Do You Have The Sales Skills Of the Top 1% Of Reps?

Effective selling goes beyond mastering Excel spreadsheets or knowing how to use the latest sales software. Technology can never replace sales skilld. That’s why you must be in tune with your soft and hard selling skills. Many studies and books have attempted to identify what makes a good sales web, but there are no conclusive findings yet. So, having interviewed some of the most prominent names in sales and my own experience, I’ve listed some of the most critical skills for sales executives. You can get some sales skills from on the job training, other important sales skills require an online course or other training instead. But everything listed in this post is achiveble for the average sales representative and they'll help you become a successful salesperson. We’ve got a lot of ground to cover, so let’s get started! Soft Sales Skills for Sales Reps Soft skills are informal abilities you learn over the course of your sales career. Generally, it indicates your attitude in performing common sales-related tasks and connecting with other people. A) Strong Communication Communication skills serve as the foundation of building meaningful relationships with both potential new and existing customers. It allows you to set expectations and tactfully discuss your prospect’s pain points and position your offering as the superior solution. What’s more, communication here goes beyond speaking clearly. It also involves: * Having excellent writing and presentation skills to interact over email, virtual meetings, social media, and in-person. * Communicating effectively throughout the sales cycle—right from cold outreach and follow-up to closing deals. B) Storytelling If you’ve been following our blog, you’ll know I‘m a big advocate for using storytelling to get more deals. Story telling isn't just underrated, it's one of the most important sales skills out there. You'll leverage story telling everywhere from a job interview to strategic prospecting with your biggest opportunities. Selling isn’t just about discussing product features. You must also convince customers these features will solve their problems and benefit them by generating more money or improving processes. Here, a good tip is to tell a story that deeply resonates with your target audience. This will help you supercharge your communication and guarantee your message meets its target. Moreover, compelling storytelling doesn’t only help with face-to-face conversations but also ensures your emails get opened and replied to. C) Critical Thinking Great sales reps have to gather and work through an ocean of data. But simply having access to the data won’t get you anywhere—you also need critical thinking skills to process the information, analyze disparate data, and identify relevant bits of data from the heap. D) Negotiation Knowing how to effectively negotiate and zero on terms that make both you and the prospect happy is a crucial selling skill. It’ll also help you overcome objections during negotiations and develop creative solutions to take your deal towards completion. Aim to create an environment where your prospect and you can set mutual expectations and benefits. E) Time Management You’ll always be under the pressure of closing more deals faster. To ensure you always meet your sales quotas, you have to master the art of managing your time wisely. And while this may look very obvious, many sales reps fail to make the most of their time. Case in point: sales reps spend nearly two-thirds of their time doing non-revenue generating activities. Try to be as efficient and productive as you can. I highly recommend using sophisticated CRMs like