It is extremely important to obtain good, competent salesman " Good" and competent' however. mean different things t0 different companies. A careful job analysis and job description should provide the basis for the selection process. One job. may demand and order getter .whereas another will require only and order taker. Thus the selection procedure for each company- and in fact for each job- must be tailor made. the selection procedure is obviously far from simple.

Selection of a Salesman

The Selection of a Salesman in most companies is a "hit-or-miss' affair normally attempted without any job analysis or serious thought as to exactly what kind of man is desired .Friends and relations or people who or are available may be utilised because most people feel that all a salesman needs is to be friendly and presentable .This approach has contributed to low sales and high personal turnover for many companies.

Procedures of Selection

Progressive companies have attempted to use scientific procedures, including the use of application blanks, single or multiple interviews with various executives, letters of recommendations and psychological tests. The personally and characteristics of an applicant may be compared with successful. salesman in the job. Unfortunately none of these techniques can guarantee success selection. But experiments by companies hiring many salesman have shown these procedures to be considerably more effective than using no selection at all . Psychological tests particularly have caused a great deal of controversy .like motivation research many proponents have oversold the idea. But used with care such test can be

Considerably reduce turnover and improve the quality of the sales force. This is a highly specialised area in larger companies or others without such progress . independent consultants have developed.

One of the major stumbling in the effective selection of salesmen may be that the effectiveness of salesmen depends upon the kinds and personalities of the company's customers.

In Shortly a Salesmen quality is important like products quality.