Chapter 12 – Recruiting, Selecting, and Training Salespeople
Contemporary Selling, 5e
Chapter 12
Chapter 12 Outline: Recruiting, Selecting, and Training Salespeople
Value-Added Information in Chapter 12
• Global Connection – “Pros and Cons of Hiring Salespeople from Competitors”
• Ethical Dilemma #1 – “The Youth or Experience Challenge”
• Exhibits
o Exhibit 12.1 – “The Decision Process for Recruiting and Selecting Salespeople”
o Exhibit 12.2 – “The Hiring Quiz”
o Exhibit 12.5 – “Guidelines for Using Tests”
o Exhibit 12.6 – “Objectives of Sales Training”
o Exhibit 12.7 – “Creating a Power Sales Training Experience”
o Exhibit 12.8 – “Analyzing the Training Needs of the Sales Force”
o Exhibit 12.9 – “Topics in Sales Training”
I. Recruitment and Selection Issues
A. Establish Responsibility
B. Analyze the Job and Determine Selection Criteria
1. Job Analysis and Determination of Selection Criteria
2. Job Descriptions
C. Find and Attract Applicants
1. Internal Sources
2. External Sources
a) Referral of People from Other Firms
b) Advertisements
D. Develop and Apply Selection Procedures
1. Applications
2. Personal Interviews
3. Reference Checks
4. Psychological Tests
a) Intelligence Tests
II. Issues in Sales Training
III. Objectives of Sales Training
A. Improve Customer Relationships
B. Increase Productivity
IV. Developing Successful Sales Training Programs
A. Analyze Needs
V. Training Needs Change with Time
A. New Recruits
B. Experienced Salespeople
VI. Sales Training Topics
A. Product Knowledge
B. Market/Industry Orientation
VII. Sales Training Methods
A. On-the-Job Training
1. Teaming
2. Meetings
B. Internet (Online)
C. Classroom Training
D. Role-Playing
VIII. Measuring the Costs and Benefits of Sales Training
A. Measurement Criteria
IX. Summary
X. Key Terms
XI. Role Play #1
XII. Role Play #2
Role Play #1
This fun role play is a job interview for a candidate for the open Territory 106. Recall that
Rhonda Reed and Bonnie Cairns went on a recruiting trip to Stellar College in Chapter 2’s role
Hints for the Instructor:
• Students should pay very close attention to what Rhonda needs to do before conducting
the interview. It is suggested that instructors go over “Rhonda Reed’s Role” with those
playing her in the interview, providing guidance and assistance from the material in the
chapter to help them prepare the needed one- or two-page summary of the selection
Role Play #2
Here, students get the opportunity to develop role plays for training purposes on topics of their
choosing. Justin Taylor has been assigned as Bonnie Cairns’ mentor. Bonnie is ready for some
Hints for the Instructor:
• In the role play, the student playing Bonnie plays her as the salesperson she is. However,
the role Justin takes on may vary from sales manager to buyer to someone else relevant to
the role-play topic.
Discussion Questions
1. The sales manager for one of the nation’s largest producers of consumer goods has
identified eight factors that appear to be related to effective performance. The
manager of human resources, who is concerned about high turnover rates among the
sales force, would like to use this information to improve the company’s recruiting
Communication
Technical mastery
How could these factors become part of the company’s recruiting and hiring process?
How would you define these factors and determine if applicants for sales positions
possess them?
These factors could become part of the company’s recruiting and hiring process as follows:
• First, the company should conduct a job analysis to determine what activities, tasks,
responsibilities, and environmental influences are involved in the job to be filled.
• Next, the manager of human resources must decide which of the eight factors listed are
most important for which job and which are less critical.
• Based on whatever information the company deems relevant for the specific job, a
written statement should be prepared that is specific enough to guide the selection of new
salespeople. These qualifications can then be reflected in the forms of tests and used in
the selection process.
• Recruiting should concentrate on sources that are most likely to produce the kinds of
people needed. The company finds and attracts a pool of applicants from both internal
and external sources. In order to determine if applicants for sales positions possess those
qualities, the company should use a combination of the following selection procedures:
• Reference checks – Ensures accuracy of factual data and supplies additional
information and opinions about a prospect’s aptitude and job performance.
2. What are the advantages of using the Internet to conduct preliminary job interviews?
What problems is a company that uses computer-aided interviewing likely to encounter?
There are several advantages of seeking applications through the Internet.
• Second, for high-tech industries, the Internet application process demonstrates an
applicant’s comfort level with technology.
3. College recruiters were discussing some of the students they had interviewed one day.
One interviewer described an applicant with excellent credentials as follows: “She
looked too feminine, like she would need someone to take care of her, and she was not all
that serious about a sales job with us.” When asked to explain her comments, the
interviewer said, “Under her jacket she wore a flowery blouse with little flowing sleeves
and a lace collar.” The other recruiter countered, “What do a flowery blouse, flowing
sleeve, and a lace collar have to do with performance?” Comment.
It is illegal to discriminate in hiring on the basis of sex. The first interviewer’s comments are
disturbing because they indicate the applicant’s sex and feminine characteristics are determinants
4. One expert contends that sales training is not at all complicated. He predicts that
regardless of advances in communication, resources, technology, and training tools, the
basic selling skills that trainers teach salespeople will change very little from those that
have been successful during the past 50 years. What will change, according to the expert,
is how salespeople are trained to use these skills effectively. Do you agree with this
prediction?
This prediction is inaccurate. Although the way salespeople are trained to use the basic selling
skills effectively may improve over time, the basic selling skill will change as a result of
advances in sales theories, communication, resources, technology, and training tools.
For example, transactional selling skills have become obsolete and replaced with relationship
Moreover, different training is needed for new recruits than for experienced salespeople. For
example, new recruits receive formal sales training, varying from just a couple of days in the
office, followed by actual selling combined with on-the-job coaching, to as long as two or three
5. The CEO of the company asks you to justify the 10-percent increase in sales training
expenditures for next year. How would you satisfy this request by the CEO?
The key question in a budget allocation for training is:
Does the sales training produce enough benefits to justify its existence? In order to justify the 10-
percent increase in sales training expenditures, the sales manager must demonstrate that there is a
need for the training to meet one or more of the following objectives:
• Improved relationships with customers
The sales manager must analyze and demonstrate the training needs by:
• Traveling with salespeople, observing them, and asking what they need to know.
• Reviewing company records on turnover data, performance evaluations, and
sales/cost analyses.
The manager must then demonstrate that these benefits would result from the sales training
expenditures. The research by which the benefits are assessed must be designed to account for
the variables other than training that may affect sales (e.g., economic conditions, competitive
activity, environmental changes, and seasonal trends). Finally, a data collection process should