selling competency for sales staffs of passenger sales and promotion department at northern region branch - vietnam airlines

3.3 Requirement of selling competencies for Sales staffs at northen RegionlaBranch...25 3.3.1 Required Knowledge for Sales staffs...28 3.3.2 Required skills for Sales staffs...30 3.3.3 R

GIANG THI THANH XUAN

SELLING COMPETENCY FOR SALES STAFFS

OF PASSENGER SALES AND PROMOTION DEPARTMENT

AT NORTHERN REGION BRANCH - VIETNAM AIRLINES

SUPERVISOR: ASSOCIATE PROF DR TRAN THI VAN HOA

This thesis is completed in order to fulfill the requirement from Master of BusinessAdministration (MBA) program, Business School – The National EconomicsUniversity (NEU Business School)

First of all, I would like to express my sincere thanks to all of MBA professors ofNational Economics University, who have given me a lot of valuable knowledge aswell as skills for my study and my work I would like to send my sincere thanks to

my supervisor, Associate Professor, Dr Tran Thi Van Hoa who supported andguided me so enthusiastically to complete my thesis

And, I want to send my thanks to top managers of NRB for their advices anddirections to conduct the research I also thank to my colleagues and customer whosupport me for the job as well as for my thesis They have given the data, helped me

to answer my interview and shared their experience to compete the thesis

Last but not least, thank so much for my family and all my classmates who alwayshelp and encourage me to finish this thesis

TABLE OF CONTENT

ACKNOWLEDGEMENT i

TABLE OF CONTENT ii

ABBREVIATIONS iv

LIST OF TABLES v

LIST OF CHARTS vi

LIST OF FIGURE vii

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY viii

CHAPTER 1 INTRODUCTION 1

1.1 Rationale 1

1.2 Research objectives 2

1.3 Research questions 2

1.4 Research methodology 3

1.4.1 Research process: 3

1.4.2 Collecting data 3

1.4.3 Analyzing data 4

1.5 Research scope 5

1.6 Research structure 5

CHAPTER 2 THEORETICAL BACKGROUND ON COMPETENCIES 6

2.1 Nature of competency 6

2.1.1 Definition of competency 6

2.1.2 Classification of competencies 7

2.1.3 The characteristic of competency 9

2.2 Competency components and models 10

2.2.1 Competency components 10

2.2.2 Competency assessment 13

2.3 Factors affect to competency 17

2.3.1 External factors 17

2.3.2 Internal factors 17

CHAPTER 3 REQUIRED SELLING COMPETENCIES FOR SALES STAFF AT NORTHERN REGIONAL BRANCH 19

3.1 Introdution of northern regional branch 19

3.1.1 Overview of VNA and Northern Regional Branch 19

3.1.2 Northern Regional Branch’s structure 23

3.2 Job analysis for sales Staffs at Northern Regional Branch 24

3.2.1 Passenger Sales and Promotion (SPD) department’s function 24

3.2.2 Job description for Sales staffs at Northern Regional Branch 24

3.3 Requirement of selling competencies for Sales staffs at northen Regionla

Branch 25

3.3.1 Required Knowledge for Sales staffs 28

3.3.2 Required skills for Sales staffs 30

3.3.3 Required Attitude for Sales staffs: 33

3.3.4 Summary for required selling competencies for Sales staffs at Northern Regional Branch 34

CHAPTER 4 ANALYZE THE CURRENT SELLING COMPETENCIES OF SALES STAFFS AT NORTHERN REGIONAL BRANCH 35

4.1 Responded profile 35

4.2 Current competencies 36

4.2.1 Current knowledge 36

4.2.2 Current selling skills 39

4.2.3 Current attitude of sales staffs 45

4.3 Gap analysis 47

4.3.1 The gap between required and current selling competencies of sales staffs at NRB 47

4.3.2 Causes of the gaps between current and required selling competencies of sales staffs at NRB 53

CHAPTER 5 RECOMMENDATION AND SOLUTIONS TO IMPROVE SELLING COMPETENCIES OF SALES STAFFS AT NORTHERN REGIONAL BRANCH 55

5.1 The orientation of Human resource Development at northern Regional Branch 55

5.1.1 The objective and strategy of Human resource development of NRB 55

5.1.2 The objective of sales staffs development of NRB 56

5.2 Solutions to improve Selling competencies for sales Staffs to meet the Requiremnet 57

5.2.1 Training solutions 57

5.2.2 Non – training solutions 63

5.3 Recommendation for each Factor in northern Regional Branch 67

5.3.1 Recommendation for the leaders 67

5.3.2 Recommendation for the HR department 68

5.3.3 Recommendation for sales staffs 68

CONCLUSION 70

CONCLUSION 70

REFERENCES 71

KSA Knowledge, Skills and Attitude

MBA Master of Business Administration

NEU National Economics University

NRB Northern Region Branch

OJT On the Job Training

SPD Sales Promotion department

LIST OF TABLES

Table 3.1 Description of require competencies 26

Table 3.2: Required ‘Fundamental knowledge’ for sales staffs 29

Table 3.3: Required ‘Company strategy awareness’ for sales staffs 30

Table 3.4: Required ‘Communication skills’ for Sales staffs 31

Table 3.5: Required ‘Presentation skills’ for Sales staffs 31

Table 3.6: Required ‘Problem solving’ for Sales staffs 32

Table 3.7: Required ‘Time management skills’ for Sales staffs 33

Table 3.8: Required ‘Customer care skills’ for Sales staffs 33

Table 3.9: Required attitude for Sales staffs 34

Table 4.1: Respondents of the research 35

Table 4.2: Current knowledge of Sales staffs 36

Table 4.3: Gap between required and current fundamental knowledge 37

Table 4.4: Current strategy awareness of Sales staffs 38

Table 4.5: Gap between required and current strategy awareness 38

Table 4.6: Current communication skills of Sales staffs 39

Table 4.7: Gap between required and current communication skills of Sales staffs 40 Table 4.8: Current presentation skills of Sales staffs 41

Table 4.9: Gap between required and current presentation skills 41

Table 4.10: Current problem solving skills of sales staffs 42

Table 4.11: Gap between required and current problem solving skills 42

Table 4.12: Current time management skills of sales staffs 43

Table 4.13: Gap between required and current time management skills 44

Table 4.14: Current Customer care skills of sales staffs 44

Table 4.15: Gap between required and current Customer care skills 45

Table 4.16: Current Attitude of sales staffs 45

Table 4.17: Gap between required and current attitude of sales staffs 46

Table 4.18: Current competencies and the gap with requirement of Sales staffs 47

Table 5.1: Recommended training courses for Salesmen 58

LIST OF CHARTS

Chart 1.1: Research process 3

Chart 3.1 Result of passenger transportation 22

Chart 3.2: Required selling competencies for the sales staffs at NRB 34

Chart 4.1: Gap between required and current fundamental knowledge 37

Chart 4.2: Gap between required and current communication skills 40

Chart 4.3: Gap between required and current performance sales of salesmen 46

Chart 4.4: The gap between required and current competencies 52

LIST OF FIGURE

Figure 2.1 The Iceberg Model 9

Figure 2.2 Competency components 10

Figure 2.3: Selling competency assessment process 16

Figure 3.1 Northern Regional Branch structure 23

 Which are the requirements of selling competency for sale staffs at PassengerSales and Promotion department – VNA’s NRB

 What are the current selling competencies of sales force at Passenger Salesand Promotion department?

 What are the gaps between current and required sales staff’s sellingcompetency at Passenger Sales and Promotion department?

The thesis applied KSA (Knowledge, Skills and Attitude) competency model andcompetency assessment method (Self-competency assessment, Superior-competency assessment, Customer-competency assessment) to analyze In thisresearch, the author uses both primary and secondary data for analysis The authorhas conducted in - depth interview, discussion with NRB’s managers to obtain theirviews on Sales staffs’ selling competencies Furthermore, the sales staffs andcustomer survey has been conducted for 90 days from April to June to collect theevaluation for sales staffs’ selling competencies Total of 134 questionnaires hasbeen sent for this survey and 128 complete responses from customers werereceived, taking account for 95.52% of the total questionnaires sent

After conducting research, the author found the real gaps between required andcurrent selling competencies of Sales staffs on knowledge, skills and attitude Interm of knowledge, the biggest gap presents in “Sales and sales management” (1.17point) In term of selling skills, the biggest gaps presents in “Problem solving skill”(1.34 point) In term of attitude, the gaps found are relative small (under 0.5 point)

so this competency component is considered good The main causes of these gapsare there is lack of detailed job descriptions for Sales staffs at NRB, lack of accurateperformance’s assessment, motivation’s policies, training plan and lack ofexperienced sales staffs.

According to the survey result, the author gives some commendation and solutions

to improve the sales staffs’ selling competencies The strategy to improve suchcompetencies is in both training and non-training ways The training solutionscomprise courses (including 6 short supplementary programs) to enhance specificcompetency with the biggest gaps For the non-training solutions, the author wouldrecommend setting clear job description for sales staffs, enhancing HR system,creating more motivation for sales staffs It is expected that these recommendationscan somehow support to enhance selling competencies of Sales staffs

CHAPTER 1 INTRODUCTION 1.1 Rationale

Nowadays, in both domestic and global economies, selling is increasingly becomingmore vital Personal selling involves direct interaction between salespeople andcustomers It requires good interpersonal skills and training because of its highlyprofessional nature Sales staffs are pre-occupied with creating value for both theirfirms their customers Sales staffs can build long-term exchange relationships thatbenefit both their customers and the company it represents Sales staffs is critical tothe sale of many goods and services, especially major commercial and industrialproducts as well as consumer durables (Dalrymple, 2004) Therefore sellingcompetencies for sales staffs in the company is an important issue

The Northern Region Branch (NRB) is Vietnam Airlines’ (VNA) representative andcoordinator of sales activities in passenger, luggage, cargo and packagetransportation of VNA in the northern cities and provinces Its growth of revenuefrom passenger and cargo services has reached over 15% annually, and keptincreasing over years They take in charge of controlling sales network as well ascarrying out researches, evaluate the effectiveness of sales policies and currentservice standards to promote sales, improve VNA' service quality So the salesstaffs play a key role in NRB Consequently, sales staffs’ competencies are required

as perfect as possible

In fact, although the sales staffs were recruited with a good profile met with theNRB’s recruitment’s requirement, when doing the real job, some of them do notsatisfy the needs of work These staff could not have enough competence to satisfythe work or have less knowledge absolute the selling skill, inactive attitude Anotherside, the sales volume always increases per year and the competition is fiercer.Furthermore, the customer’s evaluation on NRB’s sales staff every year still low

From these rationales, the writer has chosen the topic “Selling competency for sales

staff of Passenger Sales and Promotion department at Northern Region Branch – Vietnam Airlines”

1.2 Research objectives

This research will follow those main objectives:

 To clarify the selling competency’s requirements for sales staff at PassengerSales and Promotion department

 To analyze the current selling competency of sales staff and then find out thegap between required and current selling competency

 To propose the solutions to close the gap between evaluated and requiredselling competency of sales staff at Passenger Sales and Promotiondepartment – VNA’s NRB

1.3 Research questions

To match and gain the above objectives, the writer set out some questions that need

to find the answers to solve the problem:

 Which are the requirements of selling competency for sale staffs at PassengerSales and Promotion department – VNA’s NRB

 What are the current selling competencies of sales force at Passenger Salesand Promotion department?

 What are the gaps between current and required sales staff’s sellingcompetency at Passenger Sales and Promotion department

What are solutions to improving selling competency for sales staff of PassengerSales and Promotion department?

1.4 Research methodology

1.4.1 Research process:

Chart 1.1: Research process

Source: Author’s idea

In this thesis, both secondary data and primary data are used for identifying requiredand current selling competency of Sales staff at NRB

1.4.2 Collecting data

In order to complete this thesis, data was collected from two sources:

1.4.2.1 Secondary data:

- From the previous studies which the writer searched There are some

researches on competency They focus on definitions, how to analysis thecompetency and the requirement for competencies Thus, the information inthe previous studies will be a useful data source for our research

- From NRB’s documents, reports, policies, regulations, labor agreement:

show the performance of sales staff

- Other articles on newspapers, journals, books, magazines related to

competency subject.

Sale staff’s job analysis

Required selling competence for sale staffs

Recommendation

1.4.2.2 Primary data: In this research, primary data is very important source Two

methods used to collecting primary data are: interview and questionnaires survey

- In – deep interview: The author had interviewed with 4 key persons in NRB.

They were Mr Nguyen Thuong Hoang Hai – Director of NRB; Mrs Le KimAnh – Deputy Director of NRB; Mr Truong Vinh Hung – Acting GeneralManager of Sales Promotion department (SPD) and Mrs Le Thi To Linh –Sales Manager of SPD The author made a schedule in detail for theinterview All the questions were well prepared before interviewing them So

it helped the author did not lost the information

Besides, the author was ready to collect and take note information from theleaders during the interviews They shared with the author a lot ofinformation about required selling competency for sales staffs of SPD inNRB According to their requirement of selling competencies, the authordesigned a list which contained required components of selling competency

to make an assessment model

- Survey: A survey had been carried out with questionnaires of 134 sent to 4

key leaders and managers of, all of 30 sales staffs and 100/173 customers(including travel agents, corporate accounts and tour operations) The authorchose the sample of customers following the method of “Respondents'willingness to participate” These questionnaires were given directly toleaders and sales staffs and were delivered by email to the customers Thequestionnaires allowed them to evaluate Sales staffs’ selling competencies bygiving points (from 1: very bad to 5: very good) in each components Thereare two different form for NRB staffs and the customers

1.4.3 Analyzing data

Through the data and information collected from secondary and primary research,the author used Microsoft Excel software to analyze such information The authorconverted numbers into percentages and averages to show the portions and gaps

between current and required selling competencies These numbers could showwhich component should be amended

1.5 Research scope

Object: The thesis focus on selling competency of sales force in NRB - VNA

Location: in the Northern Vietnam, in 2013

Time:

• Secondary data: collected in 2011 – 2012

• Primary data: will be collected from April to June, 2013

1.6 Research structure

This thesis includes five main chapter as following:

Chapter 1: Introduction

Chapter 2: Theoretical background on competency

Chapter 3: Required selling competencies of sales staffs at NRB

Chapter 4: Analyze the current selling competencies of sales staffs at NRB

Chapter 5: Recommendation and solutions to improve selling competencies of sales

staffs’ at NRB

CHAPTER 2 THEORETICAL BACKGROUND ON COMPETENCIES

However, till 1990s when Furham clarify it by giving an explanation: “The termcompetence is new and fashionable, but the concept is old Psychologists interested

in personality and individual differences, organizational behaviors andpsychometrics have long debated these questions of personality traits, intelligenceand other abilities”

And from there, there are many definitions were stated by famous authors andschool Each of definitions is general or rather specific meanings depend on thecontext and the objective of their research So, people might get confused with thesedifferent definitions And actually, people can recognize by themselves and statetheir own definition about competency

As time passed by it has arisen the necessary for the brief and clear definition ofcompetency, these days a definition that we usually use says:

“Competency is the standard requirement for an individual to properly perform aspecific job It encompasses a combination of knowledge, skills and behaviorsutilized to improve performance.”

So, competencies refer to skills or knowledge that leads to superior performance.These are formed through an individual/organization’s knowledge, skills andabilities and provide a framework for distinguishing between poor performancesthrough to exceptional performance Competencies can apply at organizational,individual, team, and occupational and functional levels Competencies areindividual abilities or characteristics that are keys to effectiveness in work

2.1.2 Classification of competencies

According to the report “The Competent Use of Competency – Based Strategies forSelection and Development” by Anna Carroll – Interaction Design, Inc and JudithMcCrackin – THOUGHTSPACE, Inc there are four types of competencies that incombination can effectively leverage individual, team and organizationalperformance Types of competencies include:

- Key – for all employees

- Team – for group that are interdependent and project – focused

- Functional – finance, research and development, etc

- Leadership and management

2.1.2.1 Key competencies

Key competencies are used to describe the elements of behavior that are importantfor all employees They support organization values, desired culture, andperformance expectations in such areas as customer service, teamwork and personalresponsibility They provide a clear definition of selection criteria to be used inbehavioral event interviews Clearly – defined key competencies can help theorganization ensure that new employees are a good match to culture and generalperformance standards

In addition, key competencies can help provide focus on priority employeedevelopment topics Corporate – wide development activities in areas suchfinancial/business skills, team collaboration, or customer service often arise asdevelopment targets for a board range of employees.

2.1.2.2 Team competencies

Team competencies describe specific capabilities and characteristics of a team as awork unit They are important in organizations that have embraced team – basedwork systems and can provide a clear focus for team assessment and development.Important team competencies, supported by research on high performance teams,would include the capability to:

o Set collective goals

o Establish priorities

o Define roles

o Identify and solve problems

o Establish effective work process

o Manage conflict constructively

o Create and sustain an environment of trust and collaboration

o Maintain an outcome focus

2.1.2.3 Functional competencies

Functional competencies describe more specialized knowledge and skills for rolessuch as project manager, customer service representative and manufacturingengineer Competency descriptions need to be boarded enough to be used by arange of people in the same role

For functional competencies, it is important to keep the descriptors from gettingtechnically detailed that they lose their practical purpose Functional competencies

can be a repository for specific knowledge used and learned by many to deliverexcellent results

2.1.2.4 Leadership and management competencies

Specific challenges of the workplace of the future include the growth of outsourcingand the expansion of remote, contract, or temporary workers; continuing technologymigration; the growth of information access and information networks; thecontinual reengineering of work, and the growth of internal and external businesspartnership These challenges demand a clear focus on relevant leadership andmanagement competencies, including the ability to learn

2.1.3 The characteristic of competency

Basing on “The handbook of Competency Mapping” – Seema Sanghi, there are fivetypes of competency characteristics, such as:

- Motives: the things a person consistently thinks about or wants and thatwhich causes action Motives “drive, direct, or select” behavior towardscertain actions or goals and away from others

- Trait: Physical characteristics and consistent responses to situation orinformation

- Self – concept: a person’s attitude, value or self-image

- Knowledge: information a person has in specific content areas

- Skill: the ability to perform a certain physical or mental task

Figure 2.1 The Iceberg Model

Source:Handbook of Competency Mapping – Seema Sanghi

As illustrated in Figure 2.1, knowledge and skill competencies tend to be visible andrelatively “on the surface” characteristics of people Self-concept, trait and motivecompetencies are more hidden, “deeper” and central to personality Surfaceknowledge and skill competencies are relatively easy to develop; training is themost effectively way to secure these employee abilities Core motive and traitcompetencies at the base of the personality iceberg are more difficult to assess anddevelop; it is most cost effective to select these characteristics

2.2 Competency components and models

2.2.1 Competency components

To identify the competency components, the writer use the KSA model KSA(Knowledge, Skills and Attitude) is a competency model used to recruit and retainqualified individuals for successful job performance

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Figure 2.2 Competency components

Sources: Author’s consolidation

2.2.1.1 Knowledge:

Knowledge is a body of information needed to perform a task relations andnegotiation, and personnel information systems Knowledge is gained throughlearning or experiencing Knowledge includes understanding about jobs It refers to

a context of information relevant to job performance such as before performing ajob we have to have knowledge of policies and procedures (Source:www.businessdictionary.com)

Knowledge is also process of accumulation from learning, trainings, observing,working and studying forms others Knowledge is affected by some elements likelevels of studying, working experience and personal orientation Knowledgeacquisition involves complex cognitive processes: perception, learning,communication, association and reasoning

In an organizational context, knowledge is the sum of what is known and resides inthe intelligence and the competence of people In recent years, knowledge has come

to be recognized as a factor of production in its own right and distinct form labor.For the sales staff, there are major types of knowledge that most often mentioned asneeded:

- Product knowledge: pricing structure, history of the product, how touse the product, product distribution and delivery…

- Customer knowledge;

- Knowledge of the industry;

- Knowledge of the competition;

- Knowledge of the company

2.2.1.2 Skills:

Skills are the learned ability to carry out pre-determined results often with theminimum outlay of time, energy, or both In other words, skill is the abilities thatone possesses Skills can often be divided into domain-general and domain-specificskills In the domain of work, some general skills would include time management,teamwork and leadership, self - motivation and others, whereas domain-specificskills would be useful only for a certain job (Source: www.businessdictionary.com)

Skills include many different fields Each person has to apply a lot of skills toachieve high efficiency in work Each occupation, job title, different areas requiredifferent skills In depends on the ability applications of individual to specific work.

It can be divided follow as:

- Functional skills (work skills): Those are basis skills that used for solving normalproblems in daily situation For example, there are communication skills,listening skills, questioning skills, analyzing skills, decision – making skills…

- Adaptive skills (Personal skills and Interpersonal skills): Those skills related

to personality traits that help the worker adapt to new or changingenvironments, such as flexibility, positive work attitude and assertiveness There are some most commonly skills for sales staffs as communication skills, timemanagement skills, presentation skills, problem solving skills…

2.2.1.3 Attitude:

“Attitude” is a predisposition or a tendency to respond positively or negativelytowards a certain idea, object, person, or situation Attitude influences anindividual's choice of action, and responses to challenges, incentives, and rewards(together called stimuli) Four major components of attitude are (1) Affective:emotions or feelings (2) Cognitive: belief or opinions held consciously (3)Cognitive: inclination for action (4) Evaluative: positive or negative response tostimuli (Source: www.businessdictionary.com)

Attitudes are positive, negative or neutral views of an “attitude object” i.e a person,behavior or event Professional attitude is understood as the way of thinking andbehaving at work Attitude can affect one’s working willingness, tendency ofachieving knowledge at work and affect the result of job performance

Some attitudes are essential and are the basis of a successful sales staff:

- Empathy: the ability to understand a situation from another person’sperspective Empathy enhances a person’s ability to make predictions aboutothers and helps to create a supportive/confirming atmosphere The former

aspect of empathy enables the sales staff to anticipate and prepare forcustomer actions

- Confidence: Sales staffs must be confident about their abilities and about theproduct or services that they sell Lack of confidence only manages to instilldoubts in the mind of the prospects Also, sales staffs are bound to facerejections during the course of their work and it is their confidence that helpsthem to take rejections in their stride and bounce back with enthusiasm

- Determined: Persistence and determination need to be the second nature of asales person There are innumerable obstacles that come along and it is thedetermined person who refuses to accept defeat and goes on to attain what hewants He should be a go-getter, never losing sight of the targets for themonth and the goal that he has planned for himself

- Visionary: Successful sales staffs value the relationship with customers andmaintain a long-term relationship with them through regular follow-ups.They understand the bigger picture and view each sale as a stepping stonetowards earning the goodwill of their customers who could provide valuablereferrals to future prospects They don’t think of today and just one sale, butplan on a long-term basis

- Friendly: Sales staffs need to have a personality that is amicable so thatpeople are comfortable talking to them They ask the right questions tounderstand the business situation of their customers and their buying needs.They put their prospects at ease and listen to their requirements and suitablyamend their sales speech to make it more relevant for their prospects

To do an effective job in the change rapid world, the employee needs to developknowledge, skills and attitude at work And to meet the needs of social and work,each company must have HRM development plan They must regularly assess thecompetency of their staff to understand the weaknesses of HMR

2.2.2 Competency assessment

2.2.2.1 Job – base assessment method

Job – base model find out needs competencies based on job description available forevery position, solution and strategy to develop competencies to suitable with thejob description The approach may seem to focus more on the actual job output Inother words, this approach focuses on the job, no on the individual in that job Thestandard approach focuses heavily on the outcome of a work process Most of thenecessary competency is identified through a functional analysis This model hassignificantly contributed to develop and make clearer about Competency.

2.2.2.2 Competencies assessment method

There are four methods to evaluate the sales staffs’ as follows:

 Self - Competency Assessment:

This method allows sales staff to understand thoroughly about their strong or weakpoints The sales staffs will evaluate themselves base on the common competenciescriteria By doing this, it can encourage the sales staffs to take responsibilities fortheir own performance It is only used as an extra part of competency assessmentbecause the candidates tend to over-estimate their strengths and abilities and thatsometimes does not make any sense to the managers

 Supervisor’s or manager’s Competency Assessment:

This allows the supervisor or managers to give their comment and express theirsatisfactions about the jobs, the results and the interaction between them and salesstaffs This method is save time and exact evaluation because the managers deeplyunderstand and experiences with their sales staffs Their comments sometimes can

be used as requirements for sales staffs However, there are also somedisadvantages of this method such as emotional factor influence, themisunderstanding between managers and sales staffs about the purpose, strategy orworking process

 Customer Competency Assessment:

Sales staffs have to perform and contact with their customer daily to make a deal, topresent their selling knowledge for any customer’s requirement So the customer

will evaluate the competency of salesman by their feeling The advantages of thismethod are expressing the requirement of customer to the company as well as to theexperience of the sales staffs The disadvantages of this method are that it need time

to collect assessments’ from customer and the quality of the evaluation is influenced

by customer’s feeling

 The 360 degree Competency Assessment:

The 360 Degree Feedback is a system or process in which employees receiveconfidential, anonymous feedback from the people who work around them Thistypically includes the employee's manager, peers, and direct reports A mixture ofabout eight to twelve people fill out an anonymous online feedback form that asksquestions covering a broad range of workplace competencies The feedback formsinclude questions that are measured on a rating scale and also ask raters to providewritten comments The person receiving feedback also fills out a self-rating surveythat includes the same survey questions that others receive in their forms

The advantage of this method is that peers and directly reports have more regularcontact than manager do, self-ratings force employees to focus on what isrequirement in the job Besides, each person has a unique perspective and greaterreliability in the feedback result because of the increased number of ratings.However, the disadvantage of this method is time consuming and more complicatethan other method

In my thesis, I will choose the 360 degree feedback method to evaluate sellingcompetencies of sales staffs in NRB

2.2.2.2 Competency assessment process

The assessment process could be divided into 4 steps as below:

Step 1 Create a position profile: describe “Sales staffs’ competencies” in term of

attitudes, knowledge and skills most successfully performance and the proficiencylevel required This step will show the necessary selling competences for sales staffs

to complete their works basing on job analysis and depth interview director of NRBand managers of Sales and Promotion Dept.

Step 2 Create a person profile: rate current level of proficiency on competencies,

knowledge and skill to identify in the position profile The questionnaire will bedesigned to find out the current rate of selling competences of sales staffs basing onrequirement of selling competences from Step 1 The sales staffs, managers andcustomers are chosen to investigate

Step 3: Identify distance: identify any current selling competencies, which

component of selling competency is lower than requirements Based on surveyresults of the second step, these results will processed by SPSS, Excel application tofind rate of assessment of each object about sales staffs’ current sellingcompetences At the same time, considering distance from current competency torequired competency

Step 4: Develop a learning plan to reduce the gap between the required level and the

current level of those competences How can improve selling competencies tomatch with the requirements? Solutions will be suggested in order to reduce the gap

of competencies of sales staffs It is important objective of this thesis

Step 1: Create a position profile

Step 2: Create a person profile

Step 3: Identify the distance

Step 4: Develop a plan to reduce the gap

Figure 2.3: Selling competency assessment process

Source: Author’s idea illustration

2.3 Factors affect to competency

Competencies of employees are not the same during the time There are some factorswhich directly or indirectly influence the competency These factors can be dividedinto external and internal factors

2.3.1 External factors

 Social factor

Social is very importance factor impact to competency The social culture can alsoaffect to personal attitude, for example the different attitude between the western andthe eastern The competency as mentioned above includes both knowledge and skill.Such competency components can be trained and shaped thanks to many selectivecourses This training-education system creates favorable conditions for each person

to enhance their competencies through theoretical and practical methods

 Economic factor

Economic factor is also study by many researchers Some study show that that inthe stable economic people tend to have more money and more time to spend onrelaxing In the economic situation increase rapidly, people tend work harder orenhance their competencies in such situations

 Politic factor

The local and state administrative policies influence competency The people live aswell as work following regulations and management of the government Everypeople must have knowledge and attitude in accordance with directives and policies

have motivation that also means they want to get more things that they need AsChris J Noonan in “Sales Management” book, salespeople need constantmotivation to maintain performance and productivity to satisfactory levels, and topresent challenges that encourage them to raise their performance and productivity

to greater than satisfactory levels by offering way that address the personal needs ofeach Therefore, it is clear that motivation plays a direct role to affect salespeople’performance, and by doing this, it can affect their competency

 Accurate Performance Assessment:

The performance of a company depends not on the human asset but the right match

of competencies and their level for performance requirements To improveperformance, companies must use reliable techniques and identify the rightcompetencies and their levels Additional, employees need and should have anaccurate performance assessment to have enough motivation, to know how theymeet the position requirements, and help them figure out what they are needed toperform better This can make employees learn, change, and make more progress towork and that means their competencies are improved Nevertheless, if an employeehas an accurate performance review but have no motivation it would become worse.They would not make any efforts to work better even they would work worse due totheir unsatisfactory

CHAPTER 3 REQUIRED SELLING COMPETENCIES FOR SALES STAFF AT NORTHERN REGIONAL BRANCH

3.1 Introdution of northern regional branch

3.1.1 Overview of VNA and Northern Regional Branch

The history of VNA dates back to January 1956 when the Vietnam Civil AviationDepartment was established by the Government, marking the birth of the civil aviationindustry in Vietnam At that time, the fleet was small with only five aircraft of IL-14,AN-2, Aero-45… which started to serve domestic flights in September 1956

April 1993 was a major turning point when VNA was officially established as thecountry’s national flag carrier On the 27th May 1996, VNA Corporation was bornwith the gathering of 20 aviation enterprises and the airline itself as the corebusiness

On 20th October 2002, VNA introduced the new logo of the Golden Lotus andcorporate identity that symbolized its dramatic progress towards becoming a world-class airline The launch represented a complete repositioning and brand strategy ofVNA, coupled with significant improvements in its infrastructure, operations and fleet.The delivery of its first own “state-of-the-art” B777 in 2003 also marked a truerevolution in the airline’s fleet modernization Three years later, VNA became one

of the most modern fleets in the region

For 15 years of development with an average annual growth rate of over 10 percent(except 1997 when the Asian financial crisis broke out), the national flag carrier hasmarked an obvious advance to become a major competitor in the Asian aviationmarket, owning a modern fleet of Airbus and Boeing planes flown by well trainedprofessionals Beginning with non - regular services between two domestic

destinations, today VNA expands its network to 20 cities throughout the countryand 26 international destinations in the USA, Europe, Australia and Asia.

In 2006, after being awarded the IATA Operational Safety Audit (IOSA) certificate,

a strict safety standard set by Aviation Quality Services (AQS), VNA joined theInternational Air Transport Association (IATA) as an official member, affirming itsinternational standard

In June 2010, VNA officially joined Skyteam, the world’s second largest globalairline alliance, affirming the carrier’s new position on the global aviation map andthe strategic partner of the alliance in Southeast Asia region as well as itsinternational standard services

Positioning its internationally recognized brand as a young and modern carrier, VNAexcelled further when signing large purchase orders of world’s most modern,environment-friendly aircraft, such as Boeing B787 and Airbus A350-900 The airline

is expected to reach 110 and 160 modern aircraft in 2015 and 2020, respectively,making solid steps integrating into the global aviation industry as a truly regionalcarrier of choice, which is fully ingrained with Vietnamese traditional culture

Recently, VNA has invested heavily in improving the quality of service throughselling electronic ticketing, online check – in, online booking etc The objective ofthe company is to become the 4 star qualified airlines and until 2020, is one of the

10 most popular airlines in Asia in term of service quality In Southeast Asia, VNA

is striving for the second largest in the area in 2020

To realize this goal, in addition to improving the quality, expanding the integratedtechnical infrastructure for aviation, ensuring the security and safety, employing andtraining the workforce to meet the international requirements, the Corporationcontinues to implement the project to modernize the fleet By 2010, the fleet will reach

110 units and by 2020 it is expected that VNA will have 160 units including modernBoeing 787, Airbus A350, A321, expanding route network to 65 destinations aroundthe world Currently, Vietnam Airlines owns a fleet of 70 aircraft with an average of6.5 years operation age Young modern fleet is an advantage of VNA

(Source: w.w.wvietnamairlines.com)

The NRB was established in 1996 It is VNA’s representative and coordinator ofsales activities in passenger, luggage, cargo and package transportation of VNA inthe northern cities and provinces (from Ha Tinh province northward)

After more than 15 years of establishment and development, the NRB hascontributed enormously to VNA’s success At the end of March 2011, it has aworkforce of 450 employees serving over 300 organizational customers Its growth

of revenue from passenger and cargo services has reached over 15% annually, andkept increasing over years Now, the NRB has continuously grown both in scale and

in quality, risen and maintained one of the leading units in domestic regional offices

in VNA sales channels, taking account of 25% total revenues of VNA’ salesnetwork NRB on behalf of the VNA Corporation controls the sales network of over

100 sales agents, 33 tour operators and 8 direct ticketing offices in northern areas NRB has some following functions and duties:

o Setting up and deploy the Office's sales plans, commercial policies on the

basis of customer orientation, and VNA' business plan through direct sales channels, appointed sales agents and forwarders in the North.

o Carrying out researches, evaluate the effectiveness of sales policies and

current service standards to promote sales, improve VNA' service quality.

o Monitoring cargo transportation service in Noi Bai International

Airport, Gia Lam and My Dinh warehouses.

o Monitoring ground and in-flight services for all VNA' flights operating at

Cat Bi, Vinh and Dien Bien airports.

o Representing VNA in establishing and maintaining relations with local

authorities, bodies and organizations in the North of Vietnam

NRB’s objectives and orientations as bellows:

o Achieve average annual growth of 20%-25% in passenger revenue and

20% in cargo revenue Stay firmly among top units in the sales division

of the Corporation.

o Continue building and developing the “Proactive Sales Culture”, crate

action plans and solutions with the customer orientation.

o Continue to streamline regulations Policies for laborers Increase the

effectiveness of recruitment, training and human resources development Promote investment, application of information technologies, through which to increase labor productivity and customer service quality.

o Endeavor to be awarded the first labor medal in 2015

With reaching the revenue in 201 at more than 9500 billion VND, NRB is one ofthe most important parts in sales network of VNA, taking account nearly 25% totalrevenue of VNA In reality, NRB is still a dependent unit in VNA’s organizationstructure It means that most of activities in NRB will be under VNA’s control

Chart 3.1 Result of passenger transportation

NRB’s sales network is divided into two divisions: first is sales agent network withtraditional agents and web portal agents and second is booking office At recenttime, NRB’s sales network takes about 20% total agent that provides air tickets inthe northern market (Ha Tinh northward) in term of the number of agents Throughthe sales network, NRB serves customers based on their characteristics such ascorporate account, study, labor and tourist This will help NRB to customize itspolicies that fit to each type of customer’s needs.

While the functional departments in VNA’s headquarter take in charge ofcontrolling and managing whole VNA’s sales network through issuing andperforming macro policies and orders, NRB, on behalf of VNA, is responsible toimplement this kind of policies in the area that NRB in charge or do the missionsthat VNA’s headquarter authorizes NRB to do

3.1.2 Northern Regional Branch’s structure

Figure 3.1 Northern Regional Branch structure

Vietnam Airlines’ BOM and BOD

(Planning and Developing; Sales &

Other Depts.

Management Group

Pricing and Revenue Management Group

3.2 Job analysis for sales Staffs at Northern Regional Branch

3.2.1 Passenger Sales and Promotion (SPD) department’s function

The customers of SPD include travel agents, corporate accounts and tour operators The Sales Promotion department has some following functions:

o Carries out research, collects necessary data and information for theanalysis and evaluation of passenger transportation market, then sets upand implements marketing plans, commercial policies to supportpassenger services in the North of Vietnam

o Carries out marketing, promotion and sales support activities to attractnew customers to Vietnam Airlines

o Manages and evaluates the operating effectiveness of appointed travelagents, tour operators and other intermediate partners, signs contracts,and develops the passenger sales network in the northern market

The SPD have three teams, such as Sales team, Marketing team and Pricing andrevenue team All of the sales staffs are belong to Sales team There are 30 salesstaffs in SPD

3.2.2 Job description for Sales staffs at Northern Regional Branch

The salesmen in this department have following main responsibilities:

o Notify/update the agent network and customers about Vietnam Airlines’policies, product and other information; suggest, modify sales policies foreach market segment or customer; cooperate with other divisions,colleagues to carry out sales promotion activities

o Maintain relationship with other airlines, explain VN’s policies tocustomers and handles their claims

o Collect market information as input for market analysis and forecast activities

of the department Find out/report customers’ travel pattern and volume

o Collect, analyze and generalize market information including operations,agent network, price, etc of other airlines for VN to have properresponses and adjustments such as approving adhoc fare, changingnormal price, etc.

o Co-operate with related divisions (telephone sales, OCC, SCC) tosupport/serve customers in cases of unwanted/emergency situations.Ensure the efficiency of revenue commitment policies for the assignedmarket segment

3.3 Requirement of selling competencies for Sales staffs at northen Regionla Branch

In order to find out the required selling competency for sales staffs in passengerfield at NRB, I made the interview to leaders as well as manager

Before interviewing, I prepare a draft list of questions about required sellingcompetencies for sales staffs The questions include some details such ascharacteristic of performance of salesman, working characteristic, workingrequirements and traits of task and future planning of company… All of these werethe opening questions They can help the managers give their ideas and demands tocomplete the answers for each question

And after interviewing three managers about required selling competencies forsales staffs, I asked them to illustrate their ideas by using 5-mark scale to reflecthow important the selling competency is and how necessary the salesman musthave 5-mark scale for assessing competencies as bellows:

- Extremely good (5): Posse an expert competence in working

- Good (4): Can do job professionally and independently

- Fine (3): Can do job skillfully by applying most of requiredknowledge and skills

- Bad (2): Can apply only basis knowledge and skill to the job

- Very bad (1): Can demonstrate a litter or none of required knowledgeand skill to the job

Then I put them into Excel and calculate the final result The requirements frommanager to sales staffs are quite nearly absolute

Besides, the managers are willing to help me and answer questions kindly, clearlyand intensively They gave me much information about company’s strategy as well

as policies about HR They also suggested me some points that helped me completethe list of required competencies

After finishing job analysis and interview, I summarized the list of needed sellingcompetencies of salesman as following:

Table 3.1 Description of require competencies

KNOWLEDGE

Fundamental Knowledge

Knowledge of trade and economyKnowledge of sales and salesmanagement

Knowledge of the companyKnowledge of the civil aviation industry(competition, operation characteristics)Knowledge of the customers’requirements

Company strategy awareness

Have clear goals to reach companystrategy and staff’s target as well as toperform the personal action

Have a wide spread of contactsthroughout the business and uses them tostay in touch with developments andrequirements across the business

FIELD COMPETENCIES DISCRIPTION

and easy to understand to listenersSpeaking and writing skills in Englishwhen communication with foreignpartners

Listen and provide feedback promptlyShare and exchange information and ideaswith others

Presentation Skills

Convey information politely and clearly

in front of the crowdsCreate logical presentations, and answerflexibly questions

Argue, persuade and orient listenerstoward new perceptions to reach thepurposes

Problem solving Skills

Use logical way to make decision or findsolution for problem that finally achievedesired goals

Use well-thought-out approaches to solvedifficulties, persistent problems

Contribute effectively to group problemsolving

Improve continuously time management

to reach the given target the mostefficiently

Customer care Skills

Communicate politely and friendly withcustomers

Find out, understand and satisfy currentneeds of customers

FIELD COMPETENCIES DISCRIPTION

Orient customers’ needs, handleefficiently and satisfactory customers’claims

Sensitive with customer’s perspective Confident about their abilities and aboutservices

Willing to support the customersFriendly so that people are comfortabletalking to them

Source: From interview’s result

3.3.1 Required Knowledge for Sales staffs

Almost manager emphasized that knowledge is always needed in all works Basing

on the interview’s result, the sales staffs need to have two type of knowledge:fundamental and company strategy awareness

3.3.1.1 Required Fundamental knowledge

According to the managers, to complete their jobs, the salesmen must have basisknowledge as follows:

 General knowledge of trade and economy:

This knowledge is very important for the sales staff They need to know the basisknowledge of the trade and economy Besides, they always have to update themarket information to find out the opportunities for each destination as well as foreach passenger segment such as the change of economy in Vietnam and in theworld, the change of economy policies, the future events…

 Knowledge of sales and sales management

 Knowledge of the company: