THE IMPACT OF SALES SKILLS ON PERSONAL SELLING PERFORMANCE:THE CASE OF ETHIO TELECOM ENTERPRISE (B2B) SALESPERSONNEL

Abstract

The purposes of this study are twofold. Firstly to understand the influence of sales skill dimensions namely; interpersonal, salesmanship, technical and marketing skills; on sales person performance in Ethio Telecom enterprise (B2B) sales force. Secondly; to find out the effect of organizational commitment both as moderator and independent variable. The research design is quantitative, particularly, utilizing correlation research methodology. Data was collected from all the population of the study, 130 sales persons working for Enterprise Sales division. The findings from this research inferred that from the dimensions of sales skills, technical and salesmanship skills appeared to be significant predictors of sales performance. However, unexpectedly the finding also reviled that interpersonal skills, do not influence salesperson performance. In terms of magnitude of effect, technical skill is superior. The research also confirmed that organizational commitment of the sales person has both direct and moderating influence on sales person performance. Furthermore the study has tried to see the impact of demographic variables on performance of sales persons and found out that age and experience have significant and positive impact on personal sales performance. The study finally recommended three major success factors for ethio telecom, which enhance the performance of salesperson’s performance in enterprise (B2B) personal selling. The company has to have more sales people to stay on their job for longer time or more experienced sales personnel, having Sale persons with excellent technical knowledge, by increasing commitment of the sales person toward the organization and also by developing the salesmanship skills of their sales personnel.