Importance of Recruitment and Selection of Sales People

Importance of Recruitment and Selection of sales people

When it comes to the recruitment and selection of sales people, companies will certainly need an active and enthusiastic sales people in order to boost the company's sales. It is important because a powerful sales people can get the business under way on firm footings. Without this, entrepreneurs will certainly face many problems. The recruitment and selection of sales people have the ability to determine the company's future growth and business possibility

But exactly how can a company recruit the suitable sales people? There are a few ways that company can recruit potential sales people; one of them is from internal sources. This is one of the most common used methods, by locating sales people through employee referral programs. This method is widely used because it is easy, quick, and also cheaper in cost compared to other methods such as putting up advertisements or visiting college campus. Employees that deliver a referral will be rewarded a 'finder's fee' to further encourage their action. For instance, a customer-service provider of software- Vantive Corporation reward their employee $2,500 for inside rep recruited and $5,000 for field seller. The company can also announce that there are job openings on the company's newsletter or during meetings.

If a company is not satisfied with the quality of their findings from internal sources, they can always use external sources. Advertising is one way to assemble a big amount of applicants in a short time. Although it is inexpensive on a cost-per-applicant basis, this method requires extensive screening procedures to identify potential candidates as many of the applicants may not be qualified for the position. Advertising on internet is more effective than on magazine as the time taken is longer because some magazine only published once a month. Companies can post their job openings on job banks such as Career Resources Center and candidates can responds to it. The usage of internet is very high now so it is an easier and faster way to reach out to the community.

Another widely used source is the private employment agencies. These are the agencies that help companies find suitable and potential sales people. The agency will charge a certain amount of fees, which may vary but most probably will be 15-20 percent of the first-year earnings of the person that the agency help hired. These agencies can be very helpful when it comes to searching for experienced sales people as these people will often contact the agencies just to see if there are better opportunities for them. Jobs fairs are commonly used too because it can attract many candidates. Candidates will visit the booth that they are interested in or those which match their qualification and then further enquire about the job details. Evening or night time is the best to conduct a job fair as people who work are only free during that time. But this problem can be solved by virtual job fairs on the internet where companies participate in online job fairs and candidates can click on the company banner to find out more about that particular company.

After the company had successfully recruited a number of candidates, now their part is to choose the right sales people to hire. This remains the most challenging part for most of the organization. . Millions of dollars have been spent on research to improve the recruitment and selection process, but still turnover in sales remains high and is a significant problem. While the selection process has been refined and improved in recent years, much of the research has been directed toward testing a specific method. (Randall, E.James, 1990).

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