Part A: Youwere recently promoted to a sales manager position for ABC Company, whichoffers customized software for physicians,dentists, and veterinarians. Unfortunately, you are now the sales manager forone of your company’s least productive regions. After several weeks on the job,you become concerned about the high rate of turnover. Three salespeople haveresigned within the last two months. Replacements are needed and there islittle time to hire, train, and deploy them in the field.
Upon further review of thesituation, you discover that two of the salespeople resigned because they feltthe sales organization was structured unfairly. They had been assigned togeographical areas that were difficult, and their sales quotas were notadjusted accordingly.
You know quite well thatreplacing a sales person can be costly. In fact, the cost to the company can beas high as $300,000 per bad hire because time and money are lost in the processof recruiting, hiring, training, missed sales, bad relationships, and firing.Before you begin your search, you want to be certain that you have a wellthought-out organizational plan and that you attract the right people for thesepositions.
To help you prepare yourhiring plan, answer the following questions.
- Describe two (2) reasons why it is important for firmsto organize their sales activities into a specific structure.
- Describe one (1) disadvantage of the currentstructure. Describe one (1) advantage and one (1) disadvantage of ageographical sales structure.
- Which sales structure do you recommend and why?Provide two (2) supporting facts.
Part B:Realizing that the right people for these positions could come from a varietyof places, you decide to investigate the strengths and weaknesses of hiringfrom within the organization, through referrals, and by using advertisingmethods. What are your opinions on the following?
1. Whatare two (2) advantages and two (2) disadvantages of hiring internal candidatesfor sales positions?
2. Whatare two (2) benefits of hiring people referred to the company by friends orrelatives?
3. Discussone (1) difference between the kinds of applicants that will come in from anewspaper ad versus postings on online job boards. Does this differenceindicate anything about future job performance?
Part C: Youhave just finished a series of interviews with a person who you feel is anexcellent candidate for one of your firm’s open sales position. She has a 3.4grade point average and a marketing degree. The candidate has excellentcommunication skills, held a part-time sales job throughout college to help payfor school, and was an officer in the sales fraternity on campus. She willdefinitely make a great entry-level salesperson at your company. Your onlyconcern is that another company will offer her a job before you do! Before the candidate is offered a job, yourcompany requires that a few of the applicant’s references be checked. Duringthe process, you discover that your ideal candidate lied on her resume andapplication. She was never an officer in the sales fraternity; she was only amember.
1. Given the difficulty in finding excellent candidates,would you hire this candidate? Provide two (2) supporting facts to justify yourposition.
2. Would your decision change if you also find out thiscandidate has several speeding tickets? Why or why not?
