The skill every salesperson should have in their SEEK Profile

Justin Samlal, Practice Manager of Executive Search at Morgan Consulting believes every good salesperson needs to have sound business development skills. By including this in your SEEK profile, you’ll boost your chances of attracting the right employers and landing your next big sales role.

Here’s how to do it:

• Use clear and correct terminology. Samlal advises to forget all the fancy titles. “Sales is sales and as such ‘business development’ relates to ‘revenue generation’ and that’s one of the key skills companies are looking for when hiring a salesperson.” A great way to do this could be to write, “I am an experienced sales person in the retail sector with a proven track record in revenue generation.”
   
• Be specific. Samlal believes that the best sales people don’t shy away from the basic fundamentals that make them good at what they do. Make sure you highlight these specific skills in your SEEK profile that fall under the ‘business development’ umbrella, such as “cold/warm calling, business to business (B2B), networking, e-marketing, meeting new people on a daily basis and high levels of activity.”
   
• Place it in the right spots. Start by adding the terms ‘business development’ or ‘revenue generation’ to the two to three sentences of your Personal summary underneath your name and personal details, just as we have done in our first example above. Your Personal summary is the very first impression an employer will gain from your profile, so make it count.
  
  Then in the Career history section you can elaborate on these skills and explain where and how you’ve applied them to each role you’ve worked in. Finally, the Skills & qualifications section is a great place to use that industry terminology while helping employers find you when they’re using the same language in their search. Terms such as ‘B2B’, ‘cold calling’ and ‘relationship-building’ are all relevant to business development.
  
  You should approach your SEEK profile as a pursuit in personal branding, so it’s a good idea to refer to your skill set using the same language in your profile as is contained in your attached resume.
   
• Why business development skills are important for a salesperson. A salesperson with good business development skills will be able to bring in new business by forging new relationships that are founded on trust and rapport, and extract more value from current relationships. They will also be clued in to the markets they are selling to (i.e. demographics and mindset).
  
  Ultimately, the goal of a salesperson is to make more money for their business, and business development is about nurturing and developing the relationships with the people who will provide this. Samlal says, “Fundamentally, business development is what all sales people do – so why wouldn’t you as a candidate be emphasising this as the main skill that you possess?”

It doesn’t take long to attract the right employers and opportunities. Make sure your SEEK profile clearly shows you have business development skills, and include them throughout your SEEK profile now.

Update your SEEK profile with your strongest skills today, and let opportunity come to you.

Make sure your SEEK profile clearly shows you have business development skills, and include them throughout your SEEK profile now.