SFEDI Awards Level 5 Diploma In Sales

What you'll be able to do

• Utilise appropriate financial tools to assess and prioritise new customer accounts based on their potential value to the organisation
• Measure the potential value of new customer accounts using financial tools and techniques
• Adhere to the organisation's management accounting procedures when dealing with customer accounts
• Evaluate the financial risks associated with new and existing customer accounts

What you'll be able to do

• Conduct a thorough audit of an organisation's internal environment, micro-environment, and macro-environment, identifying key factors and trends.
• Understand the impact of internal, micro, and macro factors on both one's own organisation and the organisation of customers, considering potential opportunities and threats.
• Recommend specific and actionable strategies for the sales function, based on conducting a comprehensive SWOT (Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, Threats) analysis of the organisation's marketing environment.

What you'll be able to do

• Understand the core principles of bid and tender management processes.
• Prepare thoroughly for the creation of a bid or tender document.
• Write a compelling and persuasive bid document.
• Tender a completed bid to the customer or relevant organisation.
• Understand how to effectively follow up on the tendering of a bid to maximise chances of success.

What you'll be able to do

• Understand the fundamental principles of coaching and mentoring
• Understand the differences between coaching and mentoring approaches
• Plan a structured coaching or mentoring programme to meet specific individual or team needs
• Deliver a coaching or mentoring programme effectively, using appropriate communication and interpersonal skills
• Evaluate own coaching or mentoring practice, identifying areas for improvement and development

What you'll be able to do

• Understand the importance of a Customer Relationship Management (CRM) system for improving the effectiveness of a Sales function
• Understand the key features and functionalities of a typical CRM system
• Use a CRM system to develop sales strategies and tactics
• Use a CRM system to manage customer interactions and relationships effectively
• Use a CRM system to track sales performance and identify opportunities for improvement
• Make recommendations for improvements to the use of an organisation's CRM system, based on analysis of data and feedback

What you'll be able to do

• Understand sales territory design, planning and management principles and best practices
• Understand factors that affect territory management, such as geographical location and customer demographics
• Review and revise territory plans to ensure they are aligned with organisational goals
• Resource sales territories effectively, including allocating personnel and equipment

What you'll be able to do

• Understand the fundamental principles of effective networking in a professional context.
• Identify relevant professional networks for personal and organisational development.
• Maintain and nurture professional networks to achieve mutual benefit.

What you'll be able to do

• Understand the nature of working relationships with stakeholders, including their importance, benefits, and potential challenges.
• Determine the scope for collaboration with stakeholders, including identifying common goals, resources, and areas of mutual interest.
• Develop productive working relationships with stakeholders, using effective communication, collaboration, and conflict resolution skills.
• Evaluate the effectiveness of relationships with stakeholders, including assessing their impact on organisational goals and identifying areas for improvement.

What you'll be able to do

• Understand the key concepts and processes involved in product portfolio development.
• Understand how to contribute effectively to the development of a product portfolio within an organisation.
• Analyse the current product portfolio to identify strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats.

What you'll be able to do

• Understand the principles of developing strategic relationships with major customers.
• Identify major customers and develop mutually beneficial major customer plans.
• Develop strategic relationships with major customers to meet mutual objectives.
• Evaluate the success of strategic relationship activities and plan for future activities.

What you'll be able to do

• Understand the principles underpinning learning and development.
• Support individuals in their learning and development activities.
• Evaluate the effectiveness of individuals’ learning and development.

What you'll be able to do

• Calculate profitability ratios for sales-related decisions, such as return on investment (ROI) and profit margin
• Set a sales budget that aligns with organisational goals and objectives
• Understand how to manage a sales budget effectively, including monitoring expenditure and controlling costs
• Understand bonus systems for sales team members and how they can be used to incentivise performance
• Understand how to assess creditworthiness of customers in order to set a credit limit for the customer and minimise risk

What you'll be able to do

• Understand the core principles of effective leadership in a team environment.
• Build and maintain trust between oneself and individual team members.
• Effectively communicate and share one's vision with the team to inspire and align efforts.
• Focus team members on completing tasks and achieving defined objectives, ensuring productivity and efficiency.
• Create a culture of accountability within the team, where members take ownership of their responsibilities.
• Maintain alignment of one's own actions with the overall goals and objectives of both the team and the wider organisation.

What you'll be able to do

• Understand how to accurately identify the financial requirements of a project or department.
• Understand how to set realistic and achievable budgets based on identified financial requirements.
• Manage a budget effectively, ensuring adherence to financial constraints and targets.
• Evaluate the use of a budget, identifying areas of success and areas for improvement.

What you'll be able to do

• Understand the key principles and processes involved in the comprehensive management of an event, from initial concept to post-event evaluation.
• Effectively manage the planning phase of an event, including defining objectives, developing a budget, securing resources, and coordinating logistics.
• Manage the execution of an event, ensuring smooth operations, addressing any issues that arise, and providing a positive experience for attendees.
• Follow up after an event, gathering feedback, evaluating performance against objectives, and identifying areas for improvement in future events.

What you'll be able to do

• Know the legal requirements pertaining to the sales function, including relevant legislation and regulations
• Know the regulatory requirements pertaining to the sales function, including industry codes of conduct and best practise guidelines
• Know the ethical requirements pertaining to the sales function, including principles of honesty, fairness, and transparency
• Know the social requirements pertaining to the sales function, including considerations of diversity, inclusion, and environmental sustainability
• Understand how to manage the sales function in a way that complies with relevant legislation and regulations
• Deal with instances of non-compliance within the sales function, including reporting procedures and corrective actions

What you'll be able to do

• Understand the various theories and strategies related to motivation and compensation for individual members of sales teams, considering different personality types and performance levels.
• Review and evaluate the existing motivation and compensation schemes for one's own sales team, identifying areas for improvement and making recommendations to enhance performance and job satisfaction.

What you'll be able to do

• Understand how own organisation's business and marketing strategies inform operational sales planning.
• Understand various sales forecasting techniques.
• Set clear and measurable objectives and targets in a sales plan.
• Write a comprehensive operational sales plan.
• Understand how to manage the implementation of the operational sales plan through the sales team.
• Understand how to deal with variances to the operational sales plan and implement corrective actions.

What you'll be able to do

• Understand the principles of sales and marketing strategy and their interrelationship
• Understand strategic sales and marketing planning processes, including setting objectives and developing action plans
• Understand the implementation of a sales and marketing strategy, including resource allocation and performance monitoring
• Understand the implementation of sales and marketing plans, including tactics and operational activities

What you'll be able to do

• Understand the fundamental principles that underpin the preparation of specifications for contracts.
• Understand the legal and ethical requirements relating to the preparation of specifications for contracts.
• Prepare clear, concise, and accurate specifications for contracts, in accordance with organisational procedures.
• Ensure that prepared specifications meet the needs of all relevant stakeholders.

What you'll be able to do

• Understand the fundamental principles and established theories that underpin effective recruitment, selection, and induction practices within an organisation.
• Effectively recruit suitable candidates into an organisation, utilising appropriate methods and channels to attract a diverse pool of talent.
• Select the most appropriate candidates for a specific role, using robust assessment techniques and criteria to ensure a good fit.
• Induct new employees into an organisation, providing them with the necessary information, training, and support to integrate successfully and contribute effectively.

What you'll be able to do

• Understand how to build and maintain effective relationships with accounts.
• Understand how to utilise networking techniques effectively in sales activities.
• Understand how to apply consultative selling approaches.
• Know when and how to undertake stakeholder analysis in relation to account management.
• Understand how to monitor and control customer relationships to ensure mutual benefit.

What you'll be able to do

• Understand the role of forecasting in relation to setting and achieving sales targets
• Understand the different forecasting methods and techniques that can be used in sales
• Understand the forecasting processes and systems used within own organisation
• Forecast sales using appropriate methods and data
• Set realistic and achievable sales targets and objectives
• Devise measurement activities to monitor sales performance against targets and objectives

What you'll be able to do

• Understand what is involved in a sales negotiation, including the key stages, strategies, and tactics.
• Prepare effectively for a sales negotiation, including researching the customer, setting objectives, and developing a negotiation plan.
• Carry out a sales negotiation with a customer, using appropriate communication and negotiation techniques to achieve a mutually beneficial outcome.

What you'll be able to do

• Understand the impact of sales forecasting on organisational planning processes
• Understand factors that may affect sales trends, including market conditions and competitor activity
• Understand qualitative and quantitative techniques for forecasting sales, such as trend analysis and market research
• Understand the importance of monitoring actual sales against forecast sales to identify variances
• Understand budgeting methods used in sales, including zero-based budgeting and incremental budgeting

What you'll be able to do

• Understand how to organise the salesforce to maximise efficiency and effectiveness
• Understand internal and external factors affecting the organisation of the salesforce, such as company structure and market dynamics
• Use sales planning and sales trends in order to inform salesforce resourcing decisions
• Review salesforce structure to identify areas for improvement and optimisation

What you'll be able to do

• Understand the buying practices of customers.
• Understand common customer support issues.
• Understand own organisation's unique business value proposition.
• Understand how to prepare effectively for customer procurement processes.
• Understand how to use information gathered to plan the development of customer accounts.

What you'll be able to do

• Understand how a marketing strategy effectively supports and enhances the sales function within an organisation.
• Understand the methodologies and techniques involved in conducting marketing research.
• Understand the application of marketing research findings to improve sales performance and effectiveness.
• Utilise market analyses data to inform and improve sales strategies and tactics.
• Progress sales opportunities by aligning them with relevant marketing strategies and campaigns.

What you'll be able to do

• Develop a comprehensive sales proposal that addresses the customer's needs and requirements.
• Structure the sales proposal in a logical and persuasive manner.
• Deliver a sales proposal to a customer in a professional and engaging manner.
• Effectively communicate the value proposition of the proposed solution.
• Evaluate the effectiveness of the sales proposal in achieving its objectives.
• Identify areas for improvement in future sales proposals.