PREFACE

This project report contains material collected from the study on “The process of Recruitment, selection and Training of sales personnel” in Birla Sun Life Insurance, Tura, as a part of the course curriculum of 3rd

B.BA, NEHU.Recruitment is a process to discover the source of manpower to

meet the requirement of staffing schedule and to employ effective measure for attracting the manpower in adequate numbers to facilitate effective selection of and efficient working force.

After recruiting a pool of sales candidates, managers must screen out candidates who do not meet the hiring criteria. Selection is a process to decide whether an applicant meets the qualification for the specific job and to chase that who is most likely to perform well in job sales training has been recognized as a vital factor in the suren of sales person. Training of salesmen is a process of selling skills development so as to increase the ability, knowledge and experience of the salesman to perform well on the job.

ACKNOWLEDGEMENT

Doing this project, writing and compiling it into a project report was not an individual effort. Without the guidance, encouragement and help of many people this endeavor of mine would not have been successful.

First of all I would extend my thanks to the Principal of Don Bosco College, Tura, Fr. V.A. Cyraic. I express my heartfelt gratitude to Mr. Sanjeev Hazarika, HOD, Business Administration, and Sir Sandric A Sangma and Bilrak K Marak and Sir Paul Hrangkhawl lacturer department of BBA for their help.

My heartfelt gratitude to Mr. Pulok Debnath, Branch Manager Birla Sunlife Life Insurance, Tura for sparing me his precious time and bearing my continual approach.

My thanks to my fellow mates for their constant company during my study.

Last but not the least, thanks to my parents for their mental as well as financial support.

Above all I thank Almighty God for all his blessings.

Swarnima Tiwari.

1. Executive Summary

1.1 Introduction

Sales personal serve as the company’s personal link to customers the sales representative is the company to many of its customers. It is the sales representatives who tiring back much needed information to the customer.

Once the company has established objectives, strategy, structure, size and compensation, it has to recruit, select, and train, supervise, motivate and evaluate sales representatives various policies and procedures guide these decisions. Evidently, the first step in developing an effective sales force is the recruitment of first class salesman. The importance of selection of salesman can never be over-emphasized. Each member of the sales force must be selected with care. A vibrant sales organization cannot afford the luxury of careless selection of salesman so, a high turnover of sales force has to be avoided. No firm can afford to carry “passengers” who do not contribute much to the sales or “quarrelsome guys” who often disrupt relations with customers, prospects and distributors. It is essential, therefore to be careful in the recruitment of salesman.

Recruitment is just the part of building a top notch sales force. The other part relates to retaining them, managing them and making them contribute their best. Basically, a good compensation plan is one that directs the salesmen’s activities towards the objectives of the firm. It should stimulate the salesman to put in their best efforts both qualitatively and quantitatively towards achieving the planned sales and other goals. It should ensure a minimum income to the salesman and appropriate additional reward for above performance.

Motivating the sales force is the crux of the sales force management. The mettle of sales manager always gets tested on the touchstone of their motivational skill. Motivation is the sum total of all that a sales manager does to his salesman while a compensation policy no doubt has an impact on motivation, there are many other aspects that makeup motivation. Moral building, training and development, sales supervision and co-ordination and effective communication are all part of motivation. Sensible management in itself is a motivational tool.

Sales training has been recognized as a vital factor in the success of a salesperson. Sales executives generally agree that inadequate training of sales people is one of the most common problems they encounter. Modern companies consider training costs as an investment in the future success of the firm rather than simply as a current expense. Salesman continually needs help in mastering new skills, applying new knowledge and adjusting themselves to new work behaviour. Hence, training of salesman will never become obsolete.

Once the company has selected the best qualified sales person, step should be taken to initiate a training programme to help the person achieve success. Sales training that is carefully planned and executed can make a major contribution to the performance of every salesperson. Even salespersons with great potential are handicapped when the company fails to provide adequate training. In the absence of formal training, employees develop their own approaches to performing tasks. Many sales managers believe that new sales people need special attention during the orientation and training period. Training of salesman is a process of selling skills development so as to increase the ability, knowledge and experience of the salesman to perform well on the job.

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1.2 A BRIEF OVERVIEW OF INSURANCE

Insurance is a major aspect of any kind of enterprise in the world since man knows what’s there in store in future. The idea has been in practice since ancient days in some form or the other. The increasing importance of insurance has led to the emergence of a global insurance industry and insurance companies have gained in stature around the world.To talk about the insurance companies, insurance in modern form had occurred after the great fire in London in 1666 which destroyed myriad house. Nicholas Bartion , following the disaster, had established England’s forts fire insurance company (The fire office) in 1680. In the United State, the first insurance company which provided fire insurance was formed in south Carolina; in 1732. The practice of perpetual insurance against fire was popularized by Benjamin Franklin. In 1752, he founded the philadel phla contribution ship for the Insurance of Houses in India, the Oriental Life Insurance Company was started in 1818 by Europeans, much before independence. The first indigenous insurance company in India was started in the year 1870 in the form of Bombay Mutual Life Assurance Society.

1.3 Insurance companies are mainly classified into: Life Insurance Companies (those which deal with life insurance, annuities and pension products) Non-Life Or General Insurance Companies: The first category of insurance companies handles a long-term business covering risks of a person’s life or his / her pension over a long period of time.

Examples of such insurance companies are: American Medical Security Life Insurance Company in USA, Bajaj Allianz General Insurance of India etc.

In most of the countries, life and non-life insurance are subject to different regulations.

1.4 Beside there are other kinds of Insurance Companies: Mutual insurance companies which are owned by the policy holders. Stock insurance companies are owned by stockholders. Re-insurance companies are those insurance companies that sell policies to other insurance companies to reduce risks and protect themselves from gigantic losses. Captive Insurance Companies are limited purpose insurance companies established for Financial Risk arising from their parent group(s). [The lyne of risk include property damage, public and products liability, professional indemnity etc] Insurance consultant companies are paid by the customer to find out the best insurance policy amongst various companies. Third party administration companies perform underwriting and even for insurance companies.

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1.5 Reasons For Choosing the Topic:

The following are the reasons as to why the given topic namely Recruitment Selection and Training of sales force was chosen by me:

1. To know about the sources of recruitment of the company.

2. To know about the selection process of the company.

3. To know about the training programmer given to the sales forces.

4. To know the qualities sought by the company in their sales force.

Thus, these were the reasons for selecting the topic namely recruitment, selection and training of sales force to carry out the project

1.4: REASONS FOR SELECTING THE COMPANY:

The following are the reasons as to why Birla sun life Insurance was Chosen by me.

1. The company is a well known one and has goodwill in the national and international market also.

2. It has an experience of over 9 years and is currently ranked amongst the top 5 life insurance companies in the country.

3. To know the companies sources and process of recruitment, selection and training of sales force.

Thus, these were the reasons for selecting the company to carry out the project.

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1.5 Need and importance of the study:

Sound recruitment policy and procedures are essential for a greater selling efficiency. A selected salesman must have all the qualities through which a firm can attain all fortunes. Otherwise the firm invites misfortune by unsound recruitment policy selecting incompetent, uncared or disinterested sales army. A minor mistake, on the part of the management, will doom the future of the firm entirely.

Selection procedure is different from firm to firm. Each firm has got its own method in choosing men for employment. The requirement of quality in men depends on the job description. Similarly, the selection method also depends upon the sales management.

The question of recruitment comes before the questions of actual selection. The success of the sales supervisor and the selling organization depends materially on the quality of salesmen. This in turn necessarily leans on the quality of recruitment and selection. Before the selection process is entered into the person in-charge of selection should realize that it will be necessary to recruit a much larger number of applicants to select the required number of new employees. It therefore, becomes necessary to decide how many applicants should be considered in the selection procedure so that the selection might end in the correct number of applicants becoming new employees.

The old belief that still persists in certain quarters is that the ability to get along with people and physical personality are all important and that the selling ability is something intangible which a person may or may not have. Fortunately, progressive sales executive realize that, provided basic characteristics are present, salesmen are not born but made. This has resulted in the application of scientific management techniques in developing salesman, the emphasis being placed on adequate selection procedure, appropriate training, and sufficient supervision. Selection is important even from training aspect as it would be waste of good money to train bad material. The training aspect is thus connected with recruited and selected salesmen.

Training is important because a trained salesman would prove to be effective in increasing the sales volume. But more importantly it can act as an incentive to make the salesmen work harder and like his job. Trained salesmen can see opportunities in a market which have been previously over looked. Training enables salesman to gain a deeper understanding of the customer’s problems and can help solve such problems. Moreover, the trained salesman is less likely to leave the job as he sees many opportunities for advancement through increased sales and compensation.

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COMPANY PROFILEBIRLA SUN LIFE INSURANCE

Risk management against a huge less is very necessary, and insurance is transfer of risk from one entity to another. For this several companies have come up these days with life, health, medical and travel insurance. One of such company is Birla Sun Life Insurance. Providing a number of insurance products, Birla Sun Life is a prestigious company to bond with. Birla Sun Life Insurance Company Limited is a joint venture between the Sun Life Financial Inc and Aditya Birla Group.

About Aditya Birla: Aditya Birla Group through Aditya Birla Financial Services: Group (ABFSG), has strong presence across various financial services verticals that include life insurance, fond management, distribution & wealth management, security based lending, insurance broking, private equity and retail broking. The seven companies representing ABFSG and Birla Sun Life Insurance Company, Birla Sun Life Asset Management Company, Birla Sun Life Distribution Company, Birla Global Finance Company, Birla Insurance Advisory & Broking services, Aditya Birla Capital Advisory and Apollo Sindhoori Capital Investment. In final year 2008-2009, the consolidated revenues of ABFSG from these businesses crossed Rs. 4763 crores registering a growth rate of 36%.

About Sun Life: Sun Life Financial is a leading international financial services organization providing a diverse range of production and wealth accumulation products and services to individuals and corporate customers. Chartered in 1865, Sun Life Financial and its partners today have operations in key markets worldwide, including Canada, the United States, the United Kingdom, Ireland, Hong Kong, the Philippines, Japan, Indonesia, India, China and Bermuda. As of December 31, 2008, the Sun Life Financial group of companies had total assets under management of $ 381 billion.

Birla Sun Life Insurance was the first company is the sector of financial solutions to begin Business Continuity Plan. In fact, policies were first issued by this insurance company on the internet. This insurance provider company has pioneered the Unique Unit Linked Life Insurance solution in India. It is one of the top players in the industry of private Life Insurance Scheme.

With an experience of over 9 years, BSLI contributed significantly to the growth and development of the life insurance industry in India and currently ranks amongst the top 5 private life insurance companies in the country.

VISION, MISSION AND VALUES

VISION: To be a leader and role model in broad based and integrated financial services business.

MISSION: To help people mitigate risks of life, avident, health and money at all stages and under all circumstances.

Enhance the financial future of our customers including enterprises.

VALUES: Integrity Commitment Passion Seamlessness Speed

SOME OF THE BIRLA INSURANCE PRODUCTS INCLUDE: Insurance for Protection Insurance for Retirement Insurance for Savings Insurance for Children Insurance for Riders Insurance for Rural

OTHER BIRLA SUN LIFE INSURANCE FOR SAVINGS INCLUDE: Birla Sun Life Insurance Flexi Save Plus Birla Sun Life Insurance Dream Plan Birla Sun Life Insurance Gold-Plus II Birla Sun Life Insurance Classic Life Premier Birla Sun Life Insurance Prime Life Premier Birla Sun Life Insurance Prime Life Birla Sun Life Insurance Simply Life Birla Sun Life Insurance Flexi Cash Flow Birla Sun Life Insurance Supreme Life

2.4 ORGANISATIONAL STRUCTURE OF BIRLA SUNLIFE INSURANCE

C.E.O (Chief Executive Officer)

C.F.O (Chief Financial Officer)

C.D.O (Chief Design Officer)

H.O.S (Head of Sales)

Z.M (Zonal Manager)

R.M (Regional Manager)

T.M.S (Territory Managers)

B.H (Branch Heads)

B.M (Branch Managers)

B.D.M. / B.P (Business Development Manager / Business Partner)

S.A.M (Senior Agency Manager)

A.M (Agency Manager)

A.A.M (Assistant Agency Manager)

I.A (Insurance Advisors)

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4. Topic theory

3.1 RECRUITMENT, SELECTIONS TRAINING OF SALES FORCE:

Recruitment is the process of identifying key people in the community. Once identified, the candidates are invited to an informal discussion of the job opportunity. The purpose of this process is to provide candidates with realistic job preview.

In the words of Dale Yoder,“Recruitment is a process to discover the source of manpower to meet the

requirement of staffing schedule and to employ effective measures for attracting the manpower in adequate number of facilitates effective selection of and efficient working force”.

Thus, all the activities involved in securing the application for the sales positions are referred to as recruitment. Recruitment sets out the necessary stages to clarify what kind of person is required, where he might be found and how to make the right choice.

3.2 PROCESS OF RECRUITMENT OF SALES PERSONNEL:

The process is described below:It includes the following steps:1. Establishing responsibility for recruitment.2. Determining sales-force needs.3. Considering company culture.4. Determining the number of salesman needed.5. Developing a profile of the type of salesman needed.6. Evaluating recruitment programme.

3.4 SOURCES OF RECRUITMENT:

Most firms actively recruit salesmen from many sources. To determine the best sources, a firm should first find out where the firms best salesmen came from in the past. If the company is recruiting for the first time, or it its current sources

are inadequate, then the job description and hiring specifications provide a useful starting point. Once satisfactory sources are located, management should maintain a continuing relationship with them.

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3.5 THE SOURCES OF RECRUITMENT OF SALES-FORCE CAN BE BROADLY CLASSIFIED INTO:

A) Sources with in the companyB) Sources out side the company

After recruiting a pool of sales candidates, managers must screen out candidates who do not meet the hiring criteria. Selection is a process to decide whether an applicant meets the qualifications for the specific job and to choose the one who is most likely to perform will in the job.

3.6 PROCEDURE, PROCESS AND TOOLS OF SELECTION OF SALES PEOPLE:

Selection is a filtering process incorporating many steps. It is a set of successive “Screens”. Employment offers are extended to applicants surviving all steps. The recruiter begins the selection process by making pre-interview screening and by evaluating application blanks and resumes, and proceeds to interview and background checks. In this way obviously unsuitable prospects can be eliminated with low-cost methods, and more expensive testing procedures can be saved for a smaller group of promising candidates.

No single selection tool is adequate by itself. Companies should use a series of tools to carefully determine an applicant’s qualifications. Selection tools and procedures are only aids and sound executive judgment and not substitutes for it. They can obviously eliminate unqualified candidates and generally help recruiter’s spot extremely capable individuals.

3.7 THE SELECTION PROCESS IS DEPICTED BELOW:

Pre-interview screening. Complete application blank. Conduct screening interviews. Check credit and background investigation. Complete psychological and achievement tests. Secondary interviews. Make offer for sales positions. Physical examination.

Measure subsequent success on the job.

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Sales training has been recognized as a vital factor in the success of a sales person. Sales executive generally agree that inadequate training of sales people is one of the most common problems they encounter. Modern companies consider training cost as an investment in mastering new skills, applying now knowledge and adjusting themselves to new work behaviour. Hence training of the salesmen will never become obsolete.

Once the company has selected the best qualified sales persons step should be taken to initiate a training programme to help the persons achieve success. Sales training that is carefully planned and executed can make a major contribution to the performance of every sales person. Study results indicate that sales people have more positive view about their job situation, greater commitment and improved performance when their sales managers clarify their job role, how to execute their tasks and how their needs can be satisfied with successful job performance.Training of salesmen is a process of selling skills development so as to increase the ability, knowledge and experience of the salesmen to perform well on the job.

IN THE WORDS OF GEORGE R. COLLINS:“Sales training is an organized actively involving fact finding, planning,

coaching, practicing and purposive attempt to develop selling skill and to add these skills to select native, ability, casually acquired knowledge and experience”.

Sales training is important because it increases the productivity of the salesmen. The money spent on recruiting and selecting salesmen may be wasted of their hiring is not followed up with proper training.

As sales person develop greater self-confidence through training, they may be encouraged to put their skills to use by trying harder than they did before. Training is not a panacea, but it can lead to significant improvement in performance if it is properly designed, implemented and reinforced. Training programmes impart the skills sales people need to achieve. It should noted, that, companies frequently try to use training to solve problems they actually cannot solve. Trained sales people provide better solutions to their customer’s problems.

In most companies, the rate of sales personnel turnover is high for new personnel than experienced people. Often new sales personnel find themselves unprepared to perform their job satisfactorily, become discouraged, and leave the company. If sales training helps new personnel to perform their jobs satisfactorily, the rate of sales personnel turnover declines, recruitment and selection costs fall and overall efficiency of the personnel’s selling operation climbs.

Training is used to ensure that sales people understand the importance of the information they provide to the company concerning their customers and the market place. They need to know the information will be used and how it affects the performance of the firm.

There are several types of sales training programmes; the most important and comprehensive is the training programme for newly hired sales personnel. The other is for experienced salesmen.

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3.8 A SUCCESSFUL TRAINING PROGRAMME CONSISTS OF FOUR PHASES:

Training Assessment. Programme Design. Reinforcement. Evaluation.

A PROJECT REPORTON

RECRUITMENT TRAINING AND SELECTION OF SALES FORCEOF

BIRLA SUNLIFE INSURANCE LTD

CONDUCTED BY:

SWARNIMA TIWARI3RD YEAR BBA

ROLL NO. BBO7-008

For the partial fulfillment of the requirement of Bachelors of Business Administration

Submitted to:

North Eastern Hills University

Don Bosco CollegeTura Meghalaya

794002