The document discusses the importance of an effective sales force staffing and selection process. It outlines key objectives such as understanding the importance of the selection program and recruiting sources. The scope of the staffing process is explained, including establishing responsibilities, determining needs, preparing job descriptions, identifying qualifications, and assimilating new hires. Recruiting sources like referrals, other companies, educational institutions, advertisements, employment agencies, and computer databases are also summarized.

2. Objectives:
• To be able to know the importance of
Selection Program.
• To discuss the Scope of Sales force
Staffing Process.
• Meaning of Recruitment and its
importance.
• To know the Recruiting Sources that the
company used.

3. Importance of Good Selection Program
Good selection addresses the problem of getting good people.
Good selection improves sales
force performance.
Good selection promotes cost
savings.
Good selection eases other
managerial tasks.
Sales managers are no better than their sales
force.

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

5. Establish Determine
responsibility for Conduct Determine
number of Prepare job
recruiting, job hiring
people description
selection and analysis qualification
wanted
assimilation
Identify Select the
Contact the
sources of source to be
recruits
recruits used
Design a system Measure applicants
Make selection
for measuring against hiring
decisions
applicants qualifications
SALES FORCE Hire the people
STAFFING and
SELECTION Assimilate new people into sales force

6. Establishing Responsibility for Recruiting,
Selection and Assimilation
 Management must decide:
- who will be responsible for
making the recruiting and
selection decisions.
- who will be responsible for
assimilating the new hires into
the organization.
 How these decisions are made
often:
- Related to the size of the firm.
- The nature of selling task.

7. DETERMINE THE NUMBER OF
PEOPLE WANTED
A company should try to
accurately determine how many
sales representatives it needs and
then hire that number.
Sales personnel needs should be
forecast well in advance of the time
the people will actually be
employed.
It also allows better programming
of recruiting, interviewing and other
steps in the selection procedures.
Management should first review
any changes in the company’s
strategic marketing plan to
determine how the plan will affect
the number of salespeople needed.

8. DETERMINE THE TYPE OF PEOPLE
WANTED
JOB ANALYSIS JOB DESCRIPTION
- The actual task of - The document that sets forth the
determining what findings of the job analysis.
constitutes a given job. SCOPE OF JOB DESCRIPTION
- It should clearly - Tile of the job, Organizational
identify all of the relationship, Types of products and
specific tasks which services sold, Types of customers
salespeople will called on, Duties and responsibilities
perform. related to the job, Job demands and
Hiring specifications
JOB QUALIFICATIONS
- (sometimes called hiring specifications) – the specific, personal
qualifications and characteristics applicants should possess to be
selected for the given job.

9. Qualification Needed to Fill the Job
Relationship between performance and personal characteristics
concluded the following:
 Demographic characteristics (age,
sex) and physical characteristics.
 Education and experience
 Personal history
 Job skills and experience
 The strength of the relationship between many of the characteristics
and performance varies significantly across types of customers and
types of products sold.

10. MAJOR CRITERIA
• Mental Capacities (planning and problem-
solving ability).
• Physical Characteristics (appearance and
neatness).
• Experience (sales and other business
experience).
• Education (number of years, degree,
majors).

11. Recruiting
Includes all activities involved
in securing individuals who will
apply for the job.
A sound selection program
cannot exist without a well-
planned and well-operated
system for recruiting applicants.
The importance of recruiting
grows in relation to increase in
the costs of selecting
salespeople and maintaining
them in the field.
A philosophy to follow in
recruiting is to get enough
qualified applicants to maximize
the chances of finding the right
person for a job.

12. Other companies:
Within Competitors
Referrals Customers
Company
Others
Voluntary
Employment Recruiting Applicants
Agencies
Sources
Part-time
Workers
Computerized
Educational
Databases
Institutions Advertisement

13. REFERRALS
REFERRAL
- Is a recommendation
by one individual that
another be hired for a
position.
- Often come from
someone included in
one of the other
sources just listed, but JIM MILLER
they may come from -CEO of BT Miller Business Systems
other people as well. -“An employee is rewarded with monetary
- most referrals come compensation if a person he or she
from someone who recommends stays more that 90 days”.
works for the company. -He believes that using referrals sustains
his company’s culture.

14. Within The Company
 Management has been
able to observe these people
and evaluate their potential as
sales reps.
Salespeople hired from
within the company will yield
more long-run profits than
those from any other source.
Hiring salespeople from
within the company can also
be a great morale booster
because they consider
transfer to the sales
department as a “promotion”.

15. Other Companies
A competitor’s sales force
is a major recruiting
source for salespeople.
A firm may seek leads
to prospect from its
customers.
Purchasing agents are
often good source of
names.
Customers’ employees
themselves may be a
source of salespeople.

16. Other Companies
A firm that hires from the
outside should determine:
Sales reps working for 1. Why the applicants are
“noncompeting companies are interested in changing
another source”, jobs.
particularly if they: 2. Why they want t work
1. Are selling products for the hiring company.
related to those sold by
the recruiting firm.
2. Are selling to the same “Applicants may figure that the
market. quickest way to success is to
move from one company to
another”.

17. Educational Institutions
 Colleges and universities are
frequently used as a source
of recruits for sales positions.
 Many students find it ironic
that companies looking for
sales/marketing candidates
don’t know how to market
themselves.
 Some companies have developed distinctive identities with college
students by speaking to classes and student organizations,
participating in job fairs or on advisory boards to marketing
department and providing scholarships and summer internship
opportunities.
 Recruiters must be flexible and emphasize those job attributes which
are important to the students.

18. Advertisements
Newspapers and trade
Some points to consider:
journals are the most
widely used media in
which ads for selling jobs
are replaced.

19. Employment Agencies
The agencies can do
Agencies that place some of the initial
salespeople are a screening, because
frequently used source or presumably it will abide by
recruits. the job specifications
given.
Agencies where the
fee is paid by the
employer probably
attract a better quality
of sales recruit.

20. COMPUTERIZED DATABASE
 Resume search services use the
computer to sort through thousands of
current resumes, looking for specific
characteristics.
 If there is no match, the company using
the service doesn’t have to pay
anything.
 Many companies are using the Internet
to recruit for sales positions.
 The largest Internet recruiting site is
the Online Career Center (OCC) – a
nonprofit recruitment and human
resources database that posts job
listings.
 Most of the recruiting sites offers key
word searches by state, locality,
industry, company or title.

21. VOLUNTARY APPLICANTS
 These firms are interested in
people who show enough
initiative to seek out a job rather
than waiting for one to come to
them.
 Voluntary applicants are an
excellent source of sales recruits.
 They usually possess a high
degree of self-confidence and
self-reliance.

22. PART—TIME WORKERS
 The use of part-time salespeople in
outside selling jobs is increasing.
 They are easy to contact, readily
available and usually can work
flexible hours.

23. SUMMARY
• Basic philosophies – selecting the right
people is the most important step in the
management process.
• A well-planned, well-operated recruiting
system is essential for a successful selection
program.
• A company should periodically evaluate the
effectiveness of its recruiting program to
ensure that it is using the best sources
available.