Sales Agents, Financial Services

Sell financial services, such as loan, tax, and securities counseling to customers of financial institutions and business establishments.

tasks jobzones knowledge skills abilities work_activities work_context interests work_styles work_values

Tasks

• Evaluate costs and revenue of agreements in order to determine continued profitability.

• Make presentations on financial services to groups in order to attract new clients.

• Review business trends in order to advise customers regarding expected fluctuations.

• Develop prospects from current commercial customers, referral leads, and sales and trade meetings.

• Prepare forms or agreements to complete sales.

• Sell services and equipment, such as trusts, investments, and check processing services.

• Contact prospective customers in order to present information and explain available services.

• Determine customers' financial services needs, and prepare proposals to sell services that address these needs.

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Job Zone

• Name: Job Zone Four: Considerable Preparation Needed

• Experience: A minimum of two to four years of work-related skill, knowledge, or experience is needed for these occupations. For example, an accountant must complete four years of college and work for several years in accounting to be considered qualified.

• Education: Most of these occupations require a four - year bachelor's degree, but some do not.

• Job training: Employees in these occupations usually need several years of work-related experience, on-the-job training, and/or vocational training.

• Examples: Many of these occupations involve coordinating, supervising, managing, or training others. Examples include accountants, human resource managers, computer programmers, teachers, chemists, and police detectives.

• Svp range: (7.0 to < 8.0)

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Knowledge

Browse Knowledge

• Customer and Personal Service
  Knowledge of principles and processes for providing customer and personal services. This includes customer needs assessment, meeting quality standards for services, and evaluation of customer satisfaction.

• Sales and Marketing
  Knowledge of principles and methods for showing, promoting, and selling products or services. This includes marketing strategy and tactics, product demonstration, sales techniques, and sales control systems.

• Mathematics
  Knowledge of arithmetic, algebra, geometry, calculus, statistics, and their applications.

• Computers and Electronics
  Knowledge of circuit boards, processors, chips, electronic equipment, and computer hardware and software, including applications and programming.

• Economics and Accounting
  Knowledge of economic and accounting principles and practices, the financial markets, banking and the analysis and reporting of financial data.

• English Language
  Knowledge of the structure and content of the English language including the meaning and spelling of words, rules of composition, and grammar.

• Administration and Management
  Knowledge of business and management principles involved in strategic planning, resource allocation, human resources modeling, leadership technique, production methods, and coordination of people and resources.

• Law and Government
  Knowledge of laws, legal codes, court procedures, precedents, government regulations, executive orders, agency rules, and the democratic political process.

• Personnel and Human Resources
  Knowledge of principles and procedures for personnel recruitment, selection, training, compensation and benefits, labor relations and negotiation, and personnel information systems.

• Education and Training
  Knowledge of principles and methods for curriculum and training design, teaching and instruction for individuals and groups, and the measurement of training effects.

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Skills

Browse Skills

• Active Listening
  Giving full attention to what other people are saying, taking time to understand the points being made, asking questions as appropriate, and not interrupting at inappropriate times.

• Speaking
  Talking to others to convey information effectively.

• Persuasion
  Persuading others to change their minds or behavior.

• Monitoring
  Monitoring/Assessing performance of yourself, other individuals, or organizations to make improvements or take corrective action.

• Reading Comprehension
  Understanding written sentences and paragraphs in work related documents.

• Service Orientation
  Actively looking for ways to help people.

• Critical Thinking
  Using logic and reasoning to identify the strengths and weaknesses of alternative solutions, conclusions or approaches to problems.

• Active Learning
  Understanding the implications of new information for both current and future problem-solving and decision-making.

• Writing
  Communicating effectively in writing as appropriate for the needs of the audience.

• Learning Strategies
  Selecting and using training/instructional methods and procedures appropriate for the situation when learning or teaching new things.

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Abilities

Browse Abilities

• Oral Expression
  The ability to communicate information and ideas in speaking so others will understand.

• Deductive Reasoning
  The ability to apply general rules to specific problems to produce answers that make sense.

• Speech Clarity
  The ability to speak clearly so others can understand you.

• Oral Comprehension
  The ability to listen to and understand information and ideas presented through spoken words and sentences.

• Written Expression
  The ability to communicate information and ideas in writing so others will understand.

• Speech Recognition
  The ability to identify and understand the speech of another person.

• Written Comprehension
  The ability to read and understand information and ideas presented in writing.

• Fluency of Ideas
  The ability to come up with a number of ideas about a topic (the number of ideas is important, not their quality, correctness, or creativity).

• Near Vision
  The ability to see details at close range (within a few feet of the observer).

• Problem Sensitivity
  The ability to tell when something is wrong or is likely to go wrong. It does not involve solving the problem, only recognizing there is a problem.

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Work Activities

Browse Work Activities

• Selling or Influencing Others
  Convincing others to buy merchandise/goods or to otherwise change their minds or actions.

• Performing for or Working Directly with the Public
  Performing for people or dealing directly with the public. This includes serving customers in restaurants and stores, and receiving clients or guests.

• Making Decisions and Solving Problems
  Analyzing information and evaluating results to choose the best solution and solve problems.

• Establishing and Maintaining Interpersonal Relationships
  Developing constructive and cooperative working relationships with others, and maintaining them over time.

• Resolving Conflicts and Negotiating with Others
  Handling complaints, settling disputes, and resolving grievances and conflicts, or otherwise negotiating with others.

• Organizing, Planning, and Prioritizing Work
  Developing specific goals and plans to prioritize, organize, and accomplish your work.

• Updating and Using Relevant Knowledge
  Keeping up-to-date technically and applying new knowledge to your job.

• Communicating with Supervisors, Peers, or Subordinates
  Providing information to supervisors, co-workers, and subordinates by telephone, in written form, e-mail, or in person.

• Communicating with Persons Outside Organization
  Communicating with people outside the organization, representing the organization to customers, the public, government, and other external sources. This information can be exchanged in person, in writing, or by telephone or e-mail.

• Developing Objectives and Strategies
  Establishing long-range objectives and specifying the strategies and actions to achieve them.

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Work Context

• Telephone
  How often do you have telephone conversations in this job?

• Face-to-Face Discussions
  How often do you have to have face-to-face discussions with individuals or teams in this job?

• Deal With External Customers
  How important is it to work with external customers or the public in this job?

• Contact With Others
  How much does this job require the worker to be in contact with others (face-to-face, by telephone, or otherwise) in order to perform it?

• Electronic Mail
  How often do you use electronic mail in this job?

• Work With Work Group or Team
  How important is it to work with others in a group or team in this job?

• Indoors, Environmentally Controlled
  How often does this job require working indoors in environmentally controlled conditions?

• Importance of Being Exact or Accurate
  How important is being very exact or highly accurate in performing this job?

• Frequency of Decision Making
  How frequently is the worker required to make decisions that affect other people, the financial resources, and/or the image and reputation of the organization?

• Impact of Decisions on Co-workers or Company Results
  How do the decisions an employee makes impact the results of co-workers, clients or the company?

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Interests

Browse Interests

• Enterprising
  Enterprising occupations frequently involve starting up and carrying out projects. These occupations can involve leading people and making many decisions. Sometimes they require risk taking and often deal with business.

• Conventional
  Conventional occupations frequently involve following set procedures and routines. These occupations can include working with data and details more than with ideas. Usually there is a clear line of authority to follow.

• Social
  Social occupations frequently involve working with, communicating with, and teaching people. These occupations often involve helping or providing service to others.

• Investigative
  Investigative occupations frequently involve working with ideas, and require an extensive amount of thinking. These occupations can involve searching for facts and figuring out problems mentally.

• Realistic
  Realistic occupations frequently involve work activities that include practical, hands-on problems and solutions. They often deal with plants, animals, and real-world materials like wood, tools, and machinery. Many of the occupations require working outside, and do not involve a lot of paperwork or working closely with others.

• Artistic
  Artistic occupations frequently involve working with forms, designs and patterns. They often require self-expression and the work can be done without following a clear set of rules.

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Work Styles

• Integrity
  Job requires being honest and ethical.

• Dependability
  Job requires being reliable, responsible, and dependable, and fulfilling obligations.

• Initiative
  Job requires a willingness to take on responsibilities and challenges.

• Persistence
  Job requires persistence in the face of obstacles.

• Leadership
  Job requires a willingness to lead, take charge, and offer opinions and direction.

• Stress Tolerance
  Job requires accepting criticism and dealing calmly and effectively with high stress situations.

• Independence
  Job requires developing one's own ways of doing things, guiding oneself with little or no supervision, and depending on oneself to get things done.

• Achievement/Effort
  Job requires establishing and maintaining personally challenging achievement goals and exerting effort toward mastering tasks.

• Self Control
  Job requires maintaining composure, keeping emotions in check, controlling anger, and avoiding aggressive behavior, even in very difficult situations.

• Attention to Detail
  Job requires being careful about detail and thorough in completing work tasks.

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Work Values

Browse Work Values

• Compensation
  Workers on this job are paid well in comparison with other workers.

• Working Conditions
  Workers on this job have good working conditions.

• Recognition
  Workers on this job receive recognition for the work they do.

• Responsibility
  Workers on this job make decisions on their own.

• Autonomy
  Workers on this job plan their work with little supervision.

• Independence-Mean Extent
  Occupations that satisfy this work value allow employs to work on their own and make decisions. Corresponding needs are Creativity, Responsibility and Autonomy.

• Ability Utilization
  Workers on this job make use of their individual abilities.

• Activity
  Workers on this job are busy all the time.

• Social Status
  Workers on this job are looked up to by others in their company and their community.

• Achievement-Mean Extent
  Occupations that satisfy this work value are results oriented and allow employees to use their strongest abilities, giving them a feeling of accomplishment. Corresponding needs are Ability Utilization and Achievement.

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