Sales Strategies, Corporate Objectives and Recruitment

These are the statement of intent that basically provides a firm direction for the activities an organization performs in the pursuit of its mission. Usually in organizations there is confusion and overlapping between the terms, objectives and the company goals. This confusion is easy to solve only if the company tends to think of the objectives as a statement of intents and the goals as the quantifiable targets.

Sales Strategies

Sales strategy can be defined as the planned approach to the account management policy formation, prospect identification and qualification, sales presentation, and order generation aimed at achieving a firm’s sales quotas or targets.

Sales Strategy Objectives:

• Helps in improving client loyalty
• Increases the closeting ratio by knowing clients hot buttons
• Helps in shorting the sales cycle with outside recommendations.
• Proper sales strategy helps in offering best solutions to outsell the competitors
• Helps in targeting and penetrating the most promising and profitable sectors and markets
• Helps in refining and maximizing the competitive advantage and product differentiation to increase the market margin and share.
• Helps in establishing a specific plan to strengthen and enhance the lead generation

Reference: www.businessdictionary.com

P-9: Devise appropriate recruitment and selection procedures.

RECRUITMENT AND SELECTION

A. Overview of Process

Assess the need for the job and ensure adequate funding

Review the job description to ensure that it meets the present and future requirements

Design the selection process ( utilize search committee process if applicable)

Draft the advertisement and select the advertising media

Short list using the person specification only

Interview and test short-listed candidates

Validate references, qualifications and background checks

Make appointment

Supervisors and Department Directors hold the responsibility for ensuring this framework is followed. Human resources and Employee Development is available for advice and will assist in general administration of the recruitment process.

B. Review the Job and the Need for It.

Upon the resignation, transfer, retirement, or the authorization of a new position, the “search and selection” procedure begins. This is an opportunity to review position responsibilities and the way in which the position contributes and promotes unit, department, division and university objectives.

Supervisors need to consider the following issues:

• Is the job still necessary?
• What value does it add to the team and to the delivery of service?
• How will the Post be funded?
• Does the job description need updating?

If so, the grade for the job and the person specification may need to be re-evaluated. The Human Resources and Employee Development Team is available to provide advice on constructing both job descriptions and person specifications and advising on grading issues.

What type of employment could be offered?

Full-time, part-time?

Is job-sharing an option?

Permanent or fixed term contract? Uses of fixed term contracts are most appropriate for covering a particular task/project/item of work or an interim appointment. They should not normally be used to fill permanent posts.

If the decision is to hire for the position, it is the responsibility of the Supervisor/Director to ensure that the Position Management Form is completed and sent to Human Resources and Employee Development as soon as possible.

C. Search Committee

Not all interviews for permanent positions must be conducted by a Committee. The Department Director is responsible for determining the positions that require a committee to interview and select. If the position is a possible promotion for one or more, then a committee should be used to ensure there is no appearance of bias or favoritism. All open positions titled, Assistant Director and above must use of a search committee.

3. REQUEST FOR PERSONNEL ACTION

A. Vacant Position

When an employee gives notice of intention to leave University employment, the immediate supervisor should notify the Human Resources & Employee development so that necessary interviews for re-staffing might be arranged. The job classification, description and qualifications desired of replacement personnel should be provided by the department head at that time. Examples of such information might include:

1. Education or technical training required.
2. ADA requirements, lifting, vehicle operation, physical demands, etc.
3. Hours of work; including Saturday or Sunday.
4. Officials to whom applicants are to be referred.
5. Recommendations of any known applicants.
6. Additional information felt useful in preliminary screening.

The beginning salary for classified personnel shall be determined by the job classification of the vacant position and the associated pay grade. Employing departments should consult the Human Resources Employee Development on classification issues and salary issues before posting the position. Most importantly the dep’t should consult with Human Resources & Employee Development before making any salary commitments.

4. ADVERTISING

A. Job Posting.

When advised of a vacancy, the Human Resources & Employee Development will review the existing job description, making the necessary corrections, post a vacancy announcement for a minimum of five days on the Human Resources bulletin board, and on the Human Resources web site. Postings will be forwarded to the Georgia Department of Labor for their reference and applicant referral. It is hoped that this procedure will create an awareness of positions available to insure upward mobility in careers within the University and to encourage applicant referral from numerous sources. Other advertising arrangements can be made. Consult with the Assistant Director for Employment Administration for advice on advertising and related costs.

B. Employee Priority Posting

All open positions must be posted for a minimum of five days, however the employing unit may initially designate that a position be posted with an employee priority designation or be posted on the general public website.

Positions designated for employee priority posting will be posted for a minimum of five business days on the employee priority website and only applications from current qualified Valdosta State University employees will be referred to that position. Positions not designated for employee priority posting will immediately be posted on the general public posting website.

If the employing unit identifies a successful candidate from this pool, no additional recruiting is required. If after five business days no Valdosta State University applicant has been selected, the position will be reopened and posted for recruiting on the general public website for a minimum of five additional business days. Valdosta State University employees may still apply during this open period.

Those employees classified as casual laborer/temporary workers; do not qualify for employee priority positions. As in the past, they may apply for positions on the general public posting site.

5. SELECTION PROCESS

A. Screening Applicants

Read all applications submitted. The selection of the top candidates for interviewing must be based on the Job Description and specifications. New criteria cannot be introduced to assess the candidates at this stage as it would be unfair. It is the responsibility of the persons conducting the interviews to complete the short-listing and to ensure the process remains free of unlawful discrimination. If a committee is used, the entire committee should agree on the short list. If a committee is not used, it is desirable that a second person also participate in the short-listing process. The criteria used to select the top candidates and all appropriate notes must be returned to Human Resources and Employee Development for filing and are retained for a period of 6 months. It is good practice that all employees that apply for a position within their department be interviewed.

Former employees who have been dismissed for misconduct cannot be considered for appointment. Former employees who have since retired must meet certain qualifications due to their retirement status. If there is a question about whether an applicant can or cannot be considered contact Human Resources and Employee Development.

B. Arranging the Interview

The persons responsible for the interviews is responsible for scheduling dates and times for interviews directly with the short listed candidates and notifying the candidates of any selection tests that will be used.

Federal law prohibits certain questions in an employment interview and the application for employment has been developed to comply with Federal guidelines. Examples of such illegal questions might refer to the applicant’s age, disability, religion, ages of children, etc. Interviewing guidelines are provided to the employing department upon referral of applications. To assure consistent treatment of each applicant, a patterned interview might be developed by the department. Such might include specific questions of job related functions, skills required, and how the applicant’s educational background, previous experience, etc. might be useful in the position if selected for employment.

C. The Interview

The purpose of interviewing is to appoint the best person for the job based solely on merit and suitability. The Valdosta State University recruitment and selection process achieves this using methods that are systematic, thorough, fair, unbiased and based on rational, objective, job related criteria.

At the interview, each candidate should be treated consistently. To achieve this the panel should:

• Ask the same initial questions of each candidate
• Supplement their understanding of the candidate’s responses by following up questions as appropriate
• Be consistent in allowing access to presentation material, notes and so on
• Not allow any discriminatory questions, harassment, or any other conduct which breaches the equal opportunities policy or code of conduct

Ensure that in the case of disabled candidates, the necessity for any ‘reasonable adjustments’ that would be required on the job are explored in a positive manner. Assessment of disabled candidates should be based on their expected performance in the job, given that any reasonable adjustment required was provided.

Keep in mind that information obtained throughout the selection process is treated as confidential and is known only to parties involved in the selection process

Keep records of interviews and the reasons for decisions – each question should receive a grade, and a grade for overall impression. The candidates will be ranked from highest to lowest based on the scores given and the position negotiated or offered to the highest ranking candidate. The scoring sheets and all documentation of the interviews must be given to Human Resources and Employee Development for filing

Panel members must be aware that it is their responsibility to ensure recruitment/interview documentation is stored securely and confidentially whilst in their possession.

D. Selection Tests

Where selection tests are a valid method of assessing a candidate (i.e. effectively measures the job criteria, is relevant, reliable, fair and unbiased – also considering the predictive capacities of tests), they are an extremely useful tool and are recommended for use. Supervisors should seek advice from Human Resources and Employee Development on the use of such tests.

E. Hiring Decision

In selecting the successful candidate, the panel must make a decision based on the merit and eligibility of the candidates as judged by:

• Content of application and qualifications
• Performance at Interview
• Outcome of any selection tests

F. Reference Checks

As part of assessing the merit of each candidate, persons selecting candidates must satisfy themselves that the information the candidate gives is authentic, consistent and honest. This includes being satisfied about information regarding the candidate’s:

• application — work history
• qualifications (where a qualification is a requirement, supporting evidence or certification must be obtained from the candidate and recorded)
• evidence presented at interview
• Reference checks; references must be called and information recorded for the file

a) Identify yourself immediately, explain your position within the organization and tell the person why you are calling about the applicant.

b) Ensure confidentiality

c) Ask if he or she is free to discuss the situation

d) Try to establish rapport

e) Tell the person the position the candidate is being considered for

f) Let the person talk feely

g) Ask the references the same questions for each of your candidates

h) Always end the call with: would you rehire this person?”

Should any of these not meet the required standards, Human Resources and Employee Development must discuss the issue with the Supervisor/Director. Use the Employment Reference Check and Education Verification form located in Appendix 10 and Appendix 11.

G. Criminal Background Checks.

In an effort to provide a safe and secure workplace, to comply with Board of Regents Policy and to minimize the potential litigation associated with “negligent hiring processes,” Valdosta State University will require background checks on the top two candidates for the position. Employment shall be conditioned upon the execution of a consent form for criminal record disclosure and upon consideration of one’s criminal history. The Valdosta State University Police Department, upon receipt of the Consent to Criminal History Release Form, shall conduct the background check and report results to the Department of Human Resources.

The department will notify the applicants whose criminal history report prevents their employment. The applicant can be referred to Human Resources and Employee Development if they have questions on the process The applicant is allowed seven calendar days to initiate corrective action of any inaccurate report. Proof of an error in reporting shall not disqualify the applicant and the position will not be filled until this time period has expired.

If no action is initiated, and if the report is factual, the hiring department may resume the employment process.

Disqualification of Applicants.

An applicant will be disqualified for employment for any of the following reasons:

1. He or she is addicted to the use of alcohol or use of illegal drugs.
2. Discovery of any false statement or omission of material facts from the formal application.
3. He or she has been a member of an organization advocating the violent overthrow of the government of the United States.
4. He or she has been convicted of a crime involving moral turpitude, unless pardon has been granted.
5. He or she has been convicted of a felony, unless first offender treatment was granted by the court.

J. Employment Offer

Having completed the interviewing process, an offer of employment may be extended by the employing department. However, the dept head must advise the candidate that the offer is conditional pending the results of a criminal background check.

When a department head believes he/she has a candidate who because of exceptional training or experience is deserving of more than the posted minimum for the classification, they may offer the candidate up to 10% over the minimum. However the department head must either have the money already in his/her budget or through the dean or vice president can have it transferred to their budget. This change in policy is not intended to permit the department head or authority to offer more than 10% over the minimum and in no case is the offer to be made without sufficient departmental funds to meet requirements of the hire.

K. Post Interview

Human Resources and Employee Development is responsible for providing all candidates with written notification of the outcome of their application (letter of rejection). However some departments prefer to write their own letter. These letters must be attached to the compliance reports. If feedback is requested from an unsuccessful short-listed candidate, the manager should provide a valid reason to the candidate for rejection together with constructive feedback. Written feedback will not normally be provided.

P-10: Evaluate the role of motivation, remuneration and training in enhancing sales performance.

Role of Motivation in sales performance

Whether you are a sales person or someone in a position who manages sales people, you need to know the importance of motivation. Although many it would be great to just hire self motivated people who don’t need any help from you to take action and make sales, you need to realize that sales is a tough job and that there are people who can really become great at it with some encouragement. Being in sales can either pay you very well or can make you go broke. The better you are at sales, the more money you will make.

So where does motivation come into play? Well, the main reason that most people don’t like sales is because of having to deal with rejection. No one likes to be rejected but if you’re in a sale, that’s all part of the game. The more rejections you get, the closer to a sale you will be. Now just because you expect your sales people or yourself to go out there and make those sales calls like a machine, it doesn’t mean motivation should be neglected. If you are a sales person, take the time to read and listen to motivation material. By doing this, you will constantly be feeding your mind with positive and encouraging thoughts that will help you get through those days where everyone prospect seems to be in a bad mood.

For sales managers, providing your team with motivation is critical. Just look in the world of sports. Those athletes are the best in the world at what they do yet when they are losing and feeling discouraged, a simple pep talk from their coach can fire them up to the point to turn the game around. This same thing can be used on your sales people to help them see more of themselves instead of beating themselves up mentality for not making as many sales.

Motivation is important because it causes people to take action. Without action, nothing happens. The key to achieve any goal is to take action. The more action you take, the closer to your goals you will be. In order to continually take action, you will need to come up with ways to motivate yourself to do what you need to do everyday in order to reach those goals. So whether you need to motivate yourself or your team, motivation plays an extremely important role in building success.

Role of Remuneration in Sales Performance

Remuneration is wages or salary, typically money that is paid for services rendered as an employee. How do you decide what remuneration packages to adopt? How do you ensure that your Remuneration packages incentives and motivate the right people? How do you make sure that the amount of pay helps your staff with their lifestyle requirements?

These questions are vital ones to anybody trying to run a sales team or customer service team, when you have a look at how you can actually reward personal effort as well as maintain service. In looking at any remuneration package, it’s worthwhile to consider a set of scales. In any job description, there is an opportunity to analyze the work required into service aspects whereby these things have to be done to maintain the client, or maintain the client relationship, such as receiving orders, implementing orders,

handling queries, general items of customer service, and also perhaps even merchandising or helping with displays, as well as ensuring that stock levels are adequate, these can be called service areas or service responsibilities.

On the other hand, a sales person or customer service representative could influence the

value of the sale through their personal sales skills, personality, and training, to either make the sale happen, add value to the sale, or sell some specific items that are on special or on bonus, at the point of communication, either by phone, by web, or face-to-face. This particular activity is known as personal contribution. A relatively easy formula to follow is by adopting the scales of remuneration, you can then analyze the input from the people involved. If there is high service requirements and service levels in the performance of the job, and little opportunity to add personal influence, then a wages or base salary system will be the most cost efficient to make the results work. If there is a high personal input, whereby the sales person can strongly influence the amount of the sale or the profitability of the sale, then you can reward that personal effort by special commissions, share of profits, special incentives, and special rewards, for the sales as they occur after the event, and lessen the base salary or wages that need to be paid by increasing the risk factor, which of course the personal touch will overcome.

Role of Training in Sales Performance

The term training refers to the acquisition of knowledge, skills, and competencies as a result of the teaching of vocational or practical skills and knowledge that relate to specific useful competencies. It forms the core of apprenticeships and provides the backbone of content at institutes of technology (also known as technical colleges or polytechnics). In addition to the basic training required for a trade, occupation or profession, observers of the labor-market recognize today [update] the need to continue training beyond initial qualifications: to maintain, upgrade and update skills throughout working life. People within many professions and occupations may refer to this sort of training as professional development.

P-11: Describe two techniques used to co-ordinate and control sales output.

Sales out put control

Outputs can be triggered manually or automatically in the sales document.

Automatic determination requires maintenance of output condition record.

Print programs and layout sets control content which should be displayed in the output.

controls output determination using condition

Technique.

Output determination procedure is determined on the

basis of sales document type (sales order type,delivery type, billing type).

Standard output determination procedure for sales

order (OR), Delivery (LF) and Billing (F2) is V100000.

Output procedure contains output types,which can be processed when that sales document is created. One document can have Output types like Delivery note and Packing list in delivery.

Output controls

Medium (Like Print, Fax, EDI)

Time of sending the output -e.g.immediately or in a batch

Which partner function of Business partner it can be sent

Language

Criteria for which output condition record can be maintained

for automatic output determination

It offers flexibility of changing the key controls in the

Sales documents.

Example – If order confirmation for a customer is scheduled to be

printed in a batch but the customer wants it immediately then

time of dispatch control can be changed in the sales order.

P-12: Use given information to recommend appropriate organization structures and procedures.

Team

One of the newest organizational structures developed in the 20th century is team. In small businesses, the team structure can define the entire organization.Teams can be both horizontal and vertical. While an organization is constituted as a set of people who synergize individual competencies to achieve newer dimensions, the quality of organizational structure revolves around the competencies of teams in totality. For example, every one of the Whole Foods Market stores, the largest natural-foods grocer in the US developing a focused strategy, is an autonomous profit centre composed of an average of 10 self-managed teams, while team leaders in each store and each region are also a team. Larger bureaucratic organizations can benefit from the flexibility of teams as well.

Functional structure

Employees within the functional divisions of an organization tend to perform a specialized set of tasks, for instance the engineering department would be staffed only with software engineers. This leads to operational efficiencies within that group. However it could also lead to a lack of communication between the functional groups within an organization, making the organization slow and inflexible.

As a whole, a functional organization is best suited as a producer of standardized goods and services at large volume and low cost. Coordination and specialization of tasks are centralized in a functional structure, which makes producing a limited amount of products or services efficient and predictable. Moreover, efficiencies can further be realized as functional organizations integrate their activities vertically so that products are sold and distributed quickly and at low cost .For instance, a small business could start making the components it requires for production of its products instead of procuring it from an external organization. But not only beneficial for organization but also for employees faiths.

Burns, T. and G. Stalker. (1961) The Management of Innovation. London: Tavistock.

P-13: Identify and give three examples of the differences in the nature of sales tasks and skills in a variety of context.

Sales Skills

Qualifying Fast to Avoid Wasting Sales Time

Do you chase after your prospects until they tell you yes or no? Do you ever tell your prospects “No”, as in “No, I am not going to sell to you”? There are many things in selling that you do not and will not be able to control. The one thing that you do have control over is your time and how you choose to use it.

To qualify fast you must have a set of criteria describing who you will and will not sell to. You want to sell to the prospects likely to buy your products, and drop the prospects unlikely to buy (so that you can find more good prospects). Sounds simple, but too many salespeople let sludge buildup in their pipeline, constricting the total revenue that flows out.

Motivating Prospects

Qualifying goes beyond budget, authority, and need. You want to sell to prospects who *want* to buy from you. Finding prospects that need our products usually is not difficult. Finding those who really want our products though can be very hard if we wait for them to come to us.

Products sold by professional salespeople are more complex and offer more value than commodity products offered through stores, catalogs and brokers. Prospects generally do not know they need such products, until they first discover that they have a problem. This process can take seconds or years depending on the nature of the problem (and the prospect!). Prospects get motivated to work with you when you help them to discover that you solve their problem better than anyone doeselse.

Selling to People Outside Your Comfort Zone

Most salespeople, who are “people persons”, already think that they are good at this. Let me ask you a question. When you last lost a sale, how was your rapport with the key person who decided against you?

You can’t afford to look away and ignore people that you don’t have natural rapport with. The good news is that people like people like themselves. All you have to do to gain rapport is stretch your behavior outside or your comfort zone until you become like another person.

Reaching Decision-Makers Through Voicemail

There’s two ways to make more sales. One is to close more of the prospects you do contact. The other is to get more prospects into the pipeline. When prospecting, you can look at voicemail as either your friend or your enemy. With 70% of your prospecting calls going to voicemail, it is time to make friends with it.

Although you will never get even close to getting every voicemail returned, you can get a significant number of your messages returned when treat them as a one-on-one commercials.

Delivering “I Gotta Have That” Presentations

Let’s face it; a lot of business presentations are really boring. Salespeople talk about why their product is great, why their company is great, and the history of their company. Prospects don’t relate to this. That’s why they look so bored.

Great presentations get the prospect’s imagination involved. The best way to involve the imagination is through storytelling. Stories rich in descriptive detail get the prospect picturing them using your product and evoke that “I Gotta Have That” reaction.

Gaining Commitments Instead of Closing

Eliminate “Closing Cheese” from Your Vocabulary. You know what I am talking about: “Would you like that in gray or in black?” or “If I can show you how this will help you will you buy today?”. Lines like these are why salespeople are down on the bottom of society’s respect list somewhere near lawyers.

Learn the power of asking for incremental commitments from the beginning of your sales cycle. It is not an easy shift to make. First you got to get the prospect to show you what they most want (Hint: See Skill #2 above). Then you can negotiate incremental commitments in return for more of your time, information or resources.

Have More Fun

Sales is fun when you are in control and closing deals. Selling is miserable when you are under pressure to close business.

Take the pressure off yourself to close and instead focus on qualifying and motivating your prospects.

Sales Task

Specified amount of sales that a management sets for achieving or exceeding within a specified timeframe, and allocates required resources. Sales targets are apportioned among different sales-units such as salespersons, franchisees, distributors, agents, etc.

Three Types of Sales Task

• Personal Sales Task
• Team Sales Task
• Organizational Sales Task

P-14: Explain the role of sales staff operating in an international environment.

Greater complexities involved with distribution, transportation, payment and insurance.

Goods in the international market are subject to the customs control and the payment of import duties where they are applicable.

Exchange rates and in some cases the regulations of exchange control are applicable.

International market exposes the company to a wider and intensive competition which might not be the case with the domestic market.

Customer profile in the international market is different from local market in areas of religion, language, ideology, fashion and living standard.

Different cultural, legal, economical, political and social systems may be encountered in the international market.

Complexity of international marketing and the addition of new environment make the business management far more difficult.

More use of e-mail and