Development of Strategic Competence Among Sales Managers

In recent years, researchers in the field of psychology and related sciences have highlighted a new direction in the professional activity of sales managers – strategic sales management. Such activity is associated with building long–term partnerships between organizations and requires new skills from specialists involved in customer support - strategic competence. These studies are especially relevant for organizations whose activities are aimed at sales in the field of B2B. The subject of the research in this article is the content structure of strategic competence based on the analysis of existing literature, as well as methods of its formation and development. The article presents a meaningful analysis of the competencies included in the structure of strategic competence and suggests the structure of such competence, consisting of the following components: strategic communication, including strong skills of building long-term and trusting constructive relationships; strategic management, implying developed skills of "going beyond" the area of their direct responsibility, strategic thinking, including the use of the practice of creative ways to solve problems, strategic identification, implying understanding and acceptance of his new role as a specialist building a long-term strategy of interaction with clients. The paper presents the results of the approbation of the strategic competence development program for sales managers.

strategic competence, sales managers, professional development, professional success, development programs, sales methods, professional psychology, professional realisation, communication activities, psychology of professions