n a very simple basis, one could say that there are only three critical competencies necessary for a field sales person to be effective.

Differentiating Competencies

1. The Ability to Get an Appointment Via the Telephone: this is a very difficult task, yet one that is often taken for granted. The ability to get in new doors on a consistent basis often hinges on this critical competency. A sales force should be well trained and structured in this area.
    
2. The Initial Face-to-Face Encounter With a New Prospect: This is the absolute critical competency for a salesperson's effectiveness. In mid to long cycle selling, competencies such as closing and presenting are really not highly correlated to sales success. Although failure may occur later in the selling cycle, it is usually what happened early on that led to the failure.
    
3. Generate Referrals: If a salesperson can generate referrals through the existing client base, there will always be new opportunities. Again, another very simple but overlooked area that demands a high competence level.

Some other secondary competencies to consider:

• Positioning: A bold and differentiating positioning statement that describes "what business your company is in" is often a sign that you have a high achieving salesperson.
   
• Sophisticated Questioning Strategies: Everyone understands the importance of a good "needs analysis", but few salespeople have the questioning skills needed to "create demand."
   
• The Ability to Create versus Service Demand: Top salespeople can create demand where it doesn't exist for a product or service. B and C type salespeople only have the ability to service demand, which means they can only deal with people who are in the shopping stage of buying behavior. This severely limits their ability to grow sales.
   
• Business People Who Sell: Salespeople of the future will need to understand "the game of business" on a more macro level. The days of transactional selling are almost over. The consultative salesperson who can evaluate a prospect's situation and propose a "better business results" scenario will always have the edge. Yet, in order to do so, this individual will be less a "salesperson" and more a "businessperson who sells".