HOW MANY SALES PEOPLE WOULD YOU NEED FOR YOUR COMPANY?

(if you have this information)

Total no. of present & potential customers: 200 (20% are A class, 36 % are B class and
remaining are C class)
Length of time per sales call:
A class
60 minutes
B class
40 minutes
C class
30 minutes
No. of calls per account per year :
A class
B class
C class

50 calls
30 calls
20 calls

Assume that total work time available per sales person is 40 hr. per week and works 45
weeks per year (allowing seven weeks for vacations, holidays, illness and the like).You
further want them to apportion their time in this manner:
Selling tasks
Nonselling tasks
Travelling

40%
25%
35%

WHICH APPLICANT WOULD YOU HIRE?

L&T is rearranging sales territories. You as RSM need to select a salesperson qualified
to develop a new territory so that it will perform at the same profit level as present
territories. You approach the task by matching the personal qualifications with your
required sales activity in the market place.
Please note all of these candidates have the required basic educational qualifications.
Applicant A
No full time experience in selling, worked part time in retail sales throughout college; Started
lawn-care business in high school
Age 22, single
Hobbies: tennis
Applicant B
Two years of experience selling insurance, compensated totally by commission
Age 23, married, wife works , no children
Hobbies: Fishing, gardening, do-it-yourself projects around house
Applicant C
Three years of selling medical equipments products for a national firm
Age 28, married, husband is a school teacher, no children, MBA degree
Hobbies: Plays badminton, Active in church club
Applicant D
20 years of sales experience in business services; worked for 6 different companies all in sales.
Age 45, single, Graduate
Hobbies: travel , sports
Applicant E
7 years of experience selling equipments to institutions, 2 years of sales management experience,
Degree in engineering, Invests in real estate
Age 34, married, 2 children
JOB SPECIFICATIONS

Seeks challenge, enjoys being creative, is able to work as an individual developing &
building market share
Demonstrates communication skills
Possesses the maturity to plan time judiciously so that maximum potential can be
realized from sales effort
Shows personality traits considered most desirable : extrovert, resourceful, confident,
adaptable, imaginative & shows initiative as a self-starter

SALES ACTIVITY IN THE MARKET PLACE

Primarily you sell directly to wholesalers/industry distributors. Since the

development stage of accounts varies, it requires the trainees to be flexible &
adaptable.
Capable of handling customer complaints and returned goods
Time management skills & routing for maximum time with higher volume
accounts
Must sell the complete product line rather than push personal favorites
The annual bonus depends on volume increases over last year and this years
profitability over last years
________________________________________________________________________

YOU have just gone through a very challenging recruiting season, and you realize the
mounting difficulty of finding good sales people. However, you were particularly
impressed by a very confident , intelligent individual with good communication skills.
The only problem is that this guy appears a very sloppy dresser and a bit overweight.
Your company does not have a formal policy about employee appearance but you know
that these kind of candidates have been rejected in the past because they did not show
the energy and the effort required for a sales position. Although you want to hire this
person , you know that your company employs only salespeople who fit the corporate
image.
What would you do? Analyse the implications.
________________________________________________________________________
Caselet : Samuels time
Samuel is a Regional Sales Manager of a large industrial marketing company and he led
his sales engineers by setting example. Some 12 people report to him, of which three are
outstanding performers, six average, and two poor. Most of the sales is contributed by the
average performers.
Samuel, however, likes the smart performers, and is indifferent to the average performers,
as they are doing just what is expected of them. He tries to bring the poor performers up
to the mark by spending a lot of time in training them. But this leaves the average
performers neglected. As there is disproportionate allocation of time, it affects sales.
Please advise Samuel about what he should do now and discuss implications.