1 ) The Skill of PREPARATION
Far too many sales are lost each year due to a lack of preparation. The top salespeople out there are prepared for each and every prospect and customer interaction that they have.
They know EVERYTHING they need to know about their prospect. They know EVERYTHING they need to know about their industry. They know EVERYTHING they need to know about their product.
They go into each conversation fully prepared, and that preparation helps them deal with 99% of the potential challenges that are likely to happen. This quote best describes why it's so important to prepare...
The best chance you have of being prepared is to use a CRM that helps you not only record crucial information, but helps guide you through the process. This is why we recommend Pipedrive, it's the CRM built BY salespeople FOR salespeople. Voted the No.1 easiest to use CRM and loved by over 100,000 companies worldwide, it's the CRM that actually helps sales teams and companies sell more.
Pipedrive is a world leading CRM for user reviews, customer satisfaction and ease of use. You can check it out for yourself or for your sales team right here. (If you follow any link in this newsletter you'll get 30-days to try it completely free and if you do like it and want to keep using it, you'll also get a whopping 20% discount on your entire first year)
2 ) The Skill of QUESTIONING
You can't just ask any old questions and expect the right answers, you need to be asking the RIGHT questions to succeed in sales. The skill of questioning only works when you match it with the skill of listening.
Asking the right questions is step one, then actively listening to the answers is step two.
Ask what they're using now, ask what they've used before, ask what challenges they have, ask what budget they have, ask what will happen if they don't solve this problem, ask who is involved in the decision, ask what they would like to achieve, the list of possible questions goes on.
3 ) The Skill of AUTHORITY
This is one of the toughest skills for salespeople to master. What makes this challenging is the huge amounts of PRESSURE that is often put on salespeople. Big targets and big KPI's often push salespeople into being desperate for the sale.
The best salespeople learn how to deal with that pressure and always present themselves with CONFIDENCE and authority.
They show that they know their product, they show that they know their industry, they show that they are a credible person that can be trusted. In the modern digital sales world this also now includes having a strong personal brand.
4) The Skill of Establishing TRUST
It's simple, if they don't trust you it is highly unlikely that they will buy from you. The skill of establishing TRUST is crucial in sales, it's achieved by being reliable, consistent, accountable and by providing a top-quality service.
If you say you're going to call at 10:00 am, call at 10:00 am. If you say you'll send a follow-up email in 5 minutes, send it in 5 minutes. Do what you promise and where you can, over-deliver.
If you can get your prospects and customers to trust you, they'll buy from you. Maintain that trust and they'll keep buying from you.
And there they are...
8 skills that EVERYONE in sales should have to be successful.
Learn them, practice them and master them. That's the secret to success in sales.