ERIC ED412366: Exchanging Skills in Sales and Marketing.

109 Pages·1997·1.2 MB·English

by  ERIC

DOCUMENT RESUME
CE 074 886
ED 412 366
Kodz, J.; Atkinson, J.; Perryman, S.
AUTHOR
Exchanging Skills in Sales and Marketing.
TITLE
Sussex Univ., Brighton (England). Inst. for Employment
INSTITUTION
Studies.
IES-R-341
REPORT NO
ISBN-1-85184-269-1
ISBN
1997-00-00
PUB DATE
NOTE
108p.
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Research (143)
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PUB TYPE
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Career Development; Educational Needs; *Employment
DESCRIPTORS
Opportunities; Foreign Countries; Futures (of Society); *Job
Skills; *Marketing; *Occupational Information; Postsecondary
Education; *Sales Occupations; *Salesmanship; Secondary
Education
*Great Britain
IDENTIFIERS
ABSTRACT
A study of the changing nature of skill requirements in
sales and marketing occupations in Great Britain included a review of
literature and 17 interviews with key sales and marketing contacts and
managers and human resource professionals in large companies during Autumn
1996 and Spring 1997. Results were reported in the following areas of study:
(2) drivers of
(1) the characteristics of the sales and marketing wor
force;
(3) skills required for sales and marketing occupations;
change;
(4)
(5) skill gaps and recruitment
resourcing sales and marketing positions;
(6) training and development; and (7) career progression. The
difficulties;
study concluded that roles within sales and marketing are changing and
increasingly demanding higher level skills. Therefore, it is important that
education providers understand the needs of business to ensure that the
training they provide is compatible with those needs. In addition, more
thought should be directed to developing clear career paths for sales and
marketing occupations so that more candidates with higher qualifications can
be attracted into the field. (Contains 56 references.)
(KC)
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2
EXCHANGING SKILLS IN
SALES AND MARKETING
3
Other titles from IES:
Productive Skills for Process Operatives
Giles L, Kodz J, Evans C
IES Report 336, 1997. ISBN 1-85184-264-0
Changing Roles for Senior Managers
Kett ley P, Strebler M
IES Report 327, 1997. ISBN 1-85184-255-1
Trading Skills for Sales Assistants
Dench S, Perryman S, Kodz J
IES Report 323, 1997. ISBN 1-85184-251-9
A New Deal for Secretaries?
La Valle I, Giles L, Perryman S
IES Report 313, 1996. ISBN 1-85184-239-X
The Return on Investors
Hillage J, Mora lee J
IES Report 314, 1996. ISBN 1-85184-240-3
Measuring the Effectiveness of Training
Spilsbury M
IES Report 282, 1995. ISBN 1-85184-208-X
A catalogue of these and over 100 other titles is available from IES.
4
Institute
the
for
Employment
Studies
Exchanging Skills in
Sales and Marketing
J Kodz
J Atkinson
S Perryman
Report 341
Published by:
THE INSTITUTE FOR EMPLOYMENT STUDIES
Mantell Building
University of Sussex
Brighton BN1 9RF
UK
Tel.
+ 44
686751
(0) 1273
+ 44
690430
Fax
(0)
1273
Crown Copyright © 1997
No part of this publication may be reproduced or used in any form by any means
graphic, electronic or mechanical including photocopying, recording, taping or information
without prior permission in writing from the Institute for
storage or retrieval systems
Employment Studies.
The views expressed in this report are those of the authors and not necessarily those of
the Department for Education and Employment.
British Cataloguing-in-Publication Data
A catalogue record for this publication is available from the British Library
ISBN 1-85184-269-1
Printed in Great Britain by Microgen UK Ltd
The Institute for Employment Studies
IES is an independent, international and apolitical centre of
research and consultancy in human resource issues. It works
closely with employers in the manufacturing, service and public
sectors, government departments, agencies, professional and
employee bodies, and foundations. Since it was established over
25 years ago the Institute has been a focus of knowledge and
practical experience in employment and training policy, the
operation of labour markets and human resource planning and
development. IES is a not-for-profit organisation which has a
multidisciplinary staff of over 60. IES expertise is available to all
organisations through research, consultancy and publications.
IES aims to help bring about sustainable improvements in
employment policy and human resource management. IES
achieves this by increasing the understanding and improving the
practice of key decision makers in policy bodies and employing
organisations.
Acknowledgements
The authors would like to acknowledge the help of all the
employers and other organisations who gave up their time to
share with us their valuable insights and experience.
S
vi
Contents
ix
Executive Summary
The Sales and Marketing Study
1
1.
1.1 Introduction
1
1.2 Aims and objectives
1
2
1.3 Research methodology
1.4 Structure of the report
6
Sales and Marketing Occupations
7
2.
7
2.1 Introduction
2.2 The role of sales and marketing
7
2.3 Trends in employment
15
2.4 Characteristics of the sales and marketing workforce 17
2.5 Pay and conditions of employment
20
2.6 Nature and impact of change
21
29
2.7 Summary
The Skills Required for Sales and Marketing
3.
31
Occupations
3.1 Introduction
31
32
3.2 Key Skills
38
3.3 Occupation-specific skills
43
3.4 Areas of knowledge (understanding the context)
45
3.5 Personal qualities
46
3.6 Changing skill requirements
3.7 Skills gaps within the existing workforce
51
54
3.8 Summary
vii
Resourcing
4.
56
4.1 Introduction
56
4.2 Recruitment source
56
4.3 The recruitment process
60
4.4 Recruitment difficulties
65
4.5 Summary
66
Training and Development
5.
68
5.1 Introduction
68
5.2 Training of new recruits
69
5.3 On-going training
71
5.4 The accreditation of training
76
5.5 Career progression
77
5.6 Summary
80
Issues and Implications of the Research
6.
82
6.1 Introduction
82
6.2 Selling
a key skill
82
6.3 Obtaining the right people
83
6.4 Training
84
6.5 Career paths
84
6.6 Further research
85
References
87
viii