Reference no: EM132871367

A company hires part-time seasonal sales associates every year before the holiday shopping season. These employees help support the increase in customer traffic and sales that are seen from October-December. Seasonal sales associates are typically recruited and hired from late August to early September so that they can be fully job-ready by October. Seasonal sales associates typically start work in late August to early September and stay with the company until the first week of January. These temporary workers are typically college-age with little to no sales experience. Historically, these workers receive no formal training other than a brief orientation that covers company policies and procedures, as well as basic health and safety training. These workers do not receive any formal sales training. The reasoning for not providing formal sales training is a company held belief that sales skills will be picked up on the job. Sales associates also receive a 5% sales commission, which has been thought of as sufficient motivation for staff to "figure things out" on their own, to achieve sales and thereby commission.

In the last three holiday seasons the company has observed a decrease in the sales performance among its part-time seasonal sales associates. The company uses the following key performance indicators (KPIs) to measure the effectiveness of its sales associates: Net Sales, Sales Per Transaction, and Average Dollar Sales. ABC has seen a decline in all of the key performance indicators of its part-time seasonal sales associates in the last three years. This is a serious concern for the company, as it is in the holiday season that the company typically does 35-40% of its total sales for the year.

In reaction to this problem the Training and Development officer for the company has suggested that a sales skills gap may exist. It has been suggested that this gap may be contributing to poor performance in sales by seasonal part-time sales associates. The Training and Development officer thinks training may be needed in order to fill the skills gap and improve sales performance among seasonal workers. They will conduct a needs analysis of the organization to determine if a training need exists. They will also identify a potential gap in employee's knowledge skills and ability, in order to determine which areas can be addressed by the training.

Identify and explain three additional approaches besides or in addition to the training that could be implemented when hiring for the holiday season?