Be clear about what you mean by relevant experience. Previous experience is the most common criterion used by sales managers in talent assessment. In one survey, over 50% of respondents cited selling experience within the industry as their key selection criterion, and another 33% cited selling experience in [an] other industry. Driving this view is a perceived trade-off between hiring for experience and spending money on training. But because selling effectiveness depends upon a companys sales tasks, experience is an inherently multidimensional attribute. It may refer to experience with any (or any combination of) the following: A customer group: e.g., a banker or other financial services recruit hired by a software firm to call on financial firms; or, in health care, firms sell different products, but many sell to hospitals. A technology: an engineer or field-service tech hired to sell a category of equipment. Another part of the organization: a service rep moved to sales because internal cross-functional support is a key sales task and that rep knows the people and the organization. A geography or culture: a member of a given nationality or ethnic group who knows, and has credibility within, the norms of the relevant customers culture. Selling: an insurance agent or retail associate with experience in another sales context. The relevance of each type varies with your sales tasks. So consider what type is, and is not (see below), relevant, and require the people doing sales hiring to clarify what they mean by experience. On-going talent assessments. Markets have no responsibility to be kind to your firms strategy and sales approach. It is leaderships responsibility to adapt to markets and develop the competencies required today, not yesterday. As organizations confront new buying processes, required competencies are changing. The figure below, based on an extensive database of company sales profiles, indicates the changing nature of sales competencies at many firms. Competencies that, only a decade ago, were considered essential are now lower in priority.

explen - In a sales context, 'experience' is a multi-dimensional concept. What does it involve?