Part IV

SALES FORCE COMPETENCIES

Chapter 7:
Recruiting and Selecting
Sales Personnel
Chapter 7: Outline

Recruitment
Recruitment Recruit
Recruit Select
Select Validating
Validating
And
AndSelection
Selection Candidates
Candidates Prospects
Prospects the
theProcess
Process
Planning
Planning
Total Quality Management
Comparisons
Business
Six Sigma Standard Error Rate Application
6 Sigma + 3.4 per million Airline flight safety

5 Sigma 300 per million Typical world-class

manufacturers

4 Sigma 6 per 10,000 Manufacturing

average

3 Sigma 30 per 100 IRS phone tax advice

1.6 Sigma 45 per 100 Typical employment

selection and
deployment

Source: “Total Quality Sales Management, The HR Chally Group, 2008

Turnover Rates in Selected
Industries
Turnover
Industry Rates
Construction 13.8%
Office Equipment 47.0
Retail 51.2
Wholesale (Consumer Goods) 18.5
Electronics 14.1
Business Services 26.2
Pharmaceuticals 8.3
Banking 4.3
Real Estate 11.9

Source: Dartnell’s 30th Sales Force Compensation Survey (1999), p.187.

Company Culture and the
Hiring Process
 Develop a hiring process related to
core culture.

 What are the core cultures of these

companies?
Aligning People to Core
Job Responsibilities
 The Chally Group, a sales consulting company,
found that matching a person’s skills set with the
skills required by the sales job led to higher
performing salespeople and greater job satisfaction.
 What skill sets are needed for the following
sales positions?

– Missionary?
– Sales Support?
– New Business?
Aligning People to Core
Job Responsibilities
 Missionary:
– Technical skills, relationship building skills
 Sales Support:
– Empathy, relationship building skills
 New Business:
– Assertiveness, persuasiveness, time
management, ability to close
What Purchasing Agents Like
About Salespeople
PERCENT OF RESPONDENTS
TRAITS WHO RATED MOST VALUED

Willingness to fight for customer:

Thoroughness/follow through:

Market knowledge/
willingness to share:

Knowledge of product line:

Diplomacy in dealing with

operating departments:

Imagination:

0% 25% 50% 75% 100%

Recruiting Sources
 Classified Ads
– Reaches wide audience
(trade publications may narrow the reach)
– Used if high turnover
– Tend to over-produce under-qualified candidates
 Present Employees
– Familiar w/ company products & procedures
– Established job histories
– Sales as a promotion
– Over-rely on previous experience
Recruiting Sources
 Referrals/Networking
– Company executives understand needs, culture and
potential fit for sales responsibilities
 Employment Agencies
– best if company pays
 Schools & Colleges
– Poised & easily trained
– Lack experience & become bored
 Customers, Suppliers & Competition
– Good if need w/out much training
– Legal & ethical issues
– Common: insurance, stock broker, office equipment, clothing
 Direct recruit to control
location or phone number

Complete application
blanks
Hiring
Conduct screening
criteria interviews
for Check credit and
sales background

jobs Complete psychological

used and achievement tests

to Secondary interviews
guide
selection Make offer for sales

process position

Physical exam

Modify hiring
criteria, tests or
Interview procedures Measure subsequent
Reject
Reject
success on the job

Figure 7-3: A Model for Selecting Salespeople

RESUME ANALYSIS

1. Account for all dates.

2. Examine the number of jobs and

length of time spent on each job.

3. Reasons for leaving job.

4. Is there a pattern of growth?

 “MGM Mirage Chairman and Chief Executive J. Terrence Lanni,
one of the gambling industry's most powerful figures,
announced late Thursday he would step down from his
executive posts.
 The resignation was announced publicly, however, on a day
when Mr. Lanni found himself in a dispute with his alma mater
over his academic credentials after questions were raised by
The Wall Street Journal.”
– WSJ 11/14/2008
 In a 2004 survey of human-resource professionals, 61% said
they "often" or "sometimes" find résumé inaccuracies when
vetting prospective hires, according to the Society for Human
Resource Management.
QUESTIONS ABOUT
INTERVIEWERS
What Research Shows
 Does extensive interviewing experience help an interviewer to
make better judgments?
 Does pressure to recruit impair the judgment of experienced
interviewers less than inexperienced interviewers?
 When interviewing multiple recruits, do interviewers tend to use
previous applicants as the standard of comparison for
subsequent applicants?
 Will the positive effects of good appearance offset an
unfavorably rated personal history for a recruit?
QUESTIONS ABOUT
INTERVIEWERS
What Research Shows
 How much of the factual information presented in an interview
will the interviewer remember immediately after a short
interview if no notes are taken?
 How will lack of notes and factual recall affect the interviewer’s
rating of the recruits interviewed?
 How reliably can a group of interviewers rate a recruit’s
qualifications for a job?
 How reliably can a group of interviewers rate future job
performance by a recruit?
COMMON INTERVIEWER
MISTAKES
1. Failure to establish rapport
2. Lack of plan
3. Insufficient time
4. Not listening
5. Personal bias
6. Questions
7. First impressions
TYPICAL INTERVIEW
QUESTIONS
What is the interviewer trying to determine
in the following questions?

1.What was the most monotonous job you

ever had to do?

– What are your values and general orientation

in life?

– How creative were you in eliminating

boredom?
TYPICAL INTERVIEW
QUESTIONS
2. In thinking about people you like, what is it
you most like about them?
– Reflects what person is and desires to become
3. Up to this point in your life, what do you
consider to be your biggest disappointment?
– Have you done anything? -- more active = more
disappointments
4. How willing are you to relocate?
To what extent are you willing to travel?
– Motivation in wanting job -- involves travel
TYPICAL INTERVIEW
QUESTIONS
5. How do you feel about the way your previous
employer treated you?
– How you react to supervision & organizational cultures

6. What are your long-term financial objectives

and how do you intend to achieve them?
– Are you realistic & mature?
– Will this company enable you to achieve these goals?

7. What was the most difficult decision you ever

had to make as a leader?
– Were the leadership positions in your resume demanding
or ceremonial in nature?
– What is your leadership style & philosophy?
TYPICAL INTERVIEW
QUESTIONS
8. Why should we hire you?
– How badly do you want the job?
– What do you think of yourself?
– Do you believe in yourself?

9. Sell me this pen.

– Do you really know how to make a sales
presentation?
– Did you mention the main product benefits?
– Did you ask for the order?
ASKING THE RIGHT
QUESTIONS
About two weeks after starting a new job, doubts
creep into your mind. The gap between what you were
told and what’s actually happening gets wider by the
day. When you’re on the job for three weeks, you say
to yourself, “I think I made a mistake.” One way to
avoid making a costly mistake like this is to ask the
right questions when interviewing. What questions
would you ask when applying for a field sales position
to avoid accepting the wrong job?
ASKING THE RIGHT
QUESTIONS
1. Where will I get my leads?

2. May I review your sales literature?

3. When are your slow times?

4. May I go with you on a sales call?

5. May I visit your marketing department?

6. May I look at your resume?

PREVIOUS EMPLOYER
REFERENCE CHECK QUESTIONS
 Dates of Employment?
 What was the job?
 What type of selling was involved?
 How did the applicant get along with his/her manager?
Customers? Fellow salespeople?
 How did his/her job performance compare others?
 Applicants strongest points? Weaknesses we should
help him/her overcome?
 Why did s/he leave your company?
 Would you rehire the applicant? Why?
Validity of Predictors for Entry-Level Jobs

Predictor Validity

Ability composite (tests) .53

Job tryout .44
Biographical inventory .37
Reference check .26
Experience .18
Interview .14
Training and experience ratings .13
Academic achievement .11
Education .10
Interest .10
Age .01
What’s in a Signature?
Small letters such as “a,” “e,”
and “o” are more than ¼ inch in
height and farther to the right
side of the page.
Small signatures, less than 1/8
inch tall with an upright slant
and placed towards the left hand
of the page
Medium-sized signatures
(about 1/4 inch).
These people tend to be enterprising and
are usually risk takers, take charge
leaders, and pacesetters. They are your
typical salesperson.
These people tend to be objective
observers. They keep cool, don’t get
excited under pressure, and in general
make good listeners and negotiators.
They might be better for high-level sales
to established clients.
These people are your team players.
Interaction is their byword and they tend
to play strictly by the rules. They take
calculated risks, with emphasis on the
calculations. Not generally sales types.
WHAT MAKES A SUPER SALESPERSON?
Personal Computer
Manufacturer
Threshold Competencies
Communication
*Information Collection
Personal Sensitivity
*Relationship-building
Technical knowledge
Differentiator Competencies
Concern for personal impact
*Focused achievement
Initiative
*Organizational awareness
Personal time-planning
Quick thinking
Targeted persuasion
*Use of influence strategies
* These traits were found in salespeople at both companies.
Photographic Equipment
Manufacturer
Threshold Competencies
Decisiveness
*Information Collection
*Organizational Awareness
*Relationship-building
Systematic thinking
Differentiator Competencies
*Focused achievement
Interpersonal diagnosis
Job commitment
Persistence
Presentation skills
Stress tolerance
*Use of influence strategies
Typical Interview Questions

Why should we hire you?

 Regardless of the company and type of sales position
for which you may interview, there are some
interview questions that are typically asked. You
may not be asked each of these questions in every
interview, but you should be prepared to answer
them all. After reading each question, think about
what the interviewer’s purpose may be in asking the
question. What is he or she trying to determine?
What should your response be to each question?
Typical Interview Questions
 What do you regard as your major strengths and
limitations?
 What have you accomplished or achieved in life that
you are most proud of?

 Success means different things to people. What does it

mean to you?

 If there was a job that had everything you are looking

for, what kind of a job would it be?

 What goals have you established for yourself in the

short and long term?
JOB DESCRIPTION FACTORS
Selling Requirements
 New vs. established account selling  Written proposals
 Selling through distributors  Individual vs. team selling
 Entertaining customers  One time vs. systems selling
 Level of buying authority  Type of prospects/customers
 Physical activity required  One-on-one vs. group selling
 Technical knowledge  Travel: how much & what kind
 Relocation  Program or concept selling

Nonselling Tasks
 Reports to management  Educational seminars
 Customer service and training  Collecting receivables
 Sales promotion  Marketing plans

Degree of Responsibility
 Negotiations of pricing  Travel and entertainment

Career Paths
 Compensation plan  Earnings potential
 Promotion timing  Promotion leaders

Performance Expectations
 Activity level requirements  Minimum sales volume or profits