HUMAN RESOURCE MANAGEMENT 5435 CONSULTING PROJECT FOR JOB TITLE: SALES REPRESENTATIVES IN ZUME WIRELESS. Tien Nguyen Houston, April 18, 2008 TABLE OF CONTENT Executive summary……………………………………………………………………………………………….. 3 Workforce planning components………………………………………………………………………….. 4 Job analysis component…………………………………………………………………………………………. 9 Recruiting analysis component………………………………………………………………………………13 Selection Plan component………………………………………………………………………………………20 Reference………………………………………………………………………………………………………………29
Appendix………………………………………………………………………………………………………………. EXECUTIVE SUMMARY Zume Wireless is an authorized dealer of T-Mobile located at Airport 3662 – D Airport Blvd, Mobile, AL 36608. As a brand new company with grand opening was Dec 21, 2007 (4 months ago), the company is running 2 stores, each has 1 full time sales representative and 2 part-time sales representatives. James Nguyen is currently in charge of District manager, responsible for managing daily activities of the 2 stores, hiring people and reporting to Hank Miner (CEO) and Matt Kalifeh (president).
At the moment, Zume Wireless does not have any official job analysis for either entry-level job – sales representatives or higher management level – district manager. The company’s recruiting process, as well as interview questions and performance assessment are quite simple. Thus the need for an official analysis on sales representative position is important for future need. With an effort of giving some advices about the current HR practices of Zume Wireless, the writer reviewed all available information of this company, as well as conducted a job analysis interview among employees and supervisor, then gave some suggestions on the result.
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There are 16 KSAOs were found after the interview, 12 of them can be used in Selection Plan. Four more recruitment sources (college recruiting, private recruitment agencies, organizations and organizations supporting for minorities’ recruiting) were suggested. Besides, the company should improve its internet recruiting activities by building an official website. The use of assessment center, weighted application blank and testing were not recommended since Zume Wireless is currently in a small size and just in a beginning stage of development.
However, the company should improve its current performance appraisal system to give more accurate evaluation about the employees. WORKFORCE PLANNING COMPONENTS 1. Relevant job description and classification According to Dictionary of Occupational Titles, Sales Representative – communication equipment (Code: 271. 257-101) is defined as a person who: – Sells communication equipment, such as telephone and telegraph apparatus, intercommunication equipment, and radio broadcasting equipment, utilizing knowledge of electronics. Analyzes customer’s communication needs and recommends equipment needed. – Performs other duties as described under SALES REPRESENTATIVE (retail trade; wholesale tr. ) Master Title, which are sells products to business and industrial establishments or individual for manufacturer or distributor at sales office, store, showroom, or customer’s place of business, utilizing knowledge of product sold: Compiles lists of prospective customers for use as sales leads, based on information from newspapers, business directories, and other sources.
Travels throughout assigned territory to call on regular and prospective customers to solicit orders or talks with customers on sales floor or by phone. Displays or demonstrates product, using samples or catalog, and emphasizes salable features. Quotes prices and credit terms and prepares sales contracts for orders obtained. Estimates date of delivery to customer, based on knowledge of own firm’s production and delivery schedules. Prepares reports of business transactions and keeps expense accounts. May train personnel of business establishments in use of equipment. Under ONET, Sales representative – Electrical/Electronic (Code 49005C), who is responsible to sells electrical, electronic, or related products or services, such as communication equipment, radiographic-inspection equipment and services, ultrasonic equipment, electronics parts, computers, and EDP systems, is expected to have tasks, knowledge, skills, abilities, work activities, work context, interests, and work values as follow:(see appendix 1 for more detail information). Tasks – Analyses communication needs of customers and consults with staff engineers regarding technical problems. – Recommends equipment to meet customer requirements, consider salable features, such as flexibility, cost, capacity and economy of operations – Sells electrical or electronic equipment, such as computers, data processing, radiographic equipment to businesses and industrial establishments – Negotiates terms of sales and services with customers Trains establishment personnel in equipment use, utilizing knowledge of electronics and product sold. ? Knowledge: 2 main knowledge elements that are considered most important for a sales rep. are: – Sales and Marketing (100 points of importance): knowledge of principles and methods involved in showing, promoting and selling products or services. This includes marketing strategies and tactics, product demonstration and sales techniques, and sales control systems Computers and Electronics (88): knowledge of electric circuit boards, processors, chips, computer hardware and software, and in this case, cell phone components, specifications and operations. ? Skills: According to ONET, 5 most important skills that a sales representative are expected to have are instructing (88), persuasion (71), information gathering (67), speaking (67) and negotiation (67). ? Abilities: 4 most important abilities of a sales rep. re oral expression (80), oral comprehension (70), speech clarity (65), and written comprehension (60). ? Work activities: Main activities that a sales representative often does at work are: sells or influences others (95), communicates with persons outside organization (90), performs for or works with public (75), resolves conflict or negotiates with others (70), gets information needed to do the job (60), analyzes data or information (60), and establishes and maintains relationships (60). Work context: sales representatives rank these work context important to them: deal with external customers (96), persuade someone to a course of action (96), Indoors (90), job-required social interaction (87), provide a service to others (72), and standing (60) ? Interests: sales representatives have an high occupational interest in enterprising and realistic Work values: Achievement (67), working conditions (60) and independence (60) are 3 important work values for sales representatives. 2. Availability and utilization in US labor market and in region Table 1: US Employment situation in race and sex – 2007 (from US Department of Labor – Bureau of Labor Statistics) |total in civilian|sex |race | | |labor force[1] | | | | | |men |women | | | |men |women | | | |men |women |white |black |Hispanic | |internet applications |32 |14 |6 |6 |n/a |300 | |walk-ins |8 |0 |0 |0 |n/a |300 | |employee referrals |6 |3 |1 |1 |n/a |300 | |newspaper ads |20 |10 |0 |0 |n/a |300 | |total |66 |27 |7 |7 |n/a |1200 | Table 5: Yield ratios |recruitment source |potential |accepted |offered |accepted |one year |average costs | | |qualified |interview |job |job |survival |per hired | |internet applications |1. 00 |2. 29 |5. 33 |5. 33 |n/a |300 | |walk-ins |1. 00 |n/a |n/a |n/a |n/a |300 | |employee referrals |1. 0 |2. 00 |6. 00 |6. 00 |n/a |300 | |newspaper ads |1. 00 |2. 00 |n/a |n/a |n/a |300 | |Average for all sources |1. 00 |2. 44 |9. 43 |9. 43 |n/a |300 | In Zume Wireless, the Salary ranges for full time and part time sales representatives are as follow: Full Time Retail Sales Rep:Hourly$11. 00 Estimated Commission:$800/month Part Time Retail Sales Rep:Hourly$9. 00 Estimated Commission:$400/month
With projected working hours per week for full time employees are 38-40 hours/week, and for part time employees are 25 hours/week, the annual salary ranges are calculated as follow: Full time retail sales rep: $31,336 – $32,480 Part time Retail sales rep: $16,500 Compared with the national mean wage for sales and related occupations, the hourly wages in Zume Wireless are far under, but the mean annual wages are about the same size. Table 6: National Employment estimate and mean wage estimates for sales and related occupations (from US Bureau of Labor Statistics) |Employment |Employment |Mean hourly |Mean annual |Wage RSE | | |RSE |wage |wage | |
Table 7: Percentile wage estimates for sales and related occupations (from US Bureau of Labor Statistics) |Percentile |10% |25% |50% |75% |90% | | | | |(Median) | | | |Annual Wage |$14,300 |$16,930 |$23,160 |$40,220 |$68,450 | However, the national median annual earnings of wage and salary sales representatives, wholesale and manufacturing, technical and scientific products, were $64,440, including commissions, in May 2006. The middle 50 percent earned between $45,630 and $91,090 a year. The lowest 10 percent earned less than $33,410, and the highest 10 percent earned more than $121,850 a year.
Median annual earnings in the industries employing the largest numbers of sales representatives, technical and scientific products, were as follows: |Computer systems design and related services |$75,240 | |Wholesale electronic markets and agents and brokers |69,510 | |Professional and commercial equipment and supplies merchant wholesalers |67,700 | |Drugs and druggists’ sundries merchant wholesalers |66,210 | |Electrical and electronic goods merchant wholesalers |61,000 | With lower salary range, replacement costs for Zume Wireless would be really high. Currently, due to a slow economy, Zume Wireless doesn’t have any plan to expand its business as well as its staff until they are in the high season (peak months – Thanks Giving and Christmas). Thus, the 4 recruitment sources above are suitable for them as they are just in a small size of business. However, some more recruitment sources should be considered for future planning.
The possible sources that the writer recommends are: college recruiting, organizations (public recruitment agencies) and private agencies. And also, internet recruitment source should be improved by making an official website for the company. 1. College recruiting: This is an effective method of recruiting if the company wants to have high-educated sales representatives as entry-level positions. There’re 67 universities and colleges in Alabama, 5 of them are located at Mobile. This is a potential source for Zume Wireless when they want to expand the labor force and improve the staff educational background level. List of all universities and colleges in Alabama is showed in the appendix 3. Table 8: universities and colleges in Mobile, Alabama University Name |University City |University Type | |Bishop State Community College |Mobile |Community College | |Mobile Technical Institute |Mobile |Private | |Spring Hill College |Mobile |Private | |University of Mobile |Mobile |Private | |University of South Alabama |Mobile |Public | 2. Recruitment agencies: Recruitment agencies can be used if the company doesn’t want to spend time in searching qualified candidates for this job. There’re 95 private agencies found in Mobile specializing in recruitment services. List of 95 agencies with addresses and phone numbers can be seen at: http://yellowpages. superpages. com/listings. jsp?
SRC=portals&C=Employment+Agencies&CID=00000520994&STYPE=S&T=Mobile&S=AL&PP=N&paging=&search=Find+It&IP=70. 252. 166. 33&PS=45&PI=0. 3. Organizations (Public Job service Agencies): Company can search for qualified candidates through some Public Job service Agencies in Alabama. Four main organizations are: – Agency: Alabama Department of Human Resources Information: (334) 242-1160 – Alabama Job Link (State of Alabama) hosted on www. joblink. alabama. gov – University of Alabama, Career Center – State of Alabama job search, hosted on www. al. com 4. Internet recruitment: the company should have a website to enhance its internet recruitment as soon as possible. 5.
Organizations for minorities’ recruitment: company can use the list of organizations of minorities provided by US Department of Energy (see appendix 4) for increasing number of women and minorities in its staff. SELECTION PLAN COMPONENT Employee Benefits and Compensation Policies: Benefits: 1. Full time and Part time sales representatives gets total insurance including dental and vision 2.. Full time has 12 PTOs and Part time has 7 PTOs per year (PTO stands for Paid Time Off) Compensation: The US Department of Labor concluded about the common compensation policies for sales representatives that compensation methods for sales representatives working for an independent sales company vary significantly by the type of firm and the product sold. Most employers use a combination of salary and commissions or salary plus bonus.
Commissions usually are based on the amount of sales, whereas bonuses may depend on individual performance, on the performance of all sales workers in the group or district, or on the company’s performance. Unlike those working directly for a manufacturer or wholesaler, sales representatives working for an independent sales company usually are not reimbursed for expenses. Depending on the type of product or products they are selling, their experience in the field, and the number of clients they have, they can earn significantly more or less than those working in direct sales for a manufacturer or wholesaler. In addition to their earnings, sales representatives working directly for a manufacturer or wholesaler usually are reimbursed for expenses such as transportation costs, meals, hotels, and entertaining customers.
They often receive benefits such as health and life insurance, pension plans, vacation and sick leave, personal use of a company car, and frequent flyer mileage. Some companies offer incentives such as free vacation trips or gifts for outstanding sales workers. At Zume Wireless, Compensation is the combination of salary, commission and bonus. Each employee has a quota to meet every month. The quota is based from the amount of activations each employee activates on a monthly basis. Average quota for a Full Time Sales Rep is usually 45 activations and a part time sales rep. is 25 activations. Below is the reward system for employees. Table 9: Rate plan reward value in Zume Wireless Rate Plan Reward Value | | | | | | |Standard Rate Plans | |Tier |Access Rate |Reward Value |Credits(s) | |High |$99. 99 or more |$8 |1 | |Moderate |$49. 99 or more |$6 |1 | |Low |$49. 94 or Less |$4 |1 | |FlexPay Month to Month |$19. 9 or More |$5 |1 | |Other |KidsConnect |$4 |1 | | |T-Mobile To Go |$0 |1 | | | | | | |Pooling Plans | |Rate Plan |Access Rate |Reward Value |Credits(s) | |Family Time Plans |$109. 99 and up |$8 |Each Line | | |$79. 99 and up |$6 |and | | |Up to $79. 4 |$4 |add-on | |No Contract Add-a-line |Any Rate Plan |$5 |equals | |Preferred Add-a-line |Any Rate Plan |$5 |1 credit | | | | | | |Data & Bundled Rate Plans | |Rate Plans |Access Rate |Reward Value |Credit(s) | |All Min & Mail Plans |ALL |$16 ($6 + $10) |1 | |T-Mobile Total Internet |$39. 99 |$16 ($6 + $10) |1 | |Stand-Alone Sidekick UNL |$29. 99 |$6 |1 | | | | | | | | | | |Feature Reward Values | | | | | | |Standard Features | |Tier |Access Rate |Reward Value |Credit(s) | |High |$19. 99 or More |$10. 00 |0 | |Mid |$10. 00 – $19. 98 |$5. 0 |0 | |Low |$9. 99 or Less |$3. 00 |0 | | | | | | |Feature Exceptions | |Feature Name |Monthly Fee |Reward Value |Credit(s) | |(VAS) Message value Bundle Unlimited |$14. 99 |$10. 00 |0 | |(VAS) Message Value Bundle 1000 |$9. 99 |$5. 0 |0 | |Unlimited Messaging for Families |$19. 95 |$3. 00 per line |0 | | | | | | |WiFi / HotSpot | |Rate Plan |Access Rate |Reward Value |Credit(s) | |HotSpot UNLT National – Month to Month |$39. 99 |$10. 0 |0 | |HotSpot Unlimited National – Annual |$29. 99 |$10. 00 |0 | |HotSpot @Home Add-ons |$9. 99 & up |$10. 00 |0 | As James Nguyen said in the interview, the company always tries to give employees the best working condition. “We try our best to provide a positive work experience for all our employees. By rewarding employees based from their achievements (overachieving quota) we give them prizes. My philosophy is: if an employee is happy, so is a customer. Our environment is clean, positive, and friendly. ”
Compared with the information about compensations and benefit that the Department of Labor provided, the compensation system for employees in Zume Wireless are good and can motivate current employees. However, some other compensation methods can be considered such as: annual bonus for high performance employees or a sales context with cash prizes or vacation prizes. Interview questions: Currently Zume Wireless is using a set of 14 interview questions for candidates for sales representative position. These are 1. What made you want to apply for this position? 2. What is the most important to you in a job? 3. Think back to a time when you were late for work – how did your boss handle it? 4.
What did you like most about your last boss? 5. What did you like least about your last boss? 6. What do you think are your strongest skills and attributes? 7. What do you think are your weakest skills and attributes? 8. Assuming you come to work with us, there may be times when someone gets sick or a mistake is made in the schedule and we need you to come in right away – it may be a Friday night and you may already have plans. What would you do? 9. You’ll be required to do a lot of cleaning as part of your job – how would you feel about this? 10. You are also required to wear our standard uniform and conform to our dress standards – are you comfortable with that? 11.
Most importantly, in a customer service position like this, it is vital that you are consistently cheerful and pleasant with customers, even when you don’t feel happy – how do you think you would do in regard? 12. Where do you see yourself one year from now? Five years from now? 13. If you could have the ideal job, what would you be doing? 14. We will be interviewing many people for this position. Some will have more experience; some will have less – tell me why you think we should hire you over someone else? The 14 interview questions that Zume Wireless is using are appropriate to understand candidates’ personalities and qualifications for the jobs. Some questions are based on required KSAOs (Q6, 7, 9, 11).
However, those kinds of questions are not enough to gather information about the required KSAOs needed to perform this job. As presented in part 3, the result from an interview with all employees and supervisor of Zume Wireless shows all 17 KSAOs needed for a sale representative position in here. However, the importance of each KSAO is different from the other. Tables below show the possible KSAOs can be used in the Selection Plan of Zume Wireless with consideration of employees’ ideas, the supervisor’s (James Nguyen) ratings, and the writer’s ratings. Based on these KSAOs, the company can generate more questions related to required-KSAOs for this job. Table 10: KSAOs tabulations for determining content areas of selection procedure: KSAOs |Importance of KSAO to |% indicating a new | | |job success[7] |employee should possess| | | |this KSAO[8] | |Knowledge of wireless industry, especially T-Mobile (products and services offered) |3 |90 | |Knowledge of sales and marketing, and customer service |3 |90 | |Knowledge of basic math and computer |2 |70 | |Skill in communicating with customers to gather information from them |3 |80 | |Skill in using proper English |2 |100 | |Skill in persuading customers and negotiating with them |3 |90 | |Skill in using cell phone, showing customers the components of cell phones |2 |70 | |accurately | | | |Ability of self control when communicating with customers |3 |80 | |Ability to memorize and update T-Mobile products and services everyday |2 |60 | |Ability to type fast and accurate |2 |60 | |Ability to use basic Microsoft Office and some software along with the phones and |2 |90 | |services | | | |Ability to be a people’s person |3 100 | |Ability to think fast and answer the questions of customers quickly and accurately |2 |80 | |Be able to work under stress |3 |90 | |Be able to prepare reports to managers (inventory reports and daily deposit reports)|2 |50 | |Be able to perform multitasks or variety of duties (make deposit reports, create |2 |50 | |schedules, perform inventory count, order accessories) | | | Table 11: KSAOs content areas for measurement by selection procedure |KSAOs |Is this KSAO an |Is this KSAO for newly|Is this KSAO necessary|Should this KSAO serve | | |important one? |hired employees to |for an Important job |as a selection procedure| | | |possess |task |content area? |Knowledge of wireless industry, especially |Yes |Yes |Yes |Yes | |T-Mobile (products and services offered) | | | | | |Knowledge of basic math and computer |Yes |Yes |Yes |Yes | |Skill in using proper English |Yes |Yes |Yes |Yes | |Skill in using cell phone, showing customers the|Yes |Yes |Yes |Yes | |components of cell phones accurately | | | | | |Ability to use basic Microsoft Office and some |Yes |Yes |Yes |Yes | |software along with the phones and services | | | | | |Ability to think fast and answer the questions |Yes |Yes |Yes |Yes | |of customers quickly and accurately | | | | | Table 12: Selection Plan for Sales Representative job KSAOs |KSAO weight |Application form |Reference check |Selection |Post training test| | | | | |interview | | |Knowledge of wireless industry, especially T-Mobile |10% |5 | |5 |5 | |(products and services offered) | | | | | | |Knowledge of basic math and computer |5% |5 | | | | |Skill in using proper English |5% | | |5 | | |Skill in using cell phone, showing customers the |5% | |5 | | | |components of cell phones accurately | | | | | | |Ability to use basic Microsoft Office and some |5% |5 | | | | |software along with the phones and services | | | | | | |Ability to think fast and answer the questions of |10% | | | |5 | |customers quickly and accurately | | | | | | Total KSA weight |100% |15% |5% |30% |50% | |
With the selection plan above, Zume Wireless can make interview questions based on the KSAOs given (knowledge of wireless industry, especially T-Mobile (products and services offered), knowledge of sales and marketing, and customer service, skill in communicating with customers to gather information from them, skill in using proper English, skill in persuading customers and negotiating with them, and ability of self control when communicating with customers). As a small business, the use of testing, assessment center and weighted application blank for Zume Wireless is not appropriate. Performance appraisal: Currently Zume Wireless is using the Customer Satisfaction survey of T-Mobile to assess the performance of its employees.
This survey is taken once a month on 3 main aspects: Greeting, sales presentation and closing. It is called a secret shop. If a shop and a sales representative get a bad grade, he or she possibly faces elimination. (See appendix 5 for detailed customer satisfaction survey). According to the writer, conducting a performance appraisal based on customer survey is a good way to evaluate the outcomes and real performance of the employees. However, the result can be inaccurate because it may depend on the customer’s mood when filling out the survey. James said: “A lots of times our customers are unreasonable. They demand too much that we cannot offer.
Example: I want $10 off because you forgot to give me a receipt for my bill payment. We continuously have customers that are yelling, screaming, and angry and we are stuck as the middle man. We try our best to hear both sides but some customers are very unreasonable. The philosophy saying: “Customers come first” is NOT politically correct to me. They only come first to an extent”. That can be a clearly evidence for the reliability of this method. So my suggestion is, besides using the Customer Satisfaction Surveys, Zume Wireless can use the performance appraisal system based on peer evaluations, self evaluation and supervisor evaluation. The content of evaluation can include: 1. Behavior assessment: Greets customers in a pleasant and friendly manner – Able to explain customers’ questions about T-Mobile Plans and Services – Able to control personal feeling toward customers – Able to ask customers about their needs – Able to demonstrate the cell phone features and suggest the right one for customers – Able to input accurate payment data in the system 2. Result assessment: – Number of activation per month – Number of working hours per month – Number of complaints or negative feedback from customers per month This form is somewhat simple, the company can add more criteria if needed. REFERENCE – Fisher, Human Resource Management 5th edition, Houghton Mifflin Gatewood, Human Resource Selection 6th edition, Thompson – US Department of Labor, Bureau of Labor Statistics http://www. bls. gov/data/ – US Dictionary of Occupational Titles http://www. occupationalinfo. org/ – US Census Bureau, Census 2000 http://www. census. gov/ – Alabama State Department of Labor http://www. alalabor. state. al. us/ – Department of Energy, Diversity Employment and recruitment source guild ———————– [1] Estimates for the above race groups (white, black or African American and Asian) do not sum to totals because data are not presented for all races. Persons whose ethnicity is identified as Hispanic or Latino may be of any race.
Updated population controls are introduced annually with the release of January data. [2] Due to the lack of information, estimate for Asian in civilian labor force was calculated as 61% of Asian population [3] 1 part-time sales representative has just been fired because of bad performance [4] See Appendix for detail post training test [5] The writer held an online chat with 6 employees first, then with the supervisor to get the ideas about the job description and specification. [6] Actually the company hired 7 employees but one has been fired recently because of bad performance [7] Rating scale: 0 = not important; 1 = somewhat important; 2 = important; 3: essential [8] Acceptable rate: 67%
