Great changes have taken place in all walks of life during the information era of society. Not only the speed of technology iteration has accelerated, the emerging industries have also been developing rapidly, among which the Internet of Things is the representative
industry. The Internet of Things has played a part in all aspects of human life, ranging from telecommuting and smart home, to industrial machine tools and even aerospace facilities, which are inseparable from the products and services of the Internet of Things enterprises. With the promotion of communication technology, computer technology and other fields, not only the communication, production and lifestyle of human beings are affected, but also the connection among all kinds of equipment as well as between equipment and human beings has become closer and closer. Faced with a broad market prospect, Chinese local enterprises are actively planning to develop in the Internet of Things industry and gain the corresponding market share in a short period. As one of the most basic and important functions of an enterprise, the sales activities are considered as the key way for an enterprise to gain market and seek development. A powerful sales director directly plays a decisive role in the sales of an enterprise. In the traditional enterprises, the corresponding standards for both the development of sales activities and the training and selection of sales directors
have been formulated, due to their long history of development and relatively stable market pattern. In contrast, Internet of things enterprises not only live in a turbulent and competitive external environment that is involved in pressure from rapid technology upgrading and cross-industry development, but they also need the sales director to formulate sales strategies and processes that adapt to the industry development in a short period. It is the fundamental responsibility assumed by the sales directors of the Internet of Things enterprises to help enterprises develop in such a turbulent environment. As a result of development environment, industry characteristics and working methods, the selection of sales directors adopted by traditional enterprises may not be applicable to the Internet of Things enterprises. How to select the sales director of the Internet of Things enterprises? This is a difficult problem faced by the Internet of Things enterprises at present. For an Internet of Things enterprise, a qualified sales director not only needs to increase the revenue of enterprise, but also needs to cultivate the qualified sales talents and improve the performance of ordinary sales employees.

As a long-term topic in the field of human resource management, a number of studies are oriented on exploring the competency required by employees and managers in different industries and even in different cultural contexts. However, in the development process of Internet of Things enterprises, not only the existing research results cannot be directly applied to enterprise in practice, but also few scholars pay attention to the practical problems faced by enterprises. What competency is essential for a sales director of a local Internet of Things enterprise in the Chinese context? How will such competency affect employee performance? In view of these issues above-mentioned, based on the development needs of Internet of Things enterprises, the researchers try to explore the
relationship between the competency of sales directors and employee performance, and expect to provide a certain practical basis for the development of local enterprises. In this study, on the basis of summarising and sorting out main theories in the field of
competency, the connotation of the competency of the sales director of Internet of Things enterprise is first summarised through qualitative research, and the relationship between competency and employee performance is discussed, and then a theoretical model of the competency of the sales director and employee performance is constructed, and subsequently the hypothesis is verified through empirical research. Specifically, the researcher has conducted an "immersion" and "tracking" survey and research on 51
employees of four Internet of Things enterprises in the Yangtze River Delta in one year, and then have relied on grounded theoretical research methods to summarise four competencies of the sales director of Internet of Things enterprises, that is, moral modelling,
impartial support, relationship management and personalised care. It is found in the study that the moral modelling of the sales director can not only builds the confidence for employees, but also enables the employees to enjoy equal status in sales activities. The
impartial support of the sales director is conducive to improving the independence of employees, and also gives the necessary support while respecting the different working methods of employees. The relationship management capability of the sales director
contributes to building the trust in a short period and also to improving the willingness of employees to cooperate. The personalised care ability can improve employee performance by supporting them to relieve life and work pressure. In the process of empirical test, a total of 1,300 data from enterprises in the Yangtze River Delta region have been collected in this study to verify the model through empirical research. The results show that the personalised care of the sales director of the Internet of Things enterprise plays a positive role in the sales performance of employees. The higher the personalised care, the more likely the employees are to achieve better sales performance. The impartial support of the sales director positively affects the sales performance of employees. The higher the impartial support, the more likely the employees are to achieve better sales performance. The relationship
management capability of the sales director has a positive impact on the sales performance of the employees. The higher the relationship management capability, the more likely the employees are to achieve better sales performance.

This study is appropriately of significance in terms of theory and practice. In a theoretical sense, the research scope of competency is broadened in this study through qualitative research and empirical research, the competency of sales directors of Internet of Things
enterprises is constructed, and the impact mechanism between competency and employee performance is explored. In this study, the influence of local culture in the field of competency is also explained, and both relationship management and personalised care are
closely related to the "altruism" thought in traditional Chinese philosophy. In a practical sense, the theoretical support is provided for the selection of sales directors in Internet of Things enterprises in this study, and it is of enlightening significance for Internet of Things enterprises to cultivate and reserve sales talents and improve the performance of sales employees. On this basis, the sales director of the Internet of Things enterprise needs to recognise that the improvement of employee performance not only relies on the efforts of the employees themselves, but also requires the sales director to improve care from life, work and other aspects, build an equal and impartial cultural environment, and create a good working relationship, which will lay the foundation for the sales campaigns of the Internet of Things enterprises.