Q:What are the personal qualities employers look for when recruiting sales staff?

A:The first thing most employers look for in finding the right sales staff is their attitude. They must have the drive to success as well as an ability to work under pressure and handle failed sales calls. Enthusiasm is also a must in order to make potential clients interested to just keep listening at least. Out of all the skills preferred, communication skill is certainly at the top. Communication is two-way. Most people think that good presentation skill is very important. On the contrary, active listening is more important. A good presenter is not always the best salesperson but a good listener will most likely to succeed in sales because he/she can find out the actual needs of the clients so as to offer the most suitable service to fulfill client's requirements. Product knowledge would be the least important because it can always be picked up in a short period of time. Employers are always searching for observant salespeople that keep an eye on the constant changing market and have the ability to identify business opportunities.

Q:Is educational qualification more important than working experience in getting a job in sales industry?

A:Educational qualification is only one part of the many elements most employers look for in a sales staff. And it is definitely less important than working experience. The reason is simple and straight forward. Traditional education does not provide a specific subject on “How to Sell” and no public examination result is available to reflect the selling ability of any individual. Most sales jobs require a basic level of education because the employees will need sufficient language and arithmetic skills to handle minimum paper work without intensive training from employers. Working experience is definitely more important when considering the right candidate. This is a far more convincing element for projecting or estimating the future performance of the staff.

In our organization, the sales persons in the same positions have education level ranging from post-secondary to MBA. The performance of each individual is not in direct relation with his/her education level. Having said that, education is still important because when 2 candidates have comparable working experiences, the one possessing higher education level will have definite advantage. Also, in some special industries such as the field involving chemicals, acedemic knowledge on certain subjects is required in order to better understand the products and their benefits. But in general, experience is still higher in the consideration hierarchy.

- Kevin Leung, Group Sales Manager, Buspak Advertising (HK) Ltd.