Page 30 - HW February 2020

sales agents
How do you attract, recruit and retain people?
IT’S ALL VERY well having great systems but finding the right people to apply them is a fundamental part of a sales agent’s business strategy.
And, just as retailers are struggling to find staff at the moment, it’s especially challenging for sales agents in Auckland and the lower North Island where permanent full-time is more and more the standard across the industry.
“You’ve got to kick over a lot of stones to find people and everyone is fishing in the same pond,” says Tim McKibbin at Strikeforce.
“We’re pretty much permanently on the lookout. We’ve used the traditional tools and recruitment organisations but a lot of the time it’s around word of mouth and talking to people in-store.”
VRM’s Derek van der Vossen concedes there’s no magic bullet:“You could say recruitment is a trouble spot or you could say it’s your point of most potential.The opportunities when you’re recruiting are great and it’s a matter of finding the right people.
“The Auckland market is a lot harder because earnings expectations are much higher, in line with living costs. Around the rest of the country we sometimes have to advertise two or three times to find the right person, and we maintain a long process because people are so important.”
Storelink’s Angie Samuel adds:“What we would like to be getting in terms of skills and what the market is demanding has changed a lot. From a merch perspective, when we’re just packing products on a store shelf, the skillset is the same today as it was previously.
“However when you start supplying reports and insights and compliance to customers that they’re going to make commercial decisions with, when you’re asking someone to take action and influence your sales, you’re starting to look for a different type of individual – more articulate, greater level of understanding, more persuasive/ influential.
“In some places, in this low-employment market, we’re very lucky just to get somebody in a store.”
On the sales side, experienced professionals come at a greater cost, of course, including investment in ongoing training and development.
For Storelink and Tony Puppyn, that means looking for people with the ability to build relationships and the ability to be able to create and commercialise opportunities:
“We need great leadership skills to apply to brands that may be leaders in their category, the ability to deliver results and to be comfortable with technology.”
The labour shortage is having an impact on agents like Stephen Edlin, too.
“We’re seeing less staff in stores and it’s a universal thing,” he says. “It’s almost as if they’re working for two days, with a big build-up for weekend trade.”
One effect of this is that “If your product isn’t on the floor, it could be overlooked, so increasingly I’m doing a quick run around on the Thursday and Friday to ensure my product’s displayed.”
CAN YOU BE TOO SUCCESSFUL?
Peter Duffin is all too aware from past experience (he more than doubled Breville sales in the South Island) that sales agents can become victims of their own success.
“We can outlive our purpose once you get the business to a particular level. We’re very cognisant of that and it’s just the way
it is, and it’s actually a nice place to be.”
Just as pragmatic about that possibility is Derek van der
Vossen, CEO of Vendor Refill Management (VRM): “I try to put our customer’s hat on and look at the best long-term business model for them for territory coverage and product knowledge.
28 NZHJ | FEBRUARY 2020
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