Preferred attributes of sales people in the engineering industry of South Africa.

Abstract

This research aimed to identify the preferred attributes by technical buyers of sales people in the engineering industry of South Africa. Suppliers of technical products and services to the engineering industry of South Africa are facing increased pressure with regard to foreign competition as well as a general price squeeze from the industry due to the decline in global commodity prices. Given the complex nature of the industry, both technically and commercially, sales people in this sector have been identified as key differentiators between success and failure. A substantial amount of research is available that indicates the importance of understanding customer preference and it follows that a solid understanding of customer preferences and the role of the relationship between seller and buyer is vital for sales people to increase success and overall performance within the context in which they operate. A thematic content analysis was conducted on the responses and information gathered from semi-structured interviews involving 12 organisational buyers active in the engineering industry of South Africa. The themes and common attributes identified across all respondents led to a deep understanding of the issues, resulting in a prioritised list of attributes that these buyers prefer in the sales people that they deal with. The research found that ‘technical and product knowledge’ is the most important attribute of sales people, preferred by organisational buyers in the engineering industry of South Africa. ‘Ability and willingness to solve problems’ and ‘thoroughness and follow through’ were found to be second and third most preferred attributes respectively. These, as well as another ten attributes, are discussed in detail in the study. The key finding from this research was that suppliers of technical products and services need to equip their sales teams with the preferred attributes identified by these buyers to further differentiate their approach and be in a position to meet customers preferences with regard to sales person attributes, if they wish to increase sales.