales personnel. Having decided the appropriate number of sales personnel, implementation requires recruiting that number initially and replacing those that are lost (for whatever reason). Implementing personal selling strategy, then, is a never-ending process the nature of the selling job tends to change rather slowly (so changes in the kind of sales personnel desired are infrequent), but having and keeping the right number of sales personnel is a continual concern.

Recruitment- the process of generating a pool of candidates from which to select the appropriate person to fill a job vacancy

Job Analysis: The process of analyzing the content to produce an account of the tasks and competencies that comprise a particular job via interviewing job holders and supervisors as well as by observation

Job Analysis

• Task
• Job context
• Knowledge
• Skill
• Ability

Job Description – The document that outlines the purpose of the job, the tasks involved, the duties, and responsibilities, the performance objectives and the reporting relationships

Person Specification – A document that describes the skills, knowledge, and qualities needed to perform a particular job; translates the job requirements into tangible features that applicants need to demonstrate

Recruiting and selecting sales personnel is an important part of implementing personal selling strategy, but it is not’ all that is involved. Initial sales training is required to bring new sales personnel up to expected productivity levels, and continuing sales training is needed to maintain more experienced sales personnel at high levels of productivity. Motivational and supervisory efforts help in stimulating sales personnel to apply their skills effectively. It is on thing for sales .personnel to know what they are supposed to know, but it is a different thing to get them to apply what they know.

There are three main steps in recruiting and selecting a sales force.

Step 1 is to evaluate the sources from which sales personnel with good potentials are obtainable.

Step 2 is to tap the identified recruiting sources and build a supply of prospective sales personnel.

Step 3 is to select those who have the highest probability of success.

The recruiting Company looks for Qualifications in individuals according to job requirement. They find the best possible sales people to suit the requirement. An applicant looks for compensation, Position, Growth, security in a company which acts as a motivation.

What Recruiters/Managers Look For

• Education
• Interview performance
• Sales related experience
• Personal appearance
• References
• Psychological test results
  • aptitude
  • personality
  • skills
• Demographic characteristics
• Personal background
• Current status and lifestyle