The key characteristics of high performing salespeople

Abstract

The aim of this research project is to investigate the key characteristics of high performing telemarketers, and the conditions necessary for successful telemarketing operations. Particular attention is paid to the recruitment and selection practices used to identify potentially successful telemarketers. Central to the research is the development of a conceptual model of sales performance and the subsequent testing of this model in field settings. The model emerged from a review of previous theory and research in the areas of management, sales and telemarketing performance. Overall, the project involved three studies which provide partial to full tests of the model. In the first study, a case study methodology is employed to investigate the telemarketing practices of four Australian based organisations which have incorporated formal recruitment and selection procedures within their operational guidelines. The case studies provided a partial test of the model, in particular, evidence of background, personality and situational characteristics of successful telemarketers. The analyses revealed that the most successful telemarketing operations had senior management support and total integration of the telemarketing innovation within the organisation. Specific human resources practices were in place with an emphasis on performance. The lack of validation and empirical justification, however, of each organisations’ recruitment and selection procedures emerged as a fundamental weakness. In comparing the profiles of each organisation’s ‘ideal’ telemarketer with the model of sales performance, the organisations focused upon specific individual and personality characteristics, some of which were consistent with the characteristics identified in past research and incorporated into the model. Each organisation, for instance, emphasised different characteristics specific to their own environment and their application of telemarketing, making it difficult to generalise to other settings. The profiles developed by the organisations, in general, lack empirical evidence to justify their continued use. The organisations were also not using procedures to test the reliability and validity of their recruitment and selection methods. The second study involves an analysis of the predictive validity of various selection methods used in an assessment centre by one of the telecommunications organisations. The analyses examined the predictive validity of key dimensions used and the effectiveness of three different evaluation methods - aptitude tests, structured interviews and role-play tests - in selecting high performing telemarketers. There is considerable support in the field of personnel selection for the use of these methods in assessment centres to increase the likelihood of selecting high performers. Results revealed that only the role-play components used in the assessment centre predicted overall assessment centre ratings of telemarketing sales potential. None of the selection methods used in the assessment centre predicted a telemarketer’s on-the-job performance.