The Relationship Between Digital Tool Competency, Key Performance Indicator (KPI) Pressure, and Consultative Insurance Selling Skills: A Case Study of Government Savings Bank, Region 8, Chiang Mai Province

Abstract

This research aimed to: 1) assess the level of consultative selling skills among employees of the Government Savings Bank, Region 8, Chiang Mai Province; 2) examine the relationship between digital tool competency, Key Performance Indicator (KPI) pressure, and consultative selling skills; 3) investigate the problems and obstacles regarding the use of digital tools to support sales under KPI pressure; and 4) formulate guidelines for developing personnel skills and the bancassurance sales process in alignment with good governance principles and the bank's image as a social bank. A mixed-methods research design was employed. The quantitative sample consisted of 197 employees directly responsible for insurance sales across 39 branches. The research instrument was a questionnaire that passed content validity testing and met standard reliability criteria. Qualitative data were collected through in-depth interviews with three branch-level executives.
The results revealed that the employees' overall consultative selling skills were at a high level. Digital tool competency demonstrated a strong positive correlation with consultative selling skills, whereas KPI pressure showed a weak positive correlation. Multiple regression analysis indicated that digital tool competency was a significant positive predictor of consultative selling skills (p < .001), while KPI pressure had no independent predictive power. Furthermore, gender and average monthly income had a statistically significant effect on selling skills. Qualitative findings confirmed that fragmented digital systems, insufficient devices, and volume-oriented KPI pressure tended to distort selling behaviors from quality consultation toward hard selling. Based on these findings, a policy recommendation is that the bank should develop an integrated digital system alongside designing performance evaluation criteria that strike a balance between commercial goals and service quality, in order to enhance selling skills and sustainably uphold the bank's image as a social bank.