Job analysis principles and methods

¶ … new strategy is that the new sales team will be responsible not only for selling products, but also for selling services. While customer service is important in the product sales industry, it is even more important in the service industry. Whereas the cleaning product industry requires only minimal contact with the customer during a sales deal, the service industry requires more human contact, and hence skills in this area.

InterClean has just merged with EnviroTech and, as a result, has taken on a new strategic direction. The company no longer sell only cleaning products, but will also provide full-service cleaning solutions for organization in the health care industry. As a midlevel sales manager, select new members for your sales team and create a development plan to help your team succeed with the company's new strategy.

New salesperson positions will therefore require that staff have both sales and interpersonal skills. With the company's new dual purpose as serving both product and service clients, salespersons will probably be required to work in teams. It will therefore be important to recruit people that can function well within a team setup.

In performing an analysis of sales jobs at InterClean, I believe that there are three analysis methods that are appropriate. These include observation, interviews and questionnaires. First, I will observe a set of six sales employees, three of which were formerly working with EnviroTech and three from InterClean. I will compare the way in which they do their work, the time it takes, and the way in which they speak to customers. I will also compare their sales figures to determine which methods work most effectively. Finally, I will make a comparison of the long-term customers on each salesperson's list. I will consolidate this information to determine the most effective sales strategy.

I will use a different set of six persons for the interview section of the analysis. The interview will include questions regarding each person's thoughts on effective sales strategy and customer service. The interview will be conducted collectively with all six participants. This information will then be compared and consolidated from the observation section. Finally, the questionnaire will be given to all salespersons on the workforce who have not been observed or interviewed. Once again, questions will be similar to those asked during the interview.

Resulting from the analysis, several job duties and specifications were highlighted. Once again, it is kept in mind that the sales department will be handling both product and service sales, and should therefore be driven by excellent customer service.

The first specific requirement is then the ability to genuinely believe in a good product or service and sell this to the customer. Sales persons need to be very positive about the product being sold. They will therefore also be encouraged to use the products themselves, and honestly report any problems to the research department.

Secondly, a customer service requirement is effective communication. Sales people need to be able to substantiate their faith in the product and/or cleaning service by means of friendly and open conversation. They should project a sense of trust and honesty to the customer.

Thirdly, sales people will also be required to handle the occasional complaint regarding products or services. For this, a large amount of patience is needed. Reciprocating an angry customer's comments with anger is not acceptable. Customer service needs to be driven by understanding and solution-driven approach to problems.

Finally, a job requirement is both ambition- and enthusiasm-driven energy within the sales department. In addition to the ambition of closing as many sales as possible, salespersons need to be enthusiastic about both their work and the people they work with. In this way, customers will be infused with the same enthusiasm, which will encourage sales.

Workforce Planning System

The goals for the team need to be concomitant with the company's new purpose as a seller of both cleaning products and services. Hence the sales team need to be selected and trained in such a way to optimize the sales force for both purposes. Specifically, the company is focused upon hiring a diverse and talented sales team. The team should be both customer- and sales-driven.

The hard skills of such persons therefore need to be good communication skills, the ability to obtain new customers, and a good knowledge of the cleaning products and services being sold. Soft skills will include good interpersonal relationships, an ability to remain calm in conflict situations, and enthusiasm for performing the work.

As such, the types of positions needed on the team will be those that require specific knowledge required to answer technical questions regarding the cleaning products and services, those who handle conflict well to form the customer complaints department, and those with good communication skills to follow up on sales or encourage new sales.

The workforce planning system will include both training and incentives to encourage the full set of skills needed for the team. I will need a total of six persons for my sales team. They will be selected based upon the excellence of both their hard and soft skills, as well as their experience and knowledge. The selection process will then be followed by brief training to ensure that all team members know exactly what is required of them. They will also be made aware of the goals of the company in terms of both quality and quantity of sales. Promotions and bonuses will be offered to team members who exceed the minimum expectations.

Selection

Selection is based upon the goals of the company and the skills required to reach and exceed these. Sales people need to be creative, enthusiastic, experienced and knowledgeable. The selection method will be progressive, via written applications, interviews, and ability tests.

Review the talent inventory from your workforce planning system. Applications will be invited from relevant employees, each of which will be considered carefully and invited for an interview. The final applicants will be selected based upon an ability test to measure their hard and soft skills.