10 Essential Selling Skills for Sales Reps
To be good at sales you need sales skills. We’ve outlined 10 Essential Selling Skills for Sales Reps that you need to become a top sales rep.
Sales reps need to have sales skills. This is obvious. But, if you want to be successful and blow your sales quotas out of the water, there are a series of essential selling skills and abilities that you need to possess. Often, having these skills is what will make you a top sales rep and separate you from the pack.
10 Essential Selling Skills for Sales Reps
A recent study by RAIN Group identified some of the essential skills that sales reps need to have to be successful in the industry:
1. Educate prospect with new perspectives:
The ability to open up a prospect’s eye to new and different solutions gives you more opportunities to sell.
2. Collaboration:
Top reps take a collaborative approach to selling. This helps to eliminate the “us vs. them” mentality in the minds of the customer.
3. Communicate potential ROI:
The numbers matter. Clearly communicate the return a customer can expect, and they will be more willing to listen to what you are selling.
4. Listening to prospects:
Actively listening and engaging with the customers helps you to learn more about them, and it shows them that you care and want to help them identify a solution to their current problem.
5. Identifying prospect’s needs:
If you don’t understand a buyer’s needs, then you will have a difficult time positioning your products/services as the ideal solution.
6. Help prospects overcome obstacles:
Being honest with potential issues and how to deal with them is important.
7. Create a convincing solution:
If you can’t impress a buyer with your proposed solution that communicates how you will help them achieve desired results, you’ll struggle to close.
8. Clearly communicate the purchase process:
Explain the purchase process step by step.
9. Make a personal connection:
People want to buy from other people, not companies. Creating a personal connection builds rapport and trust.
10. Differentiate on value:
Too many sales reps attempt to differentiate based on product features and benefits alone. However, buyers are more interested in the value a product or service provides.
These are the skills you need to achieve great things in your sales career. Developing these skills take time and are refined over time, but the effort and return is worth it.
More on Sales Skills and Strategies
5 Effective Selling Techniques, and Why They Work
5 Psychology Tricks to Help You Sell Better and Faster
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Rhys Metler
Rhys is a tenacious, top performing Senior Sales Recruiter with 15+ years of focused experience in the Digital Media, Mobile, Software, Technology and B2B verticals. He has a successful track record of headhunting top performing sales candidates for some of the most exciting brands in North America. He is a Certified Recruitment Specialist (CRS) and has expert experience in prospecting new business, client retention/renewals and managing top performing sales and recruitment teams. Rhys enjoys spending quality time with his wife, son, and daughters, BBQing on a hot summer day and tropical vacations.
