Aaron
Wallis has recently undertaken the largest sales survey of its type which
explores changing trends within the industry as well as a powerful insight into
the minds of sales professionals.
With
62 questions answered by 726 completely anonymous sales professionals we have
captured some impressive results helping us promote professional sales, raise
awareness and gain a firmer understanding on how to succeed in sales teams.
To
receive a full free copy of the 2014 UK Sales Survey please follow this link – 2014
UK Sales Survey Report
There
were various questions answered on employment which have shown the interesting
results.
The
726 participants who took the survey were asked what ‘broad’ industry sector
they were working within. The 2014 study showed:
Business
to Business Services seemed to be the most popular working sector with a high
quantity of 232 employees. Of course though as a largely ‘service centric' nation
and the entry qualifications needed to enter business services are not as lofty
as say, Science, this is perhaps not surprising.
For
the majority of people who work in sales, the study discovered that a
considerable amount worked as a Sales Manager (24%), whereas fewer people (1%)
worked in Telesales.
This
could perhaps be argued by the fact that the type of respondents from surveys,
such as these, are likely to be further on in their careers. The respondents fell into the following
‘broad’ Job Titles and ‘Job Types':
- 7% worked in strategic/corporate sales.
- 14% worked as a sales director.
- 5% worked in marketing.
- 13% were managing directors.
- 3% worked in internal sales.
- 17% were under field sales.
- 13% were account managers.
- 3% of respondents were non-sales employees.
Working
sectors are like Russian dolls; they have sectors within sectors, and
similarly, companies have various departments, which make up the whole, such as
human resources (HR) and marketing. But,
which is the most influential department within organisations?
- 14% felt marketing was the most
significant and prominent division.
- 24% thought accounts and finance was by
far the most imperative category.
- Only 3% felt HR was the highest-ranking
and most important.
- 5% thought that the most influential department
within their existing employer was the managing director’s personal
assistant!
So,
who should promote sales skills – is it government, education or the commercial
world? Business has the prime
responsibility of promoting sales skills according to 78% of the sales workers,
followed by 11% who feel it’s further and higher education centres.
Additionally 7% believe schools are solely responsible and a small proportion
(3%) feels it’s the government’s job.
Although
more people decided the most dominant and leading department in a business was
sales, they believed that it hadn’t become more influential in the last three
years and that it had stayed about the same.
However,
others had contrasting views but 283 people agree that sales have been somewhat
influential within the last three years whereas 123 people feel it hasn’t been
influential. 312 people remain decided that the sales haven’t really changed
its importance.
Written by Liam Oakes
Liam is the Office Manager at
Aaron Wallis and has been with the company for 3 years after having a career
with the RAF; Liam has helped hundreds of Sales Professionals secure a new
Sales role and ensures that Aaron Wallis runs smoothly.
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