Purpose

Determining the skills required for salespersons to maximize their effectiveness was the main driver for conducting the present study. In order to identify those necessary skills, this study aims to review various research techniques drawn from multiple disciplines and applied that knowledge to salespersons.

Design/methodology/approach

This study used a mixed-method methodology. This study began by conducting a literature review and then interviewed experienced salespersons with varied backgrounds to develop a comprehensive list of sales skills and themes and categorize them into competency categories. This study then conducted a quantitative analysis to determine the respective importance of the skills and themes by surveying a sample of internal stakeholders of a multinational company. Finally, this study calculated the reliability and validity of the themes.

Findings

A total of 206 relevant skills (later reduced to 110) and 28 themes were identified and grouped into three competency categories: conceptual, human/interpersonal and technical. Survey respondents rated the skills and themes higher than the “somewhat important” score of 3 out of 5, with the overall mean importance for skills being in the “important” range (score of 4.27 out of 5). All identified skills were believed to be important to a salesperson’s success.

Originality/value

This study’s expanded list of sales skills will improve employability, reduce turnover among employees and build better groundwork for fostering learning through work, resulting in better performance. These skills represent a 2020 updated list that could be used for future academic research and training and research in the business world.

中文翻译：

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重温历史悠久的销售技巧，以在明天的环境中脱颖而出

目的

确定销售人员最大限度地提高效率所需的技能是进行本研究的主要驱动力。为了确定那些必要的技能，本研究旨在回顾来自多个学科的各种研究技术，并将这些知识应用于销售人员。

设计/方法/方法

本研究采用混合方法。这项研究首先进行了文献回顾，然后采访了具有不同背景的经验丰富的销售人员，以制定一份全面的销售技能和主题清单，并将其归类为能力类别。然后，本研究通过调查跨国公司内部利益相关者的样本，进行了定量分析，以确定技能和主题的各自重要性。最后，本研究计算了主题的信度和效度。

发现

总共确定了 206 项相关技能（后来减少到 110 项）和 28 个主题，并将其分为三个能力类别：概念、人际/人际和技术。受访者对技能和主题的评分高于“有点重要”的分数（满分 5 分），技能的总体平均重要性在“重要”范围内（满分 5 分的分数为 4.27）。所有确定的技能都被认为对销售人员的成功很重要。

原创性/价值

本研究扩大的销售技能清单将提高就业能力，减少员工流动率，并为通过工作促进学习打下更好的基础，从而提高绩效。这些技能代表了 2020 年更新的清单，可用于未来的学术研究以及商业世界的培训和研究。