CHAPTER 9

SELECTION, PLACEMENT, AND

SOCIALIZATION OF
SUCCESSFUL SALESPEOPLE

Copyright © 2001 by Harcourt, Inc. All rights reserved.

 SELECTION AND PLACEMENT
OF SUCCESSFUL SALES
PERSONNEL
Selection of sales personnel refers to the process
of selecting the best available person for the job.

Placement is concerned with ensuring that job

demands match an individual’s skills, knowledge,
and abilities, along with preferences, interests,
and personality.

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IS SELECTION THE MOST IMPORTANT
ELEMENT IN FIELDING A SALES FORCE?

The selection of the right people is, without a

doubt, extremely important to the success of the
sales district, the region, and the total sales force.

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PURPOSES AND IMPORTANCE OF
SELECTION AND PLACEMENT

• Selection and placement procedures provide the

fuel that runs the sales force.
• Sales managers want to improve productivity.
• The proper match between person and job can
improve productivity and reduce operating
costs.

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 Sales Personnel selection process

It involves 8 steps
1.Sourcing the candidate
2.Screening the candidates
3.Selection test
4.Background check
5.Personal Interview
6.Letters of recommendation

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7.Physical examination
8.Making the employment offer

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1.Sourcing the candidates
Sales managers try to develop a pool of applicants by
attracting candidates from various sources for filling
the sales positions in their organizations.
The various sources from which sales managers can
source potential candidates include college and
university campus, use of placement agencies,
responses to advertisement in news papers and trade
journals, direct mail to potential candidates , referrals
from other sales peoples, vendors, clients, and
salesman from competing firms and with in the
organization (re-recruiting).

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2.Screening the candidates
The resume of the candidates serves as the first
screening tool
Most of the organizations adopt the process of
using the resumes to select those candidates
who match the organizations requirement and
there after ask these candidates to fill in a
comprehensive standardized application form,
which makes it easier for the sales manager to
compare the candidates.

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When reviewing an application blank or resume,
the sales manager should look for the following:

• Minimum job requirements.

• Number of jobs and length of time spent on
each job.
• Reason given for leaving jobs.
• Pattern of growth.

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3.Selection Test
Tests serves as selection tool to assess a potential
employee’s skills and abilities.
Selection tests may be of various types such as
– Aptitude tests.
– Intelligence tests.
– Interest tests.
– Knowledge tests.
– Personality tests.
– Honesty tests
– Polygraph tests

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Aptitude tests – measure general suitability
,learning ability, and natural ability for selling
Intelligence tests –measures the IQ
Interest test - measure the level of interest for
sales career.
Knowledge test – measures what is known about
the product, subject organization etc.

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Personality test – evaluate a person’s attitude,
thoughts, emotions and behavioral traits.
Personality test is of two type – Objective and
projective.
Objectives have very restricted format and allow
the candidates to give only true or false as the
answer.
Projective allow the candidate a choice to choose
between a set of options.

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Honesty tests
This tests comprises a set of statements to which
the candidate agrees or disagrees .Response to
this statement indicates the honesty of the
candidate.

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The polygraph test measures blood pressure,
respiration, heartbeat and skin response and plots
these on a graph.

Polygraph tests are seldom used to screen

applicants for outside sales jobs for national
companies and primarily are used by smaller
companies.

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4.Background check ( reference check)
In many organizations background check precedes the
personnel interview stage in the selection process.
This is the stage in which employer investigate about
the background of the potential employee from the
references provided by the candidate in his resume.
In this organization check the credibility of the
reference and try to ensure that the information
provided by the candidate regarding his work
experience , qualification, and salary drawn is correct.

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5.Personal Interview
A potential candidate is called for a personal
interview only after he clears the background
check.
During personal interview an interviewer assess
the communication skills, confidence level,
and decisiveness of the candidate during the
early stage of the interview and forms a
decision about the candidates.

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Types of Interviews
In a structured interview, the recruiter asks
questions, often from a standard form and
are aimed to test the candidates knowledge,
skills, and Abilities (KSA)
In an unstructured interview, the recruiter
asks few preplanned questions and often
begins with open-ended questions such as
“Tell me about yourself” or “Why do you
want to sell for IBM?”.

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The Stress Interview – An interviewer may
place the applicant in a stressful situation
to ascertain how the person might cope
with stress when selling.

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Many organizations conduct a second interview
of the candidate before making the selection
decision.
The purpose of the second interview is to secure
information that may have been missed out
during the first interview, such as gaps in
education or career path etc.
In this stage the interviewer and the interviewee
also negotiates about the benefits and
compensation package for the job.

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6.Letter of recommendation
It describes the candidate from one more
perspective – the perspective of someone who
knows the candidate well and who is familiar
with the candidates background

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7.Physical Examination
• The physical examination of a candidate helps the
organization ensure that the candidate physically fit
to carry out the duties involved in the job for which
he is being selected.
• The physical examination also helps the organization
to make sure that the candidate is not suffering from
any debilitating (weakening) illness that could
increase the cost of medical claims of the
organization in the future.
• A qualified medical practitioner appointed by the
company or someone approved by the company
conduct the physical examination of the candidates.

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8.Making the employment offer.
This is the last stage in selection process
The offer letter communicates to the candidate
all detail regarding the job including the start
date , terms of contract, salary , benefits ,and
other terms and conditions pertaining to the
employment contract.

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 EVALUATING SELECTION AND
PLACEMENT DECISIONS

The quality and effectiveness of selection and

placement decisions depend on sales managers
hiring as many applicants as possible who turn
out to be good performers.

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Costs to consider include both actual and
potential costs:

1. Actual costs.

a. Recruiting and assessment costs.

b. Induction and orientation costs.
c. Training costs.

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Costs to consider include both actual and
potential cost: continued

2. Potential costs.

a. Costs associated with hiring a person

who subsequently fails.
b. Costs associated with rejecting a person
who would have been successful on the
job.

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THE SOCIALIZATION OF SALES
PERSONNEL

Socialization is the process by which salespeople

learn the sales culture and behaviors appropriate
for their roles in the organization.

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Properly done, the socialization process can help:

• Increase performance and job satisfaction.

• Reduce job anxieties and the fear of failure.
• Reduce turnover.
• Impart a positive image of the company, job
duties, and future expectations.
• Save the manager’s time and thus reduce
costs.

Copyright © 2001 by Harcourt, Inc. All rights reserved.