Recruitment of Sales Persons - Essay Example

RECRUITMENT OF SALES PERSONS Introduction An organization will most probably be able to achieve its goals, solve numerous tasks that are present during operations, only if it hires the right people for the right positions. An organization intends to recruit most productive employees while employees wish to find opportunities that meet their demands and suits their personality. Sales Force Recruitment and Selection Efficient recruitment and selection of sales people is one of the most indispensible tasks within the overall sales management1. It incorporates the search for persons who can hold positions that are required by a particular organization. In the practise of recruitment and selection, there is a huge difference between order taking and order getting positions in sales. Thus, this situation gives a difference in the demand of these two jobs. Various aspect of marketing plays a major role in focusing of the enterprise. Enterprise has the mandate to pick on the best strategy for covering a target market. The role of sales managers in an organization is ensuring that they have organized the sales force to enable all necessary tasks to be executed2. Large organizations have a diverse sales force in accordance to different selling tasks, and the target market they intend to serve. With indispensability, every organization should hire good and well qualified persons to occupy the sales’ force. Some large organizations are more careful to a point of updating the list of possible qualified candidates for such positions. For instance, the organizations may schedule candidates for multiple interviews to ensure that there are thorough background checks, and psychological tests, which are important in sales. Never the less, organizations use diverse method of evaluating the capability of potential sales persons. Some of the most frequently used methods include a personal interview, reference checks and background information that is mostly provided on application blanks. Recruitment of sales persons is the most delicate thing that is carried out by organizations in the present day. In essence, the evaluation techniques that are used are both psychological and non psychological. These selection methods can be evaluated in numerous ways such as validity, impartiality, scope usage and cost3. Validity is the statistical correlation level between the test score and the performance of employees such as satisfaction and commitment with reference to the position that the employee has been granted. Impartiality entails the capability to evaluate employees in an objective manner without discrimination in terms of sex, ethnicity religion among others. The scope of usage indicates the most potential ways of applying for various opportunities on both the specific group of tasks, and the wide array of opportunities. Although these methods are said to be very expensive, organizations are recommended to frequently use them in hiring the right employees for the right positions4. However, before the selection of the sale force is done, it is worth noting that the positions to be filled should be first analysed on the basis of the job description, hiring process and company trainings. Essential abilities for successful sales people, over and above, the techniques that are used to identify them should be determined. The methods of selection ought to test on the strongest and the weakest performing sales persons by detecting the personality qualities, skilfulness, and abilities that are likely to lead into success or failure of the sales person. Moreover, sales persons should undergo training on the products the specific organization markets, and the effective sales presentation that required in sales. Although a job description tells more of what is expected from the sales team, the practical part of it is more important as the work basically entails going to the target market to seek sales5. Sales training which is part of selection should be modified depending on the skills and experience that the sales force has. Of importance to note is that, sales training should cover the company policies and practises, the information on products or services that are being offered by the organization and the professional skills that are required in the market.. While the recruitment and selection of sales persons is a onetime event, training is an ongoing process that affects both the existing and the incoming sales people. Training is time consuming and expensive. For an organization, recruitment and maintenance of sales persons is developed through attractive compensation plan that entails motivation of both personal and company interest. There must be motivation to implement a sales plan. Needless to mention that, motivation incorporates a clear job description, effective sales management practises, over and above, a sense of achievement. Recent researches on the attractiveness on numerous rewards that are offered to the sales force show that good salaries, promotions, job security among others are fundamental in compensation and motivation schemes. As soon as an organization makes a decision of the basic level of compensation that is has chosen for its sales force, then it must come up with a method of payment that it find comfortable for it and its members6. There basics payment methods are present; salary, commission or a blend of the two. Never the less, most companies prefer a combination of a salary and a commission as a way to provide both incentives and security to the sales force. Other rewards include trips, commendation letters awards among others both conventional and unconventional. Challenges associated with selecting the wrong person for a job Apparently, effective recruitment selection, training, motivation and programs incorporating compensation combine to create productive sales force. Conversely, ineffective practises automatically create a high turnover for the sale force. Essentially, there is an expense in replacing and training a new lot in the sales force with the inclusion of cost of lost sales. Obviously, the new recruits are less productive as compared to established sales people7. It is argued that it costs on average one third of a new hire’s annual salary to make replacement. This then translates to a huge turnover, and the organization begins to witness loss. Whether the problem is recognised at an early stage or later the cost of replacing still remains high and the organization goes down financially. This is because once an organization begins to work on replacing a wrong hire expenses such as travelling bills , training and orientation, employment testing among other issues will be presented to the organization especially if a candidate decide to take the organization to court for wrong dismissal among other accusations, as well as, incorporate those that are yet to be hired8. Additionally, a crucial cost may come up in the organization when there is the presence of unqualified employees. Issues such as customer dissatisfaction, migration of customers to competitors, reduction and loss of sales, and low production are witnessed. Basically, wrong selection of a person for a job is the greatest disadvantage for any organization as it adds to a down fall. The wrong selection of persons for job opportunities is highly likely to be caused by mistakes that employers such as internal company policies, believe that the company does not require professionals, lack of focus on the needs of the organization and hiring what you know as compare to the best. These issues greatly contribute to a down fall of an organization9. Conclusion An organization will most probably be able to achieve its goals, solve numerous tasks that are present during operations, only if it hires the right people for the right positions. Efficient recruitment and selection of sales people is one of the most indispensible tasks within the overall sales management. It incorporates the search for persons who can hold positions that are required by a particular organization. It is crucial for any organization to hire good and well qualified persons to occupy the sales’ force. In essence, the evaluation techniques used are both psychological and non psychological. These selection methods can be evaluated in numerous ways such as validity, impartiality, scope usage and cost. Conversely, ineffective practises automatically create a high turnover for the sale force. Issues such as customer dissatisfaction, migration of customers to competitors, reduction and loss of sales, and low production are witnessed. Hence, organizations should hold professionalism when looking for employees. Bibliography: Bose, Chandra. Modern marketing: principles and practice. New Delhi PHI Learning, 2010. Dale, Margaret. A managers guide to recruitment & selection. London; Sterling, Va.: Kogan Page, 2003. Helsen, Kristiaan and Kotabe, Masaaki. The SAGE handbook of international marketing. Los Angeles; London: SAGE, 2009. Hisrich, Robert. Marketing. Hauppauge, N.Y.: Barrons, 2000. Ingram, Thomas. Sales management: analysis and decision making. Armonk, NY: Sharpe, 2012. Leader, William, et al. Fundamentals of Marketing. Cheltenham Thornes, 1990. Noonan, Chris. Sales Management. Chartered Institute of Marketing. Routledge. London, 1998. Sims, Ronald. Human resource management: contemporary issues, challenges and opportunities. Greenwich, Conn.: Information Age Publ, 2007. Venugopal, Pingali. Managing your sales force: a motivational approach. New Delhi; Thousand Oaks, Calif.; London: Response Books, 2006. Read More