who will be the sales manager

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●Case Study

This case appears to be a matter of selecting a sales manager, but it actually covers far more The scope of talent selection. The case did not tell us everything, such as why did the former manager Yang Fan resign? How is his relationship with the two vice presidents of sales, Yu Duo and Hu Bo? What is the company's culture? What is the company's strategic focus? What are the company's employment standards? Without a clear understanding of these issues, it is of course difficult to decide on a candidate.

We will propose solutions based on the Competence Model.

Clarify the required quality of sales managers

Environmental adaptability Through the case, we learned that the industry in which the company operates is a rapidly developing and ever-changing industry. This industry requires sales managers to have strong adaptability. From this point of view, Yuduo is the most suitable. The reason for a water treatment company's "rat" is, "Yu Duo is familiar with the company and customers, and has a quick start time. For academic qualifications, there is no need to criticize too much, as long as you have the ability to learn." "Zhuhai He" from a training center in Zhuhai Yan thinks that Yu Duo is a "general" and is "a person who rushes to kill in the battlefield, not a person who devises strategies, which is in line with the important characteristics of a sales manager. Hu Bo can be his deputy."

Leadership Ability In leadership ability, Hu Bo's ability is obvious. A company's "Qianzhuang" thinks: "The most important thing for a leader is how to explore the potential of his subordinates and think about the best interests of the entire company." From this point of view, Hu Bo's leadership ability is stronger than several other people.

The "Plum Garden Master" of a high-tech company in Beijing concluded that the qualities necessary for leadership are "unity, cooperation, and tenacity", and Hu Bo possesses all these qualities. The "big head stupid" of a communication company in Shenzhen compared Hu Bo to Liu Bei in the Three Kingdoms period. "It fits the characteristics of being handsome, and he is more tolerant to his subordinates. In a sense, his affinity will be stronger, and talents will not be easily lost."

As for Hu Bo's lack of decisiveness and soft-heartedness, "Zhuhai He Yan" of a training company in Zhuhai believes, "He can't bear to fire his subordinates. This should be the work of the human resources department, and the human resources department can be responsible for cooperating well. Performance appraisal." A company's "Hunan Lao Gao" believed, "Compared to other candidates, Hu Bo's 'slow' and 'soft' are easier to overcome, and the company can provide stronger supervision."

Others were selected. Although Yu Duo has strong ability, the "Zhengyuan" of a medical equipment company in Beijing pointed out his flaw - "can't convince the public". A leader who is too stubborn and unable to accept the advice of others will make his subordinates lose their enthusiasm, and then become alienated and bring disaster to the company. He analyzed Duo from the perspective of team management, "In order to maintain and steadily increase the company's performance, the overall strength of the sales team is more important than the individual ability of the sales manager."

Interpersonal skills and internal coordination skills" Yu Duo has strong personal abilities and distinct personalities, but lacks the interpersonal communication skills that managers should have." "Johnson9851" from an industrial company in Guangdong confessed to Duo's weaknesses, but also believes that this is not irreversible, "The company should strengthen this aspect. training.” The “mariahx” of an express Wuhan branch concluded from the company’s internal views on Duo, “The persons in charge of the personnel department, product department and other departments are dissatisfied with him, the company is a whole and needs various departments Coordination and cooperation is very unfavorable for Duo."

As for Wang Ying, the "leader" of a clothing company in Beijing speculated: "She fell out with the boss of company M, which proves that her self-regulation ability is poor." Although we have learned from the case China can't come to a conclusion on this yet, but Navigator's skepticism is also worth considering. After all, coming to a new company as an "airborne soldier" is faced with new interpersonal relationships. In order to gain a foothold in the short term, Wang Ying's communication and coordination ability will inevitably be severely tested. Zhang Qing also has similar deficiencies in this regard. Even if it is said that food, drink and entertainment are inevitable in sales, but there are several reports against him, it can be speculated that he is insufficient in interpersonal communication.

Customer Relationship Capability Sales work is not just about selling products. The ability to maintain and develop customer relationships is also not to be underestimated. Although there is no detailed account of this in the case, from the case of Hu Bo's successful distribution negotiation with European companies, we can speculate that his ability in this regard is relatively strong. Zhang Qing also showed his ability in this regard, as evidenced by the rapid growth of Xi'an Company.

Other qualities In addition to the above qualities, the company should also consider the following three factors when choosing a sales manager: First, the ability of self-motivation. The most taboo in sales is three days of fishing and two days of net drying, so you need to encourage yourself at any time. The more setbacks the more courageous, the perseverance is a necessary ability for sales personnel.

Second, the ability to grasp the market. The IT market is changing with each passing day, and sales managers must be able to keep up with the changing pace of the market. Yuduo's ability has been demonstrated.

Third, virtue and talent. It is ideal to have both ability and political integrity, but when the two cannot have both, what comes first? Different companies have different standards. In this case, Zhang Qing is an example. Some netizens complained for him, and the "winner must win" of an antiseptic factory combined his own experience and said: "Who doesn't want to go home to eat delicious food made by his family, but the company needs to survive, so Zhang Qing's approach is not illegal. "Zhengyuan" of a medical equipment company in Beijing believes: "Zhang Qing's actions cannot be tolerated by the company for a long time, and once he becomes the sales manager, it will affect the sales methods of the entire sales team and the company's reputation."

Establish a quality model

After identifying the qualities that a sales manager should have, the company will then determine the above qualities according to the company's environment, internal culture, and the company's development stage. weighted score.

For example, when considering "environmental adaptability", it is necessary to analyze the current environment of the company. From the case, we can see that the company is now in a stage of rapid development, not a period of recession, so the weight of this factor can be appropriately adjusted. Another example is in "leadership", if the company is in a downturn, then a strong sales manager can be required, emphasizing the necessity of "being kind and not controlling the army"; on the contrary, when the company is developing steadily, a strong style is recommended. On the contrary, it will damage the enthusiasm of employees.

After each quality is scored, a ranking is naturally formed. Each candidate is scored against this ranking. The highest score has the smallest gap with the company's quality model, and the lowest has the largest gap. The final sales manager is the one with the smallest quality gap with the sales manager.

When building a quality model, it is necessary to pay attention that there should not be too many selected qualities (preferably no more than 10), all aspects are equal to one side, and too many parameters will lead to "analysis paralysis".

Establish a succession plan

The resignation of the sales manager has had a significant impact on the normal operation of the company. From another aspect, it reflects that the company does not have a complete succession plan, which is in a hurry. In the aftermath of this event, the company needs to start building this program immediately, especially to prepare for possible changes in the heads of key positions. "Internal recruiting" is a good approach.

However, under certain circumstances, when the quality of personnel within the company is not sufficient or the candidates are indistinguishable, it is also feasible to consider introducing management personnel from the outside in order to prevent internal disputes from causing disruption and interference in operations. However, this work requires the company's human resources department to cooperate with relevant business departments to have a fairly clear understanding of the personnel changes in the industry, and take the initiative to "store water" for the company's talent pool.

In addition, when analyzing this case, why Yang Fan left is an easily overlooked question. There are many key factors behind the "personal reasons". What factors are caused by the inappropriate talent strategy of the company? If the company can do a good job in the resignation investigation and sincerely seek answers from the departing employees, it will play a very positive role in the future development of the company. For the company in this case, first of all, it is necessary to understand the real reason for Yang Fan's resignation, and secondly, he can ask Yang Fan to propose a candidate for reference. After all, he knows the strength of his opponents best.