Competition leads to better skills

Many of the skills mastered by Dah Sing Bank's award-winning executives in the competition are essential in sales situations. This helps them generate business in the banking sector.

The four assistant financial services managers, who entered the Distinguished Salesperson Award (DSA), have gone the extra mile to satisfy the specific needs of their customers and build solid, long-term relationships with them, says Maria Wong, head of group communications and public relations at the bank.

The winners of the DSA are: Anthony Soo Wing-sai, Dorothy Lo Ka-sin, Hills Liu Hiu-tung and Annie Chu Pui-shan.

'To provide professional advice to their customers, the awardees have constantly been equipping themselves with professional qualifications and building solid knowledge of diverse banking products,' Wong says.

Courses designed specifically for the bank's DSA nominees focused on sales presentation and effective selling skills.

'During intensive training, we offered them a lot of opportunities to practice. We also arranged mock interviews during which we invited senior executives to give feedback to our nominees,' she adds.

Wong outlines the key qualities, and attributes of smart and outstanding sales professionals. They should be dedicated and committed to serving customers. Sincerity in service is essential - a good salesperson needs to view a customer's need as their top priority and provide service wholeheartedly.

'They should take a proactive approach and be patient with customers while, at the same time, inspiring trust. These qualities should be complemented with good presentation skills. Professionalism is perfected through a thorough understanding of banking products, and the product features,' she says.

Dah Sing Bank regards its employees as its prime assets and has invested intensively to train them to be professional.

'In addition to an induction course to all new hires, we also provide a comprehensive training programme to newly-joined sales staff to ensure they have sound product knowledge, selling skills and are compliance updated,' Wong says. 'To ensure our staff constantly improve their services, continuous training is provided on a regular basis. We strongly believe excellent service will lead to loyalty and more business.'