Sales teams naturally have a higher turnover of staff than other types of teams. Recruiting sales people therefore is a regular part of the sales manager’s job. As with many of the tasks that the sales manager has to perform to do their job effectively, developing a recruitment plan requires considered thought and careful planning.
There are two key questions that the sales manager will need to think about and have answers to in order to develop their recruitment plan:
1. How many positions will they have to fill in the year ahead? They not only need to know the number of positions which will become available, but also know when in the financial year these positions will become vacant.
2. Have they considered all the factors which could influence their planning decisions? For example: expansion, voluntary or involuntary termination of employment, promotions, transfers, retirements?
Drawing up a sales force plan will help the sales manager to “calculate” staff increases and reductions for his or her sales team.
Good planning can also help them to manage the recruitment process. For example, the plan will highlight when a gap will happen and allow the sales manager to begin recruitment activities at least one month before the position becomes vacant. By doing this they can avoid having to hurry the recruitment decision as a result of a last minute crisis.
Considering the substantial sums of money used in recruiting and in the subsequent training of sales people, this, in turn, could prevent the extra costs incurred when getting rid of someone who is unsuitable.
If you are responsible for delivering recruitment training to managers then you may find our recruitment training course material useful.
