Mungo Dunnett Associates: Management and Marketing Consultancy

Sales Skills

Background

We find that a combination of factors tends to affect firms’ confidence in their sales function.

First, the awareness that insufficient attention has been paid to staff training and development, usually under pressure of time and available budget rather than lack of inclination. The result is that staff turnover has been increasing, there are indications that staff morale is not what it should be, and competitors now appear to be operating at a higher level of sales effectiveness.

Secondly, an increasing proportion of many firms’ sales activity now occurs in high-pressure or time-constrained situations such as retail branches and call centres. This is requiring higher levels of listening and influencing skills, and there is a realisation that historic levels of training – and depth of customer understanding – are no longer sufficient. This is particularly the case where service environments are now adopting sales targets.

Thirdly, one of the most frequently overlooked aspects of sales management is the attention given to the managers themselves. As is often realised – but too rarely acted upon – a good sales person does not necessarily make a good sales manager: the skills are very different, and simply being ‘bright’ or ‘personable’ is not enough in a managerial position. Becoming a good line manager of a salesforce requires training in its own right – and without this, the best salespeople will sometimes suffer a disastrous loss of confidence (and productivity).