Companies Need People with Experience in Sales, and How!
How important is expertise in the commercial sector within Italian companies? A lot, as is clear from the survey prepared by the Commercial Excellence Lab SDA Bocconi on a sample of 114 top managers of Italian companies, mainly CEOs and presidents. So much so that, for 86% of the respondents, in the corporate culture of their business top management is required to have experience in the sales field. Furthermore, almost nine out of ten managers who claim to have a commercial background believe that these skills have been critical to their career path.
The survey analyzed the perceptions of top managers on the importance of sales skills to the company's success and the careers of managers. What, among these skills, are those considered most important; what do companies need to attract and retain talents in this field; and, finally, what are the main limitations to the development of sales skills?
Looking at the data, it emerges straight away that commercial skills are considered essential for the success of the company. 97% of responding top managersbelieve sales have a significant or decisive role, and 90% said that these skills are becoming more and more strategic and less operational. In addition, 86% believe that companies should invest more resources to attract talent in sales, although 92% believe that their company should also increase investment to develop the skills of sales people already employed.
With regard to the enhancement of the commercial background to reach top positions, 86% of respondents, in addition to stressing that the corporate culture of their business requires top management to have acquired sales experience, declare that they actively promote people with experience in sales.
In particular, 89% of managers who have a sales background are convinced that this has substantially contributed to their career, and 93% of the total respondents (regardless of their previous experience) are convinced that trade skills are important for reaching top positions. In addition, more than 80% believe that a career in sales offers more professional opportunities than average.
Explains Paolo Guenzi, at the helm of Commercial Excellence Lab along with Paolo Sisti and Paola Caiozzo: "The CEOs said clearly that commercial functions are critical to their businesses, and accumulated personal experience in sales is an essential prerequisite for achieving positions at the summit of the company. This is because it help you to acquire market knowledge and develop interpersonal skills that other career paths and corporate backgrounds do not allow you to develop. "
If sales skills are considered so important, then a company must be able to attract and retain talent in this field. It can do this, in the opinion of the sample, by focusing on offering opportunities for growth, even more than on above average wages and dedicated career development paths.
The survey, finally, also assesses the main problems that arise in this process of skills development for people working on the commercial side. The perception of the 114 top managers is that companies struggle to define which skills are useful in the long run. Even where it is known which skills should be increased, it is in any case difficult to develop them in practice. "Our research shows that sales are increasingly present in the boardrooms of Italian firms, and a solid business background is a decisive pillar for building a professional career in a top company," concludes Guenzi, "but also that businesses have ample room for improvement to attract, develop and exploit the commercial talent that can play a key role in the highest levels of companies. "