Fast-moving consumer goods (FMCG) are products that are sold quickly, and often at a low price. This can range from foods to electricals, alongside other consumer products. Sales is an important role for any product-led organisation. Understandably, these businesses are fuelled by their turnover, so having the best salespeople working for you is a great start to ensuring you are doing the best by your customers, and your company.

Typically, an FMCG organisation is led by its products, therefore, the sales cycles are shorter. In terms of talent within your organisation, your hires will have a variety of different skills in relation to sales. Sales professionals that sell branded products usually have a different skill set to those that are selling own-label products. For example, the professionals employed as National Account Managers (NAM) should be trained in New Product Development (NPD), whereas branded NAMs will be trained on promotional budgets. 

Success in a sales role is often linked to suitability to the role. Finding a person who is passionate about sales is a good start. But, what personality traits and essential skills should you be looking for to ensure your candidate will excel in your environment? 

Often, if a business loses one of their top sales professionals, they will aim to replace them with someone who is similar to their predecessor, this is a challenge for any company as it reduces the talent pool they can search within.