HR vs. Sales: Working Together When It's Nearly Impossible

By Dr. Larry L. Craft

Anyone in sales management has experienced the frustration that occurs when their Human Resource Department gets involved in the business of either selecting or developing sales personnel. A perfect example of the conflict between HR and Sales is found in the simple task of defining the salesperson's core competencies. Ask any HR department and you'll receive at least a two page description, single-spaced, that includes everything from "Understanding the Buying Cycle" to "Making the Best Use of Time and Resources." On the other hand, ask any sales manager and most will refer you to the basic six steps of the selling process:

• Sales Preparation/Identification
• Prospecting/Initial Contact (Meeting)
• Research/Need Assessment
• Presenting/Versatility
• Answering Objections/Closing
• Customer Service/Follow-through
• Activity Analysis/Record Keeping

Another example of the conflict is the recruiting and selection process. Most sales managers want to fly from the seat of their pants without regard to EEOC compliance. On the other hand, most HR Departments feel required to cover every legal contingency, no matter how irrelevant it may be to hiring sales personnel. You see the same conflicts when it comes to training the salesperson. HR traditionally emphasizes the sales contracts and product knowledge areas with very little emphasis upon sales skills training. It is the opposite when it comes to the sales manager's typical training program.

There are no two more different departments in any organization than HR and Sales. While the HR department's only real authority is to say "no," sales managers feel their God-given authority is to say yes without permission or intrusion. While HR is in the business of protecting the company, sales managers are in the business of finding creative ways around anything that keeps them from reaching their goals, including rules and compliance requirements. While HR is systems-oriented, sales managers are notoriously goal-oriented. While most HR personnel take pride in their intelligence, schooling, and attention to detail, most sales managers take pride in their experience, intuition, and social skills. With so little in common, how can these two extremes work together to balance protection with production?

There is a way, and it begins with an understanding of the differences in the personalities of the individuals who gravitate to each department. In fact, most sales managers fail to see the true value and contribution made by the HR department. Likewise, most HR personnel fail to appreciate the value and contribution of the sales managers.

The cause of this disrespect can be found in the personality differences between the two. The great majority of the managers in sales departments come directly from successful sales positions. Using the traditional four-style grid approach to describing communication and leadership styles, these managers are high in Ego Drive and fairly high in Empathy, i.e. Expressive Motivators. Said simply, they are impatient and relationship centered. Along with this personality you find high goal-orientation, high intuition, high confidence, and a higher sensitivity to the needs of the employees. Their greatest strength is their goal-orientation and ability to overcome obstacles. Their greatest weakness is their impulsivity that causes them to take initiatives without knowing all the consequences.

Most HR personnel, on the other hand, come directly from their Masters education or from highly analytical job duties. Few, if any, have experience in sales. On their four-style grid, they are typically (there are many exceptions) low in Ego Drive and lower on Empathy, i.e. Analytical Thinkers. They are patient and task-oriented. As a result, they have lower goal-orientation (are more systems oriented), high detail-orientation, lower social confidence, and lower sensitivity (more task-oriented). Their greatest strength is their attention to detail and their dependence upon systems. Their greatest weakness is their potential for "analysis paralysis."

While sales managers are typically "Stormers" who love to generate new ideas without concern for the logistics of implementation, most HR personnel are "Normers" who may lack creativity but make it up in their ability to ground these ideas in the real world. Both are essential in any organization. HR helps to control the sales manager's spontaneity while the sales manager helps HR avoid "analysis paralysis." Though, in this case, opposites do not necessarily attract each other, they definitely compliment each other when upper level management works to diffuse these natural incompatibilities. The Sales and HR departments should be required to attend Diversity Training workshops to understand and respect their differences.

Once these differences are understood, management should make sure that HR departments concentrate in areas in which they excel and stay out of areas in which they can inadvertently reduce productivity. One prime example is the recruiting and selection process. HR must be able to understand that sales managers often lack the time and focus to recruit sales personnel and unnecessary recruiting or selection requirements seriously impede their ability to fill their vacancies. On the other hand, sales managers typically dislike structured systems and find it difficult to reject applicants when there are recruiting requirements. As a result, they need a structured and compliant selection program to help make the decision for them.

The solution is found in a balanced system that equally meets the needs of both departments. HR needs to allow sales management to help structure the important components of the selection system. Everything from the core competencies to the formal job description needs to be developed using insights provided by sales management. In addition, the selection system should be customized to hire salespeople and not rely upon the same system used for hiring other employees. Salespeople are unique to most corporate cultures and traditional methods of hiring aren't applicable. For example, while education and intelligence may be most important in other positions, it may be weighted differently in some sales positions that do involve a steep learning curve or complex product mix. While stability is normally important in most corporate positions, commissioned sales positions require a dynamic, highly driven and confident personality who may be naturally restless. Said differently, if HR tries to improve retention by micromanaging the selection system to hire salespeople with high stability, the company will be hiring individuals who lack the drive and motivation to survive in a commissioned sales environment. These factors are seldom understood by HR personnel, but ask any sales manager and s/he'll most likely understand the unique traits of the peak performing salesperson.

Along the same lines, sales managers need to understand the importance of HR's involvement in the selection process. If most sales managers had their way, they would opt for an intuitive approach to hiring their sales personnel and that intuition could be biased against minorities. In addition, their need to fill vacancies and receive their bonuses (that are often associated with high recruiting numbers) can cause them to lose their motivation to be selective. Add to that the fact that sales managers typically have a high need for independence and control that causes them to dislike structured systems, and you have a problem that needs to be addressed by an independent department (HR).

If HR and Sales learn to respect one another and allow each to do what they do best, the corporation will be able to effectively balance protection and production.

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