World Class Selling: New Sales Competencies

Appendix D

Research Methodology

Purpose

The purpose of this research project was to develop a valid set of roles, competencies, and sales areas of expertise (AOEs) relevant for sales team members. The roles, competencies, and AOEs were intended to be comprehensive enough to address both emerging and current responsibilities. To that end, the final model was developed based on a multi-perspective and multi-method approach to avoid bias from any single information source.

Although the model is intended to be comprehensive, it must be specific enough to identify the particular skills, knowledge, and outputs necessary to achieve world-class selling excellence. The model’s ultimate effectiveness is defined by how it will be used (for example, workforce ...