Singapore – Businesses could be losing an annual sales revenue of up to US$250,000 (S$346,800) per store due to ineffective sales performance, and that’s just on the conservative side!

According to a report by Grass Roots, out of 1,400 mystery shoppers who surveyed salespeople working for resellers of high-profile electronic brands, 56% of salespeople offered “Good” or “Excellent” for being able to establish customers needs. This was done through listening to the customer, asking about the product’s intended use, budget, timing of purchase and satisfaction of previously owned brands.

Apart from salespeople in Singapore being more knowledgeable about their assigned brands’ after sales service than others in the region, they fall behind regional average with their ability to portray good knowledge of their assigned brands and their attempt to close sales. In fact, only a quarter of salespeople attempted to close a sales deal – half of the regional average of 50%.

Furthermore, the survey revealed that although more than eight in ten salespeople in Singapore demonstrated high product knowledge, only three-quarters were likely to make a brand recommendation. Even fewer (46%) were likely to verify that customers had all the information required and offer personal insights from their own experience (15%).

“What surprised us with Singapore was that the willingness of its salespeople to attempt to close a sale was considerably less than its neighbours,” said Steve Hibberd, regional director of Grass Roots in Asia Pacific. This, he said, is attributed to the country’s retail methodology, which is focused on using the product’s features and benefits as a way to close the deal, rather than a more direct approach.

However, according to Hibbert, it means that leakage of a business is likely to be high. Hence, brands may require their channel partners in Singapore to follow a more structured process of selling.

Nevertheless, Singapore still ranks marginally ahead of the regional average in terms of overall sales effectiveness, with 54% of shoppers saying they would have purchased from the store and 60% saying they would recommend the salesperson.

The survey was conducted among 1,400 mystery shoppers across Australia, China, Indonesia, India, Singapore, South Korea and Thailand in June 2009.

Budgets for international assignments feel the squeeze

Global – Four in five (79%) organisations say they now use short-term assignments to save on costs in light of the economic recession.

Out of 470 companies that participated in KPMG’s 2009 Global Assignment Policies and Practices survey, 45% say they are utilising permanent transfers to save on costs while 31% are making changes to various policy provisions, such as adjusting assignee package calculations to the standard of living in host locations.

Because half of respondents find that assignees take too much time to administer, 47% outsource parts of their international assignment programmes to gain access to a service provider’s global resources and expertise. Of these, a majority outsource their tax compliance (88%), HR assignment orientation sessions (82%) and immigration work or permit assistance (74%).

“In some cases, HR departments have been downsized leaving fewer people to manage more work,” said Ooi Boon Jin, head of international executive services at KPMG Singapore. “In these situations, administrative models are often reviewed to achieve efficiency and cost savings. Outsourcing certain programme elements can help reduce the time and effort spent by HR professionals and allows organisations to tap into the economies of scale in an outsourcing environment.”

But as organisations continue to utilise international assignments, Ooi says they also need to make sure there is a mechanism in place to measure how these assignments provide long-term benefits to the organisation.

The survey polled 470 HR executives worldwide.