the web www.myadspost.com

Site Search:

Home | Business

Selecting Good Sales People

By: Richard Stone

Similar mistakes are often made when comparing sales staff. The main concern must be that you do not let your feelings, either way, cloud your judgement of the delegates. This issue is a matter that people attending management training courses wish to improve. When deciding on the best candidate try not to fall into any of these next categories.

The Halo Effect:

People who mould their opinion of somebody else on just one (often outstanding) trait. You are falling into the halo trap if, for example, you conclude that someone who has a very attractive outward appearance must, therefore, also be intelligent, successful and outgoing.

Prejudice:

People who feel either sympathetic towards or antipathy for someone within a short space of time. Factors which influence your judgement are things like clothing, hairstyle, eye contact, way of speaking, handshake and gestures. Lots of people conclude from the fact that someone has long hair, for example, that they are, therefore, unreliable.

Centrist Tendencies:

People who tend to shy away from extremes. Many trainers who score either very good or very bad marks, are familiar with this phenomenon. Assessments are scattered somewhere around the middle. There are two ways to avoid this mistake: 1. Six or eight categories should be used for the assessment scale. 2. Carry out the assessment on the basis of what the salesperson's work ought to be.

Both excessive expectations and fear of a negative classification lead to false judgements.

Being too strict:

Many people are too critical in their assessment of others' behaviour. For example, a sales manager who places a great deal of emphasis on polite, reserved manners, judges a client's acceptance of a casual, unconventional sales representative in a worse light than is objectively the case. Sales managers that attend management training courses often admit to making the mistake of being too strict in their judgement if they have excessive expectations of their sales representatives.

Being too lenient:

Many sales managers shy away from giving sales representatives a negative classification. The sales managers who make this mistake are those who are unsure of their own judgement or who fear that they will not be able to justify their judgement in an interview with the applicant.

The contact mistake:

Liking engenders contact - contact engenders liking. This is one of the social psychological principles. The more emotionally attached a sales manager feels to a sales representative, the more likeable the sales representative appears. This closeness initially comes about through frequent contact. For any one sales person do not spend too much of your time. Do not exceed the set interview time of 30 to 40 minutes per sales representative.

Short-termism:

Your most recent perceptions and impressions are those which are utmost in your mind and are judged more important than previous impressions. One way of eliminating short-termism is to make a note of all the observations you make and impressions you gain during the course of the interview and refer back when you have the opportunity to examine them more objectively. In order to develop skills to assess employees, you can attend a management training programme.

Article Source: http://www.myadspost.com

Richard Stone (richard.stone@spearhead-training.co.uk) is a Director for Spearhead Training Limited that specialises in running management training courses to improve business performance.