Page 526 - Foundations of Marketing

Personal Selling and Sales Promotion | Chapter 17 493

of other companies to hire sales personnel. The process should include steps that yield the
information required to make accurate selection decisions. However, because each step incurs
a certain amount of expense, there should be no more steps than necessary. Stages of the
selection process should be sequenced so that the more expensive steps, such as a physical
examination, occur near the end. Fewer people will then move through higher-cost stages.
Recruitment should not be sporadic; it should be a continuous activity aimed at reaching the
best applicants. The selection process should systematically and effectively match applicants’
characteristics and needs with the requirements of specific selling tasks. Finally, the selection
process should ensure that new sales personnel are available where and when needed.

Training Sales Personnel

Many organizations have formal training programs; others depend on informal, on-the-job
training. Some systematic training programs are quite extensive, whereas others are rather
short and rudimentary. Whether the training program is complex or simple, developers must
consider what to teach, whom to train, and how to train them.
A sales training program can concentrate on the company, its products, or selling methods.
Training programs often cover all three. Such programs can be aimed at newly hired sales-
people, experienced salespeople, or both. Training for experienced company salespeople usu-
ally emphasizes product information or the use of new technology, although salespeople must
also be informed about new selling techniques and changes in company plans, policies, and
procedures. Sales managers should use ethics training to institutionalize an ethical climate,
improve employee satisfaction, and help prevent miscon-
duct. IBM’s Health Care and Life Sciences Group, for exam-
ple, constantly educates its sales force concerning changing
trends and effective ways to reach clients. The vice president
of IBM’s Eastern Regional Solution Sales runs two weeks of
extensive sales force training each year, part of which is used
to familiarize the sales representatives with new products as
24
well as current customer concerns. PepsiCo offers 10 - to
12 - week sales internships to train potential sales associates
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and managers. Ordinarily, new sales personnel require com-
prehensive training, whereas experienced personnel need
both refresher courses on established products and training
regarding new-product information and technology changes.
Sales training may be done in the field, at educational
institutions, in company facilities, and/or online using web-
based technology. For many companies, online training
saves time and money and helps salespeople learn about new
products quickly. Sales managers might even choose to use
online platforms from companies such as GoToMeeting to
interact with their sales force face-to-face. GoToMeeting
provides an online platform so that sales training and meet-
ings can be conducted face-to-face in high-definition video.
Some firms train new employees before assigning them to a
specific sales position. Others put them into the field imme-
diately, providing formal training only after they have gained
some experience. Training programs for new personnel can Courtesy of Gotomeeting
be as short as several days or as long as three years; some
are even longer. Sales training for experienced personnel is
often scheduled when sales activities are not too demand-
ing. Because experienced salespeople usually need periodic Virtual Sales Training
retraining, a firm’s sales management must determine the GoToMeeting provides a virtual way to participate in sales training
frequency, sequencing, and duration of these efforts. and meetings through face-to-face, high-definition video.

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