1.5 The importance of recruitment and selection procedures for effective sales performance.
Effective recruitment and selection of salespeople is one of the most crucial tasks of sales management. It entails finding people who match the type of sales position required by a firm. Recruitment and selection practices would differ greatly between order-taking and order-getting sales positions, given the differences in the demands of these two jobs. Therefore, recruitment and selection begin with a carefully crafted job analysis. [12]

While motivation is a key management function the sales manager must have the right material, in terms of suitably qualified salespersons to motivate. That means selecting and recruiting to rigid criteria that are demonstrably relevant to successful achievement and high performance as salespersons and then training those persons to meet the standards and perform the selling job as suits the company’s products and markets. [11]

The aim is to develop a formalized framework that sales managers responsible for all or part of selection and recruitment can adapt or adopt to reduce the risk of inappropriate selection of unsuitable salespersons. Typically each sales line manager is responsible for his or her own final selection of new members to his or her team. [11]

Sales recruitment is a costly process, and poor selection results in:
* Under-performance in sales activities
* A distraction of management time as more supervision is needed
* Additional training needs
* Higher staff turnover with resultant repeat recruitment costs.

There are several issues or points which have to be considered when recruiting sales people, to avoid a costly and painful process. These are listed and explained below:

1. Selection matters
2. Need for job description and person specifications
3. Potential sources of recruitment
4. Interview