The Two Most Important Skills for Salespeople

2 The Most Important Sales Skills

Although there are many skills a successful salesperson needs, two are critical:

1. Asking questions

2. Effectively (and actively) listening

3 The Most Important Sales Skills

Bottom line: Many salespeople talk too much

“When you ask a customer a question about their business, about what they need and want, it turns the conversation and places the focus where it should be, on them. It’s not about what products you want to sell them.”

—Mike Corcoran, speaker, sales trainer and business owner

5 Common Mistake #1

Most salespeople focus on their company, products or services before identifying customer needs.

6 Why Ask Questions?

• Puts focus on the customer and customer’s needs.

• Allows the customer to tell the salesperson / company what he / she wants.

7 Why Listen?

• If not going to listen, don’t ask questions.

• Height of rudeness to ask a question and not truly hear the response.

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The skill of listening is even more important for inside sales; because they don’t have the face-to-face interaction with the customer, they can’t read facial expressions or body language.

Why Listen?

“Most salespeople think they are excellent listeners. It sounds easy, but it is difficult to focus on what the person is saying to you. You hear them but you have to do more, you have to listen. It can be the easiest thing to change, and yet the most difficult in practice.”

—Corcoran

10 Common Mistake #2

Most people believe they are skilled at listening because they let the customer talk.

Effective listening is more than that.

11 What Does Effective Listening Look Like?

• It’s more than simply “not talking.”

• It’s more than “hearing.”

• Cannot be thinking about what to say next to get the sales message across.

• It’s a decision to give the person your time and attention.

“Listen to understand what the customer is saying; not to respond.”

—Corcoran

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1. Change your mindset, focusing on the customer.

2. Reposition how and where you take the direction of the sales call.

3. Practice.

4. Take a seminar or professional development class to help you develop and implement these skills.

Four Steps to Improve Sales Skills

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Remember: Salespeople are problem solvers who present customized solutions. You can’t fix a problem if you don’t know what it is! So…

Ask good questions!

Listen actively!

Conclusion

15 The Two Most Important Skills for Salespeople

These two critical skills are universal for inside and outside sales and are covered in more detail in MSCI’s “Solution Selling” course.

Learn more about other important skills for salespeople and Solution Selling.

http://www.msci.org/education/professional-development-programs/solution-selling

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