What Skills Make a Salesperson Effective? An Exploratory Comparative Study among Car Sales Professionals

This study explores important skills of an effective salesperson as well as their impacts in terms of performance from both sales managers and sales representatives perspectives. An exploratory research was conducted on a total of 58 car sales professionals that comprise 30 sales managers and 28 salespersons. A thematic analysis of interviews content indicates existence of both similarities and differences in skills perceptions among the two groups of sales professionals. Salespeople reveal that to be effective they should have communication and listening skills, knowledge possession, sales presentation skills, flexibility and adaptability, empathy, cooperative skills, honest and ethical behavior, and time management skills. Sales managers, on the other hand, highlighted the importance of two additional skills, namely the follow-up and technology skills. From the skills gap, the study suggests implications for academicians and practitioners.

PERSONAL SELLING IN MARKETING

Personal selling is a major element in the marketing communication program of a business firm. This article describes in a theoretical way the scope and significance of personal selling in marketing, it outlines the stages of the selling process. Personal selling is the most effective marketing communication tool because it allows salespeople to adapt their presentation to each potential or current client. They use their knowledge of the customer’s buying process to choose effective sales strategies. An effective sales presentation is usually the most important element of a sales job. Most well-managed companies want their salespeople to go through the following sequence in making a presentation: locating and qualifying prospects, a pre-approach, the presentation itself, closing the sale and follow-up. Finding the best prospects may be the key step in this sequence, but the close may be the hardest part.