Copyright © 2003 by The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved.

Chapter

5 Profiling and
Recruiting
Salespeople
Eagles don’t flock. You
have to find them one at a
time.
Yogi Berra

Copyright © 2003 by The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved.

 Salesforce Selection and Strategic
Planning
 In most organisations, the salesforce is the one
group that directly generates the revenue for the
organisation.
 Thus, the salesforce is the group most directly
involved in carrying out the company’s strategic
marketing plans.
 How well this plan is implemented depends to a
great extent on the choice of salespeople.

Copyright © 2003 by The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved.

 Importance of a Good Selection
Program
 Qualifiedsalespeople are scarce
 Good selection improves sales force performance
 Good selection promotes cost savings
 Good selection eases other managerial tasks
 Good salesforce proves to be an edge over the
competitor

Copyright © 2003 by The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved.

 Recruiting and Selection Problems

 Lack of resources
 Lack of job specification and
qualifications
 Qualifications not objectively established
 Lack of managerial training
 Personal prejudices
 Search for managerial talent

Copyright © 2003 by The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved.

 Sales Force Staffing process
 Plan the recruiting and selection process
 Recruit an adequate number of applicants
 Select the most qualified applicants
 Hire those people who have been selected
 Assimilate the new hires into the company

Copyright © 2003 by The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved.

 Fig. 5-2 Sales Force Staffing Process: Plan for Recruiting & Selection

Establish Responsibility Determine

Number of Conduct Job Prepare Job Determine Hiring
for Recruiting, Selection
People Wanted Analysis Description Qualifications
and Assimilation

Recruit Applicants

Select Applicants
Design a System Measure Applicants
Make Selection
For Measuring Against Hiring
Applicants Qualifications Decisions

Hire The People

Assimilate New People Into Sales Force

Copyright © 2003 by The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved.
 Workload Analysis
Number of reps needed = Total workload in market
Workload one rep can handle
Market workload:
Customer Number of Calls Total
x =
class accounts per year calls
A 400 20 8,000
B 600 10 6,000
14,000
One rep’s workload:
Calls/day x Selling days/week x Working weeks/year = Annual workload

5 x 5 x 50 = 1250

14,000
Number of reps needed = = 112 reps
1250
Copyright © 2003 by The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved.
 Fig 5-3 Determining the Number of
Salespeople Needed

Strategic Plans

New -
Eliminated/ + Promo- + Retirements + Terminations/ = Total new
territories combined tions resignations reps needed
territories

Expansion MN and RI 2 promo 2 retirements 1 termination New reps

into Texas. Territories expected expected expected needed

4 - 1 + 2 + 2 + 1 = 8

Copyright © 2003 by The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved.

 Content of Job Description
• Title
• The nature of the product or service to be sold
• Type of customers to be called on,
frequency of calls, and types of personnel to be contacted
• Specific tasks and responsibilities to be
carried out
• Organizational relationships
• Mental and physical demands of the job
• Environmental pressures and constraints
that might affect the job
Copyright © 2003 by The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved.
 Fig. 5-4

Ten traits and abilities of top salespeople

Trait Related Ability
Ego strength To handle rejection
Sense of urgency To complete the sale
Ego drive To persuade people
Assertiveness To be firm in negotiations
Willingness to take risks To be innovative
Sociability To build relationships
Abstract reasoning To sell ideas
Sense of skepticism To question, to be alert
Creativity To sell complex products and ideas
Empathy To understand customer needs

Source: Erika Rasmusson, “The 10 Traits of Top Salespeople, “ Sales & Marketing Management, August
1999, pp. 34-37.
Copyright © 2003 by The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved.
 Recruiting for the Team
• Willingness to share
• Cooperative
• Trusting
• Empathetic
• Accepting of others
• Receptive to others ideas
• Selflessness
• Leadership skills
Copyright © 2003 by The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved.
 Recruiting Sources of Sales Reps
Source Comment
Referrals: Candidates and position are known to person making referral. Existing
sales force is an excellent source for referrals as they know their job
requirements and can identify good matches.
Current employees Company employees know the company and its products.
Other Companies:
Competitors Competitors know the customers and are familiar with your products.
Customers Customers know your products and your company.
Suppliers Suppliers know your company and your products.
The Internet Recruits may come through the company’s own website – or through
specialized Internet recruiting sites, such as Monster.com.
Educational institutions Primarily used when recruiting inexperienced people. Students are
usually actively involved in a job search, and this provides an efficient
place to screen large numbers of available candidates.
Advertisements Produces the greatest number of candidates, but the average
quality is sometimes lower.
Employment agencies The agency is often more costly than other methods, but it will
do a large part of the initial screening.
Part-time workers These workers are easy to contact, readily available, and can
work flexible hours. This is a good source for in-home selling.
Voluntary applicants These applicants are interested in your firm and probably possess
a high degree of self-confidence, self-reliance, and initiative.
Copyright © 2003 by The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved.
 Fig. 5-8 Recruiting Evaluation Matrix

Evaluation Criteria
Consistent Percent
with retained Rep’s per-
Recruiting strategic Number Number after 3 Cost Frequency formance
sources planning? recruits hired years of use after 2 yrs.
Within company:
Sales force Other
departments
Other companies:
Competitors
Customers
Noncompetitors
Educational institutions
Advertisements
Employment agencies
Voluntary applicants
Computerized databases

Copyright © 2003 by The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved.