The Top Five Skills for Financial Services Sales

Questionmark, the online assessment provider, has identified five skills that financial services salespeople must develop to maximize their performance.

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Financial services firms depend on making sales. But half of financial services salespeople expect to miss their annual target¹. Employers can improve performance by first understanding the behaviors of the most successful. Then they can identify how widespread they are among workers and build them up with more training and support.

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The top five skills

1. Digital marketing – 82% of buyers look up salespeople or their companies on LinkedIn before responding to their communications.² A compelling digital presence will help with lead generation.
2. First-class knowledge – customers know they can get the basic information online. During a conversation with salespeople, they want to go to the next level of detail.
3. Consultancy – a would-be customer expects a salesperson to understand their business and identify products that are right for them. They want advice on how to use products effectively.
4. Qualifying leads accurately – people waste too much time pursuing leads that are unlikely to convert. They should be able to spot a future opportunity early on and be ruthless in ignoring those that are unlikely to bear fruit.
5. Communication – both speed and quality of communication are essential. Calls must be returned. Emails have to be answered quickly.

Lars Pedersen, CEO of Questionmark, said: “The business environment is ever changing which presents a world of opportunities for financial services salespeople. Employers must ensure teams have the skills to thrive. Understanding what the best people do and replicating those skills across the workforce will ensure results improve.

“Regular skills assessments give employers reliable information on the strengths and weaknesses of their salesforce. They can introduce training to correct weaknesses. They can test the effect of that training with further assessments.”

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