Research Based Approaches to Sales Performance

The purpose of this research project was to develop a valid set of roles, competencies, and sales areas of expertise (AOEs) relevant for sales team members. The roles, competencies, and AOEs were intended to be comprehensive enough to address both emerging and current responsibilities. To that end, the final model was developed based on a multi-perspective and multi-method approach to avoid bias from any single information source.

Although the model is intended to be comprehensive, it must be specific enough to identify particular skills, knowledge, and outputs necessary to achieve world-class selling excellence. The competency model’s ultimate effectiveness is defined by how it is used (for example, workforce planning, guiding professional development, providing personnel selection criteria, determining eligibility for leadership development programs, assessing the impact of training).

Approach

To create the ASTD Model of World-Class Sales Competency, the project team followed a four-phase process: data collection, model development, validation, and refinement and confirmation. See the Figure below for a graphic representation of the basic development process.

Click for larger image of the research process

Find out more about competency modeling, and why it's important for sales teams