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group 4 Salesperson Recruiting And Selection Nothing matters more in winning than getting the right people on the field. All the clever strategies and advanced technologies in the world are nowhere near as effective without great people to put them to work Federated Insurances Recruiting Process: A Model For Success When it comes to recruiting and hiring salespeople, Federated Insurance has a proven model for success. It all starts with the District Marketing Manager whose number one priority is finding and hiring quality people. An important first step in the recruiting process is to cultivate strategic relationship with influential people. If a mutual interest is established, the candidates will then complete an online personality profile. The purpose of this step is to match the candidates profile to the profile of successful Federated salespeople. At this stage all references and post employers are contacted, including past sports coaches and professor. In addition to these phone conversations, Federated manager will conduct face-to-face meeting with at least two of the references. Costs go up dramatically, however, when a poor hiring decision is made. Costs associated with a poor hiring include: 1. Initial training and subsequent training cost needed to overcome deficiencies; 2. cost of absenteeism, poor customer service, and excessive expense account spending associated with gradual withdrawal from the organization; and 3. The opportunity cost associated with lost profit that a qualified person would have generated during the time a poor hire occupies a territory. Our discussion of the recruiting and selection process on a model that emphasizes proper planning. First, the number of people to be recruited must be determined, together with an analysis of each sales job. Next, management must decide where to look for recruits. From a pool of recruits, sales manager then must select job candidates, Finally, a validation of the selection criteria and sales person success is conducted. Planning Process The recruiting planning process should include a preliminary analysis of personnel needs, company culture, job analysis, and a job description with necessary job qualification. Personnel Needs The number of new salespeople needed with depends on several factors, including sales growth targets, distribution strategies, changes in sales force organization, and sales force turnover. Understanding the reason for salesperson turnover is an especially important factor in assessing personnel needs. Company Culture The process of aligning a companys recruiting strategies to its core values should help attract and retain higher performing salespeople as compared with those companies whose

recruiting process are reactive and culturally disconnected. Recruitment (+) -attacking possible applicants - job opportunity - number of applicants - qualified Selection (-) - activity of choosing the best among the rest - turn down the opportunity -discrimination Job Analysis systematic way to describe how a job is to be performed, as well as the tasks that make up the job Job Analysis Methods 1. Job analysis interview 2. Sending an observer into the field Job Description written document that spells out the job relationships and requirements that characterize each sales position A complete job description explains: 1. to whom the salesperson reports 2. how the salesperson interacts with other staff marketing people 3. the customers to be called on by the salesperson 4. specific tasks to be carried out 5. mental and physical demands of the job 6. types of products to be sold Job Qualifications refer to the aptitudes, skills, knowledge, and personality traits necessary to perform the job successfully Desirable Salesperson Qualifications Individual traits Linked to Sales Success Personality Trait Optimism refers to the tendency to hold positive expectations across time and situations Extraversion Extraverts are people who are sociable, friendly, self-confident and outgoing Sales adaptiveness consists of internal locus of control, high self-monitoring and an androgyny trait Integrity refers to basing of one's actions on an internally consistent framework of principles Job skill Time and Territory Skills salespeople possessing greater skill in managing their time and

territory tend to perform better Working Knowledge refers to ability to identify customer types and the sequences of selling behaviors Legality of Job Qualifications Civil Rights Act (1964) Age Discrimination in Employment Act (1967) Fair Employment Opportunity Act (1972) Rehabilitation Act (1973) Vietnam Veterans Readjustment Assistance Act (1974) Americans with Disabilities Act (1990) part 2... group 4 Recruiting Goal of recruiting: -to find and attract the best-qualified applicants for sales positions. R= H SxA Where: H=required Numbers of hires S= percentage of recruits selected A= percentage of those selected who accept Sources: 1.Classified and On-line Advertising -advertisements in newspaper, trade journals, and on the web are often used to attract sales people. 2. Present Employee -often make good candidates for sales jobs because they are familiar with the companys products ad procedures and do not require as much training as prospects recruited from the outside sources. 3.Referrals / Networking - another major internal source of recruits is recommending by present employees. Statistics prove networking and referrals to be among the top conduits for effective recruiting in today's workplace. 4. Employment Agencies - are frequently used source of sales people. Employment agencies are popular because they can save busy sales managers time and money. 5. Colleges and Universities -perhaps the best source of sales trainees is educational institutions. For many firms, colleges are the focal point of their total hiring process. 6. customers, suppliers, and competitors. -may also be a good source of good recruits. Selecting Prospects Application Form a popular way to gather history data is to have candidates to fill out an application blank.

The basic purposes of application forms are: 1. To provide information, gathered in a standardized manner, that is useful in making a selection decision. 2. to obtain information that may be needed during an individuals employment. Personal interview is a crucial part of the selection process for all sales position because interpersonal skills are so important in sales. Types of interviewing styles 1. Patterned Interviews The sales manager asks each prospect a set of questions and records the responses on a form. 2. Semi Structured Interviews intended to gather critical pieces of information but the questions are not repeated word for word 3. Observation a special kind of interview that has proven effective for some organization is field observation, which includes taking candidates out to observe a day field work. Background and credit checks In the recent survey by the society of HRM, 9 percent of human resource professionals said that they encountered candidates who had falsified their salaries and time at previous jobs. In addition, 78 percent of those surveyed said that they had detected applicants who lied about their college degrees. The message is clear : dont assume that people are telling the truth. Testing provide more objective information that can be obtained from subject conversation -is being used more often than in the past to help select field salespeople 3 types of test are being used in sales force selection: a.) Intelligence tests measure the degree to which a candidate has the minimum mental capabilities to perform the job b.) Personality Tests evaluate an individual on numerous personality traits. However, some companies develop specialized tests designed to measure specific personality traits felt to be important in a particular sales position, such as team building. c.) Aptitude Tests designed to determine whether a candidate has an interest in certain tasks and activities Assessment Center an additional selection tool to help choose the best candidate by having him or her participate in job-related exercise Recommendations important to base the test on an analysis of the job-in question and to validate the relationship between test scores and subsequent job performance Physical Examination the last step in the selection process for salespeople has been a routine physical examination (which typically includes testing for illegal drugs).

Validating The Hiring Process last step in the hiring process involves validating the relationship between the selection criteria used by the firm and job success Validation is generally most useful in large samples where information is collected on the progress of sales personnel and is feed back into the system to modify the factors considered in the hiring process requires that managers specify exactly what distinguishes top performers from poor performers Objective Of Validation Process to build a profile of the successful performer that can be used to select additional salespeople