Fluent Essays

Visit three different types of business (such as a grocery store, a hardware store, and an electronics store), and pick out one product from each business.  ● If you were that store’s buyer, what major objections or questions would you ask a product salesperson if you were asked to buy a large quantity and promote it?  ● Now, as that salesperson, how would you overcome those objections? Make sure you include at least six (6) peer-reviewed sources. Presentation please prepare a professional PowerPoint presentation summarizing your major findings, analysis, and recommendations in a concise presentation of 15 slides (minimum). In addition, you should include learning outcomes from all your major assignments. This would include PA 1, CLA 1, PA 2, and of course,. An agenda, executive summary, and references slides should also be included. Please keep in mind that the university is moving towards a more digital footprint for our students. 1 PA 2 Sales Force Recruitment Sales are the promotion of a new or an established product to inform the target group and make profits. A salesperson is the promoter of the product. For sales to be successful, from time, certain immemorial abilities, either technical or mental, have proved to necessitate success in this field. Accomplished sales representatives at the highest level have had these traits. Skills and traits were found to be relatively good predictors of success for business-to-business institutional sales. Skills and traits found to be good predictors of success include research and information gathering, rapport building, closing skills, product knowledge, sales presentation, and many more (Dwivedi et al., 2021). For sales to be made between two businesses, the knowledge of the products of the two parties should be known beforehand; this provides for a curious and informed trait in the sales representative. This provides the parties with an upper hand and an understanding of how the introduction of the new product affects their product. This prevents any of the companies from experiencing a loss of any kind. The institutions should also have a salesperson team with good closing skills, offering a trait of persuasion. In sales, closing the deal is of most importance and the critical aspect of sales. Hence, an institution with a team that can convince and instill a certain positive idea into the minds of the other institution acts as a success to the institution. Ordering assurance to the business that the sales will be made. The product knowledge skills, which offers a trait of research and curiosity of the salesperson or the team, offers an additional advantage to the institutions, the salesperson or team can offer conclusive and comprehensive information about the product, it prompts the other institution into buying the product because they completely understand what it is they intended to do with it. Assertiveness which offers a trait of decision making, an institution with an assertive sales representative holds an advantage as the representative is well aware of what his company needs and does, and his objectives in making the sales are defined. Objectives can only be defined after an analysis of data and information. Lastly, an institution with a sales representative that creates a good connection with the other institution is at an advantage. It provides a basis for future commitments. Proving advantageous to the company of the assurance of making a sale of an agreed amount at an agreed time to the company. (Shwepker, &Good, 2010) Skills and traits found to be good predictors in a job in sales. Skills and traits found to be good predictors in a job in sales include ability, curiosity, intelligence, innovation, and the ability to resolve disputes. Sales are the backbone of most of the businesses and revenue in a country. Institutions hardly offer sales courses. Sales pitching proves to be one of the most challenging jobs one can come across. Being prominent in sales has called for curious, innovative, intelligent, and agile minds. Curiosity as a trait that offers a skillset of research has the sales representatives asking questions; it helps them make connections with target groups, it also helps them learn and widen the scope of how to improve their firms product. Curiosity gets the salesperson into digging on what the preferences of the customers and proving that their products meet the customers requirements. Sales also call for an innovative mind as a trait that offers a skill set of observation. The salesperson should aim at fulfilling the needs of the consumer. For that salesperson should come up with in-hand solutions to solve the provided problem. Innovation provides tips on sales. With the ability to move quickly and easily, salespersons need to move from place to place to introduce or emphasize the importance of their products. This calls for a flexible and willing mind to overlook their geographical, communication, or even historical barriers. The intelligence, which offers a research skillset, provides a salesperson with critical analysis and instills them with the required data. These skill sets and traits have proven to be integral in the making of an accomplished salesperson (Agodi, Ahaiwe, & Awah, 2017) Comparison of salesperson characteristics in trade versus missionary selling. Missionary salespeople generally work for manufacturers (Weilbaker, 1990). They communicate to manufacturers and retailers on the availability of commodities, whereas trade selling involves competition. Salespeople in trade selling aim to win over other customers at the expense of the competition for homogenous products. The most important distinction between the two is the level of persuasion. In missionary selling, the customers are well known. However, in trade selling, salespersons need to convince their target group to embrace their products and change their previous supplier, subjecting the customers to high risks (Drobyazko et al., 2019). Trade selling also calls for high-level decision-makers and stretches its importance for assertive closing. The salesperson in trade selling aims at closing the deal as soon as it can be possible. However, the deals are already closed in missionary selling since there is minimal competition (Rosson, & Ford, 2016). Comparison of the most essential characteristics in technical and new business selling Technical selling involves the pitching of a product one is entirely and able to describe. It aims at providing satisfaction to the consumer. In contrast, the new business selling is the pitching of a new product in the market. The information known to the salesperson may be limited. In contrast, in a new business selling, the salesperson seeks to make profits. The technical salesperson should be curious and aim to deliver the right product over profits. Good salespeople are born, not made Are good salespeople born or made? It is irrational to support the above statement, which is mythical. Sure, some people are born with inborn traits that are seen as necessary in pitching a sale, but a talent not well refined is wasted. Salespeople are therefore made and not born. Over the years, the number of people partaking in business-related courses has been rising in both genders. They are signaling an interest in the gaining and refinement of skills among the population. Sales is a skill, and some people can pitch sales faster than others, but this can only happen after some refinements in the set of skills already acquired. References Agodi, J. E., Ahaiwe, E. O., & Awah, A. E. (2017). Salesman’s Personality Trait and Its Effect on Sales Performance: Study of Fast-Moving Consumer Goods (FMCG) in Abia State, Nigeria. Journal of Economics and sustainable development, 8(24). Drobyazko, S., Barwińska-Małajowicz, A., Ślusarczyk, B., Zavidna, L., & Danylovych-Kropyvnytska, M. (2019). Innovative entrepreneurship models in the management system of enterprise competitiveness. Journal of Entrepreneurship Education, 22(4), 1-6. Dwivedi, Y. K., Ismagilova, E., Rana, N. P., & Raman, R. (2021). Social media adoption, usage and impact in business-to-business (B2B) context: A state-of-the-art literature review. Information Systems Frontiers, 1-23. Rosson, P. J., & Ford, I. D. (2016). Stake, conflict, and performance in export marketing channels. In Proceedings of the 1979 Academy of Marketing Science (AMS) Annual Conference (pp. 66-69). Springer, Cham. Schwepker, C., & Good, D. (2010). TRANSFORMATIONAL LEADERSHIP AND ITS IMPACT ON SALES FORCE MORAL JUDGMENT. <i>The Journal of Personal Selling and Sales Management, </i> <i>30</i>(4), 299-317. Retrieved August 5, 2021, from http://www.js HYPERLINK http://www.jstor.org/stable/25765006tor.org/stable/25765006 Weilbacher, D. (1990). The Identification of Selling Abilities Needed for Missionary Type Sales. <i>The Journal of Personal Selling and Sales Management, </i> <i>10</i>(3), 45-58. Retrieved August 5, 2021, from http://www.jstor.org/stable/40471383 Running Head: RECRUITMENT AND SELECTION 2 2 RECRUITMENT AND SELECTION Recruitment and Selection of a sales force Student’s Name Institutional affiliation Introduction Sales is an essential element in any business because the sales force represents the first point of contact between a business. Hence, the hiring process must ensure that the people employed are fit for the business. The process of recruitment involves attracting a pool of applicants for various sales positions in a business. In contrast, the selection process involves selecting the best fit for the job from shortlisted candidates and giving them a job in a business. This paper addresses the recruitment and selection process for salesforce in detail. Recruitment of a sales force The recruitment process can be done in four steps; identification of requirements, identification of sources of recruitment, communicating the information and receiving applications. 1. Identification of requirements The first step in recruiting the sales force is identifying a gap or need for additional sales staff in the business. When a business identifies the positions needed to be filled, it should also identify the number of people needed for those positions. Another important thing to note in this step is the job description of the different sales positions, including the educational and personal attributes needed for the different positions (Pandey, 2017). Additionally, the job description gives detailed functions and responsibilities of different positions. At this point, the goal of a business at this point will be to attract individuals who are equipped and willing to take on the challenges associated with working in sales. 2. Identification of the sources of recruitment A business can recruit its sales force from either external sources or internal sources. A business will select the source depending on the needs of the business and the nature of its positions. Internal sources of recruitment can be transfers or promotions. Transfers will involve moving a sales employee to another branch of a business to occupy the same position as in the previous branch. In contrast, promotions involve moving a sales employee to a higher ranked position in the sales force (Khandelwal & Kumar, 2019). Promotions will be very effective in hiring a sales manager since it will mean hiring someone who knows the organization well. A business can also recruit from external sources such as employment agencies, educational institutions, recommendations and advertisements. If a business wishes to attract a large pool of applicants, then advertising the vacancy or vacancies is the best option. 3. Communication Once the business has identified where they can get their salesforce, the next step will be communicating vacancies to the intended audience. The information to be communicated will include the qualifications of the sales employees, requirements, job descriptions, and application methods. If a company is recruiting from within an organization, it can effectively use its notice board (Pandey, 2017). When external recruitment is required, the sales positions can be advertised in different media; broadcast, print, and social media. 4. Receiving applications The recruitment process ends when a business receives the application forms for the different positions advertised. When advertising for applications, a business must indicate how the applications can be sent, with the most effective methods being via email or the company website (Hamza et al., 2021). When a business receives the applications, they now have a pool of applicants to select the sales staff. Selection process The selection process of a good sales force should be thorough and will include the following steps. 1. Initial screening The first step in the selection process involves initial screening to eliminate applicants that are not fit for the job due to their character, performance and educational history. 2. Filling an application form & Employee test. A business will require the applicants to fill in a few details in the application form, which are just simple, like the name of the applicants and address. The forms will help gather verifiable historical data from applicants. Once the management has a few applicants, they can go ahead and do some tests to help assess the qualifications and potential for success (Nikolaou, 2017). Some employee tests could be oral, but most of them are written. In recruiting a sales force, the business can include some scenarios to assess the sales skills of an individual and their ability to solve real business issues. 3. Job interviews An interview will allow the applicants to exchange information about the position applied. The applicants who will get to this stage are promising candidates, and the interview is meant to help choose the best fit for a business. Interviews must be planned before ensuring that the interview content is sufficient to recruit qualified and competent sales personnel. Planning of an interview will include planning the location of the interview, which should be quiet and with minimal distractions (Poláková, 2019). The interviewer(s) must know the sales applicants from the previous steps and have listening skills and communicate effectively. During the interview, the interviewers will need to assess various types of information about the applications; occupational experience, personal attributes, academic achievement and organizational fit. The most important skills needed for sales personnel will be interpersonal skills since their jobs will involve interacting with customers, and hence they need to have good interpersonal skills. The salespersons will need to have persuasion skills to convince potential buyers into becoming customers. 4. Conditional job offers Since a business is not yet sure about an employees output, the best thing is to give the applicants that pass the previous steps a tentative job offer that will become permanent after an applicant meets certain conditions (Billups & Podar, 2018). 5. Background investigation The human resource team should conduct a background investigation to help verify that an applicants information in their application forms and resume is accurate. The investigation can also involve looking at the legal status and the credit status of the applicant. The information that an organization seeks can be found from the referees, credit references, former employers and online searches (Popp et al., 2020). The investigation is very important since past behaviour will always be seen in an applicants future behaviour. 6. Physical/Medical examination It is important to assess that one is fit to perform the tasks involved in sales in a business. An important examination is looking at the mental stability and wellbeing of a person to ensure they can work effectively in a sales position where they are needed to interact with customers and fellow employees. 7. Permanent job offer This is the final step in the recruitment process. Once an organization is sure about the sales skills of an individual and that they are fit for the positions, then a permanent job offer is given to the applicant; an induction to the organization is important to familiarize an employee with colleagues and the organization. Conclusion Sales are an integral part of the business. The recruitment and selection process of a salesforce must be comprehensive to ensure that a business gets the right people for the job to help boost sales and profits in a business. The recruitment will include identifying a gap and receiving applications for a job opening. If the selection process is done well, the salesforce hired will be competent and equipped for their jobs. References Billups, M. J., & Poddar, A. (2018). Entry-level Salesperson Selection: An Engaging Experiential Exercise for Sales Management Students. Journal for Advancement of Marketing Education, 26. Hamza, P. A., Othman, B. J., Gardi, B., Sorguli, S., Aziz, H. M., Ahmed, S. A., ... & Anwar, G. (2021). Recruitment and Selection: The Relationship between Recruitment and Selection with Organizational Performance. International Journal of Engineering, Business and Management, 5(3), 1-13. Khandelwal, A., & Kumar, A. (2019). A study on recruitment and selection process with reference to current scenario in organizations. Malaya Journal of Matematik (MJM), 7(3, 2019), 412-418. Nikolaou, I. (2021). What is the Role of Technology in Recruitment and Selection?. The Spanish Journal of Psychology, 24. Pandey, K. (2017). TLP for Sales Management & Promotion Management/Sales Force management 2016-2017. Poláková, G. (2019). Multi-criteria decision making in salesforce recruitment. Ekonomický a finanční výzkum, 85. Popp, N., Jensen, J. A., McEvoy, C. D., & Weiner, J. F. (2020). An examination of the effects of outsourcing ticket sales force management. International Journal of Sports Marketing and Sponsorship. 1 CLA 1 Every organization aims at achieving a certain level of performance when it comes to the profitability of the organization. The sales force in any organization is very instrumental towards the performance of an organization as they help push the sales of an organization to the desired level. Organizations must see the value that the salespersons bring to the organization as this impacts the motivation and the productivity of the salespersons (Kuvaas et al., 2017). When a sales team feels that there is value to an organization then they become engaged in their work and perform well. Organizations can show that they value the salespersons by involving them in decision-making, paying them well, and also recognizing achievements. Skill sets refer to the various abilities and abilities that an individual employee has that enable them to perform according to expectations in an organization. The skill sets vary from the type of sales employee; a salesperson needs more persuasion skills while a sales manager might need more communication skills and leadership skills (Kuczmarski & Kuczmarski, 2019). An organization can ensure that it has the right skill set by ensuring that the recruitment process is thorough and looks at the practical skills of employees as well. Global sales refer to the sales that an organization makes outside the country where it is located. Global sales skills are important in ensuring that an organization can effectively penetrate an outside market. Global sales skills include understanding the cultural differences and the language of the target nation. A sales team needs to understand what is offensive in other nations such as gestures, body language so that they do not put off customers (Cuevas, 2018). The global sales skill needed by sales managers includes effective communication and an understanding of the trade regulations in different countries. They need to be able to contact customers remotely and manage sales teams in different locations. The performance of any organization is important as it is an indicator of growth and progress in an organization. When it comes to the performance of employees it is directly related to the rewards system in an organization. Employees need to be motivated to put in extra work in the organization and the easiest way for an organization to motivate employees is to make them feel that they are appreciated and their efforts are recognized. Employees and particularly sales employees work in teams when the performance appraisal is done, it is important that the best-performed employees are rewarded (Asaari et al, 2019). When this is done the other members of the team will be inspired and motivated to increase productivity. An increase in the productivity of an employee translates to the performance of an organization in terms of sales and profitability. Rewards are multidimensional and exist in different forms and categories in different organizations. The two broad categories that organizations offer are monetary and nonmonetary rewards. Monetary rewards refer to those that have an attached monetary value and may include salary raises, commissions, cash gifts bonuses, and allowances. This form of reward is mostly offered based on the performance of employees. Organizations set targets, for instance for the sales team there is a target for weekly sales, monthly sales, or annual sales (Dikshit et al., 2018). Once this level has been achieved an organization will decide to reward the top sales personnel in monetary form. Nonmonetary rewards are equally important in an organization. Non Monetary rewards can exist in many forms and one of them is a recognition reward. Some organizations have awards such as, salesperson of the year, or employee of the year. These rewards will go a long way in making employees feel that they are part of an organization. Non Monetary rewards also include trips, and even fringe benefits such as medical allowances, retirement packages among others. Intrinsic rewards refer to non-tangible rewards that a salesperson or employee will get from their work. It is the feeling of conscious satisfaction and the sense of achievement. Intrinsic rewards come from within the employee that is doing a particular task. On the other hand, extrinsic rewards refer to the rewards that an individual gets from outside them. These rewards can come from fellow sales employees or from the employer (Andersen et al., 2018). The extrinsic reward shows that somebody recognizes the effort that a sales personnel has put into certain tasks and most of the time these rewards are tangible. Intrinsic rewards are very important and impact how well a person performs their sales tasks. When an employee gets that sense of achievement, they get positive emotional reactions such as pride in their work, and feelings of accomplishment. The sales staff then feel the need to work even harder in the next assigned tasks so that they can have these positive emotions in the future (Victor & Hoole, 2017). There is nothing as powerful as being motivated from the inside as it helps these sales employees to even set targets for themselves and become very proud to be part of the sales team. Extrinsic rewards play a role in the life of employees because most of these rewards have a monetary value and money is important to almost every individual as it helps one meet the cost of living. These rewards can come even in a nonmonetary form such as time off, advancement in career among others. Extrinsic motivation helps sales staff feel that they are an important part of an organization and their presence is recognized. Organizations can use extrinsic rewards to motivate a sales team. Once one of the team members is rewarded for good performance the other employee will be inspired to work harder because they want to get that recognition as well. References Andersen, L. B., Boye, S., & Laursen, R. (2018). Building support? The importance of verbal rewards for employee perceptions of governance initiatives. International Public Management Journal, 21(1), 1-32. Asaari, M. H. A. H., Desa, N. M., & Subramaniam, L. (2019). Influence of salary, promotion, and recognition toward work motivation among government trade agency employees. International Journal of Business and Management, 14(4), 48-59. Cuevas, J. M. (2018). The transformation of professional selling: Implications for leading the modern sales organization. Industrial Marketing Management, 69, 198-208. Dikshit, M. S. K., & Madan, M. V. (2018). HR Rewards system and Employees motivation: An Analysis. NOLEGEIN-Journal of Human Resource Management & Development, 43-49. Kuczmarski, S., & Kuczmarski, T. (2019). How rewards fuel or fail innovation. Strategic HR Review. Kuvaas, B., Buch, R., Weibel, A., Dysvik, A., & Nerstad, C. G. (2017). Do intrinsic and extrinsic motivation relate differently to employee outcomes?. Journal of Economic Psychology, 61, 244-258. Victor, J., & Hoole, C. (2017). The influence of organisational rewards on workplace trust and work engagement. SA Journal of Human Resource Management, 15(1), 1-14.