The Sales Force in the Companys Profitability - Term Paper Example

It is possible to measure and compare the output of an individual. Costs, sales and other result oriented metrics can be tracked by the company. The results of the territory can be benchmarked against the previous year, territory goal, and market potential. The company can; therefore determine the salesperson that is performing better. Also, the job of the salesperson involves rejection and lack supportive social interaction. Most of their jobs are unsupervised. Therefore, an incentive payout is a reward and a measure for the success of the salesperson as this job attracts risk takers who require relent incentives for a high level of performance (Andris A. et al. 2001).

Incentive plans have impacts that are immediate on the sales force which is felt in either of two ways including it influences the kind of person that is attracted to the organization and also affect the behaviour and activities of the salespersons. The compensation framework for a sales incentive has three constituents. First, a company that decides on the compensation plan the sales force, which decides on, the compensation plan and the customer who decides whether to take on the products or services of the company.

Customer results may include the satisfaction they get from the products and services and also the relationship with the company’s selling organization (Andris et al. 2001). Recruiting involves finding quality people who can see things through the eyes of the customer and then interface with the people of marketing. To maintain its relevance, it is also important to ensure that the recruited personnel are maintained. There are several skills that may lead to success in sales. These include innate desire to serve, integrity, willingness to listen, strong work ethic, effective communication skills and ability to put others at ease.

The role of the hiring process will involve the location of individuals with core characteristics and the values that lead to sales success. There are six steps important in the hiring process: First is the job definition where the job requirements are developed. Companies have different requirements depending on the industry they are in. these requirements change over time and, therefore, need to reevaluate them and the activity priorities as the market conditions and competition changes (Andris et al. 2001) The second is the candidate profile which should be checked for successful traits of a salesperson.

A candidate may not have all the required traits, but others are essential and should be present. These include the ability to communicate effectively and a certain level of competence. The third is the applicant pool which determines the quality of the candidate. Recruitment is more successful when reliable information about a candidate is known by the recruiter. The sources of applicants involve Fairs, Web (I.E. Career Builder) and Connect with Career services at Universities. The staff can be recruited either internally or externally.

Internal recruiting develops a pool of job applicants that are qualified form the people who are working in the company. This is sometimes referred to as promotion as it is used to motivate employees. This also reduces the startup costs and time as the employees are already conversant with the company’s activities. External recruiting involves getting a pool of applicants from outside the company.