Sales Skills Research Articles

EFEKTIFITAS IMPLEMENTASI PENGEMBANGAN SDM PADA PRODUKTIVITAS KARYAWAN BAGIAN PENJUALAN

This research aims to evaluate the effectiveness of the implementation of human resource development (HR) on the productivity of sales employees at PT. Sophie Cosmetic Cirebon. HR development includes various training programs, skills improvement and competency development aimed at improving employee capabilities and performance. The research method used is qualitative with a case study approach. Data was obtained through in-depth interviews with 20 sales employees and 1 HR manager at PT. Sophie Cosmetic Cirebon. The research results show that the implementation of HR development at PT. Sophie Cosmetic Cirebon is generally effective in increasing the productivity of sales employees. Employees involved in HR development programs report significant improvements in sales skills, communication and product understanding. The implications of this research highlight the importance of planning and implementing a structured and sustainable HR development program to achieve optimal results.Keywords: Effectiveness, HR Development, Employee Productivity, Sales.

SELL ME THIS ARTIFICIAL PEN: USING CHATGPT TO ENHANCE SALES ROLE PLAYS

ABSTRACT The recent popularity of ChatGPT and artificial intelligence chatbots presents both challenges and opportunities for incorporating this modern technology in the classroom. This paper introduces an activity that uses ChatGPT to help students practice their role playing sales skills. The benefits of using this AI chatbot for role play training include allowing students to practice when it’s convenient and have the ability to react to a chatbot taking on personas of different buyer types. Survey results demonstrate the effectiveness of this training method for both role play training and general familiarity with ChatGPT.

Social Entrepreneurship Education at Croatian Universities

The paper aims to examine how social entrepreneurship education (SEE) is implemented at Croatian universities. The research was conducted through in-depth interviews with five professors who teach the Social Entrepreneurship course or a related one that covers this topic. The undertaken research identified the dominant themes within the content of the analysed courses, the teaching techniques used, and the target competencies of SEE. The comparison of the results with SEE in other countries resulted in three opportunities for the development of the analysed courses: (1) emphasizing the importance of social enterprise scaling and local adaptation of existing social innovations; (2) greater use of service learning; (3) more significant focus on sales skills and financial management with an emphasis on new sources of financing aimed at social enterprises. The results will help policy creators support the recommended improvements of the SEE at Croatian universities. Key words: social entrepreneurship education; syllabus; teaching methods; competencies

MENINGKATKAN KEMAMPUAN TEKNIK PENJUALAN PADA UKM

In a competitive business era, sales skills are crucial for every salesperson to face market competition. This article discusses the importance of an in-depth understanding of the goods or services sold by the company as well as expertise in applying effective sales techniques. The main focus is on the role of the salesperson in optimizing the sales of services and goods. This research was conducted with the aim of helping business owners, particularly in the culinary industry in Jambi, to improve their understanding and skills in sales techniques. The method used involved training and socialization to business partners, covering in-depth introduction to product offering techniques, handling buyer rejection, and coping strategies.The results of the research activities showed that the training provided significantly improved the partners' sales technique skills. Business partners were able to optimize their skills in selling products to end consumers. In addition, the partners' active participation in the training process was reflected in the two-way discussion between the research team and business partners. The enthusiasm shown by the partners in receiving the training materials confirmed the success of the activities in having a positive impact on the partners' sales skills. This research provides an important contribution for business owners, especially in the culinary sector, in improving the efficiency and effectiveness of sales techniques

B2B Sales Meeting Course as an Effort to Build Student Sales Skill

Appropriate and effective learning methods are needed that are truly able to develop sales skills, especially Business to Business (B2B) sales. This study aims to empirically test how effective the Project Based Learning B2B Sales Meeting organized by the Applied Business Administration Study Program is in improving student sales skills. The method used to answer research problems is Quasi Experiment method. The results of hypothesis testing using the t-test showed that there were significant differences in the pretest and posttest scores of the research subject's sales skills and the posttest scores showed a higher value than the pretest scores. Thus PBL B2B Sales Meeting is effective in improving sales skills of research subjects. With the proven effectiveness of the PBL method, it is recommended that this method be applied in other courses.

IMPROVING THE PROCESS OF TRAINING OF SALES PERSONNEL IN UKRAINIAN COMPANIES

The article is devoted to the problem of improving the process of training sales personnel in Ukrainian companies. The stages of implementation of sales training in Ukrainian companies are considered. The process of developing educational programs is considered in detail. All types of group and individual training programs were analyzed. The advantages of training sales personnel for Ukrainian companies have been determined. The workforce plays a special role in the activity of any enterprise. At the same time, it should be noted that in companies that aim to enter foreign markets, human resources become extremely important. Personnel selection, motivation, training, adaptation and other elements of management become even more important. Sales training is an organized program to improve the skills, abilities, attitudes and performance of sales personnel to achieve sales objectives through best practices. It is organized to support the sales performance of the sales force to make them adapt strategically to changes in sales practices to also support the profits of the enterprise. It is a process developed with sales personnel to bridge the gap that exists between what salespeople have and what the sales force requires in order to achieve the desired sales results in the sales environment. This gap can be closed because sales training allows salespeople to learn job-related concepts and develop skills and attitudes that will undoubtedly increase their productivity. In fact, it helps salespeople adapt their behavior to win the sales race in the face of new challenges. The goal of a sales training program is to improve sales performance and achieve the best possible sales success. It helps the sales company/executive who wants to improve their sales skills. These are the most common goals, but they vary widely depending on the types of skills that salespeople lack, the types of training programs, and the environment.

Ten Valuable Sales Skills Principles

The Major Gifts ReportVolume 25, Issue 5 p. 5-5 Sharpen Your Sales Skills Ten Valuable Sales Skills Principles First published: 03 April 2023 https://doi.org/10.1002/mgr.32137Read the full textAboutPDF ToolsRequest permissionExport citationAdd to favoritesTrack citation ShareShare Give accessShare full text accessShare full-text accessPlease review our Terms and Conditions of Use and check box below to share full-text version of article.I have read and accept the Wiley Online Library Terms and Conditions of UseShareable LinkUse the link below to share a full-text version of this article with your friends and colleagues. Learn more.Copy URL Share a linkShare onFacebookTwitterLinkedInRedditWechat No abstract is available for this article. Volume25, Issue5May 2023Pages 5-5 RelatedInformation

The Relationship between Competency and Entrepreneurial Success among Co-Operative Managers in East Malaysia: The Moderating Role of Sales Skills

Co-operative is crucial as a catalyst in generating economic development, especially for the poverty reduction among rural population. Despite their importance to the economy, the literature review however indicates that research emphasis on these organizations remains limited and neglected within the local context. This study attempted to investigate the moderating effect of sales skill on competency and entrepreneurial success. The data for the study was collected from 277 co-operatives by using questionnaire. The findings provide guidance for the co-operative to boost its performance in order to transform the nation to be the high financial gain.

Performance of Empirical Research as a Method for Achieving Professional Students’ Competence: a Case Study of Teaching Sales Skills to Future Employees of the Beauty Industry

Introduction and purpose. Didactic methods are evolving, among others, in the direction of engaging students in performance of empirical research gives rise to, in the first place, the students’ active participation in the process of knowledge creation and improves their methodological expertise. This paper presents an outlook on the value of the students’ participation in empirical research as a possibility for developing their professional competence. Material and method. A case study concerning education of the future employees of the cosmetic industry via engagement of students majoring in “cosmetology” (as part of classes forming a part of the “Sales Techniques in Cosmetology” course taught at the University of Physical Education in Kraków) in the preparation and performance of empirical research was presented. In the first place, general information pertaining to the system of educating cosmetologists in Poland and at the university in question was discussed; this offered a background for illustrating the characteristics of the aforementioned subject, with a focus on the module of classes devoted to the preparation and performance of empirical research. In the second place, the process encompassing: (1) students’ engagement in the research preparation, (2) students’ engagement in the performance of research, (3) students’ engagement in the analysis and interpretation of research results and (4) actions taken to utilize the results of research for didactic purposes, was presented. Results and conclusions. Benefits resulting from the proposed formula of teaching the subject were listed, with simultaneous reference to the diversified level of engagement of the lecturer and the students in the performance of individual stages of the research process.

RNMKRS PITCHPERFECTOR: ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE TO BOOSTER STUDENTS’ SELF-EFFICACY IN DELIVERING ELEVATOR PITCH

ABSTRACT This article investigates the usage of an AI bot app called RNMKRS PitchPerfector to teach the sales skills necessary to deliver a successful elevator pitch. In particular, we wanted to know if the use of this app could increase student self-efficacy toward this critical selling skill. To analyze if RNMKRS had a real impact on students’ elevator pitch self-efficacy, surveys were administered before and after the implementation of the RNMKRS assignment. In addition, class modality (online asynchronous and in-person) was tested to identify potential differences in self-efficacy growth. We found that the usage of RNMKRS did increase student self-efficacy in the delivery of an elevator pitch. That impact was not influenced by classroom modality suggesting that it would be equally effective for an in-person class as it would be in an online asynchronous course. Finally, we discuss the challenges that we faced implementing RNMKRS with students.

TriATNE: Tripartite Adversarial Training for Network Embeddings.

Existing network embedding algorithms based on generative adversarial networks (GANs) improve the robustness of node embeddings by selecting high-quality negative samples with the generator to play against the discriminator. Since most of the negative samples can be easily discriminated from positive samples in graphs, their poor competitiveness weakens the function of the generator. Inspired by the sales skills in the market, in this article, we present tripartite adversarial training for network embeddings (TriATNE), a novel adversarial learning framework for learning stable and robust node embeddings. TriATNE consists of three players: 1) producer; 2) seller; and 3) customer. The producer strives to learn the representation of each sample (node pair), making it easy for the customer to differentiate between the positive and the negative, while the seller tries to confuse the customer by selecting realistic-looking samples. The customer, a biased evaluation metric, provides feedback for training the producer and the seller. To further enhance the robustness of node embedding, we model the customer as a two-layer neural network, where each unit in the hidden layer can be regarded as a customer with different preferences. TriATNE also plays against the producer by adjusting the weight of each customer. We test the performance of TriATNE on two common tasks: classification as well as link prediction. The experimental results on various publicly available datasets show that TriATNE can exploit the network structure well.

Backgrounds and Trainings in Cannabis Therapeutics of Dispensary Personnel.

A growing body of scientific research indicates that oncology teams tend to offer individuals with cancer little clinical advice regarding medicinal cannabis (MC) and that individuals with cancer instead turn to cannabis dispensaries for MC guidance. Our objective was to investigate dispensary personnel's backgrounds and trainings in MC advising. The study design was semistructured interviews across 13 states with cannabis dispensary personnel in managerial or client-facing positions. Of 38 recruited, 26 (68%) completed interview. The primary outcome was training in MC advising. Researchers targeted thematic saturation and adhered to Consolidated Criteria for Reporting Qualitative Research. Of 26 participants, 54% were female, with an average age of 40 (range: 22-64) years. Half worked in client-facing roles; half worked in managerial ones. Study participants endorsed passionate commitment to their profession, often motivated by personal experience with MC therapeutics. Cannabis dispensaries often privileged sales skills over cannabis therapeutics knowledge when hiring, resulting in uneven baseline levels of cannabis therapeutics expertise among staff. Most participants reported workplace cannabis therapeutics training to be unstandardized and weak. They described dispensary personnel as resourceful in pursuing cannabis knowledge, self-financing learning in off-hours, sampling dispensary products, and exchanging knowledge. Nearly half the participants called for quality, standardized cannabis therapeutics training for dispensary personnel. The many oncology teams who defer to dispensary personnel regarding MC advising rely on a workforce who views themselves as unevenly trained. Further research should include a national survey of cannabis dispensary personnel to learn whether these findings hold true in a larger sample. If so, the oncology community must determine the best approach to clinically advising individuals with cancer about MC.

Development of Businesess Scale: Empirical Evidence from Business Center UINSA Surabaya

Responses and strategies for the enrichment of product marketing problems in business units at Universitas Islam Negeri Sunan Ampel (UINSA) Surabaya need to be done. It is reasonable to prepare considering that the COVID-19 pandemic has had a systemic impact on all sectors, including the economic and business sectors. Business units in universities as one of the sub-fields that need to be developed as incubation centers, and sources of income for universities are important to maintain stable performance. The purpose of this study was to determine the identification of internal and external conditions. The research used is qualitative, with a descriptive strategy and SWOT analysis as an analytical tool. Informants from this study came from internal and external institutions, such as the daily board (BPH), employees, and customers. Validation of data using in-depth interviews, in order to obtain the accuracy and validity of data and information. The results indicate that the internal and external SWOT analysis is located in quadrant 1, (0.026; 0.063), which shows the results that these coordinates place the company in a position that supports an aggressive strategy. A strategy that prioritizes sales focus and strengthens internal management. Then from an institutional managerial point of view, PUSBIS in its current condition also has fairly solid teamwork, protecting all members of the extended family by carrying out reading routines, daily financial evaluations, self-development training, and compensation for improving performance. Research suggestions that are in accordance with the results of the study are increasing sales skills, utilizing social media, marketplaces, and involving websites to launch and sell products. It is considered important and necessary in the midst of a pandemic that is still not over, to capture the normal potential of buyers from outside the campus.

Brushing up on time-honored sales skills to excel in tomorrow’s environment

PurposeDetermining 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/approachThis 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.FindingsA 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/valueThis 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.

Hiring for sales success: The emerging importance of salesperson analytical skills

Several studies suggest that accelerating technology, increasing product complexity, and an expanding volume of information in the marketplace are changing sales roles, necessitating a review of the current sales skills required for success. Using mixed methods, we examine the skills required of contemporary B2B salespeople. First, we draw on unique data from 3.8 million LinkedIn job postings to examine which skills sales recruiters are seeking in new hires. Whilst confirming the importance of previously researched sales skills, this identified a sales skill largely disregarded by the extant literature: salesperson analytical skills. We triangulated these findings through interviews with 20 sales executives and developed a scale to measure this new analytical skills construct. Then, to test the scale's predictive and nomological validity, we used survey data from 251 business-to-business salespeople. Results reveal that salesperson analytical skills have both a direct and a moderating effect on sales performance across varying selling situations.

GAP IN THE STUDENTS' AND TRAVEL AGENCIES' OPINION ON THE NECESSARY KNOWLEDGE AND SKILLS TO WORK IN TRAVEL AGENCIES

Travel agencies are important stakeholders in the development of tourism in the destination. They create integrated tourism products with high value added. Therefore, in addition to formal knowledge, they expect specific skills from their employees. However, the study programmes of educational institutions in the field of tourism often focus more on specific knowledge and skills in the hotel industry, at the same time neglecting the business of travel agencies. In addition, it is necessary to consider whether the existing formal education provide knowledge and develop skills that are crucial for the business of travel agencies. Therefore, the aim of this paper is to investigate if there is a gap in the opinions of students (future employees) and travel agencies on the knowledge and skills necessary for working in travel agencies. For this purpose, research was conducted on students of the University of Split, University Department of Professional Studies and the travel agencies in Croatia measuring the probable difference in their opinions. The results indicated that the opinions of both groups of respondents were agreed to the most important knowledge and skills for work (sales skills, foreign languages and digital business). The considerable significance of international work or educational experience was also confirmed by both groups of respondents. Still, there is a difference relating to recommendations that employers give more emphasis than the future employees who haven’t yet recognized their importance. Consequently, it is necessary to encourage continuous cooperation between the educational institution and the employers in order to obtain detailed information about the necessary knowledge and skills in the field of travel agency business, and on the other hand, to stimulate students to make more effort preparing and presenting themselves as much as possible to a future employer.

Impact of COVID-19 on Small Business Households: A Case Study of Thanh Hoa and Tuyen Quang Provinces, Vietnam

This study aims to assess the impact of COVID-19 on the business activities of 196 small business households, and their adaptation strategies to cope with those impacts in Thanh Hoa and Tuyen Quang provinces of Vietnam. By utilizing descriptive statistics and OLS regression, this study’s results show that all targeted business owners believe that COVID-19 had changed customer demands and reduced their supply input significantly. Our study findings also revealed that due to COVID-19, households’ living expenditure, transportation costs and input costs were significantly increased and led to a reduction in the number of customers. Households in the study area showed their willingness to apply the adaptation strategies to change their business products or business methods. Further, adaptation measures such as increasing advertising or improving sales skills were reported to be less attractive to the participation of households in the context of increasing waves of the recent pandemic. Significant factors that affected households’ income were the type of businesses (including food and beverage businesses, grocery businesses, fashion and cosmetic businesses, technology products businesses and entertainment and beauty services businesses), the age of the business owner, the decrease in the supply of input goods, increased transportation costs and the reduced number of other purchases. Some policy recommendations are suggested such as giving priority to vaccination for sellers and freight carriers, creating a mechanism for smooth transportation of goods between localities, tax reduction or exemption during the closure because of the state policies including lock downs, social distancing, and to support business owners in the form of a subsidy or to provide them with a platform for online business that might be more suitable in the current situation.

Selling for the Social Good: A Commentary and Extension to Pedagogy Place

This paper describes an adaptation of “Social Marketing, Consumer Behavior, and the SDGs” available from the Pedagogy Place website to an introductory sales class. The extension provides an example of how the structure of a macromarketing project can be adapted to every part of the marketing curriculum—even personal selling. The project details how sales skills can be developed using experiential learning while simultaneously providing an opportunity to discuss macromarketing principles and use sales techniques toward sustainability goals and societal good.

Student self-determination and boundaries: An emerging market perspective on the development of sales skills

In an emerging market economy faced with high unemployment rates, it is essential to develop entrepreneurial skills, of which sales skills have been identified as an imperative contributor. Applying self-determination theory and boundary theory, this study explores what motivates students enrolled in a direct selling practical module at a university to pass the module successfully in the form of reaching a sales target. It also explores the boundaries that students assign between their student and personal lives, and their perception of the skills they have developed on completion of the module. The research approach was qualitative and employed eight in-depth interviews. Inductive content analysis was used to analyse the data. The findings revealed enacted segmentation as students distinguish between their life/home and work/school roles, but are constantly aware of the module. It was also found that the students believe the module made a positive contribution to the development of several skills. The findings contribute on two levels: practically, it may aid educators who offer similar courses, or who operate in countries with similar challenges, with insights on how to improve their sales courses; and theoretically, it contributes to the development of theories applicable to emerging economies.

Salesperson Self-Regulated Learning and Online Customers' Patronage: An Ambidexterity Perspective.

Although the roles of exploratory and exploitative learning as alternative sales skills have been documented, there is not yet a clear consensus, and empirical evidence in the online sales context is lacking. In addition, existing studies have tended to examine the two activities in parallel, without looking into the dyadic situation of balanced or imbalanced exploratory-exploitative learning. Grounded in the WeChat business context, this study explores how online sales agents’ balanced and imbalanced ambidextrous learning influence customers’ e-loyalty and, in turn, their patronage intention and behavior. Polynomial regression and response surface analysis are performed on 226 dyads, and the results support the hypothesized balance effect. Further, asymmetrical imbalance effects are identified, with customers exhibiting higher e-loyalty and better patronage outcomes when online sales agents adopt more exploitative learning than exploratory learning. This study helps improve understanding of the efficiency of personal selling in a virtual context.