The skills needed to pull off a successful sale extend beyond an outgoing personality and persuasive rhetoric: modern sales is all about finding ways to connect with the customer.
That’s according to research from Salesforce that says a majority of customers aren’t looking for a hard sell — instead, they’re looking to work with trusted reps who take the time to understand their needs and provide consistent, personalized actions.
So, how are today’s reps building trust and connecting with their customers in order to provide a personalized experience?
For Sage Intacct’s Senior Manager of Sales Development and Operation Annelise Hagmann, it starts with active listening.
“By listening to my prospects and understanding their motivations, I’ve been able to better engage with them and help them understand how we can serve their financial needs,” Hagmann said.
And for Lauren Spears, an enterprise account executive at Verkada, it starts with becoming a subject matter expert and understanding customers’ unique situations.
For more insight on the sales skills today’s reps consider essential for connecting to customers and building personalized relationships with them, Built In San Francisco connected with Hagmann, Spears and Big Health Sales Director Mina Aghareza.
Big Health offers behavior programs through its proprietary digital health software to help users address and improve mental health.
For Aghareza, the two most important skills for a salesperson to hone are self-awareness and resilience. She said that the ability to reflect on what went well and what didn’t — and then the ability to not dwell on those mistakes — have been critical to her success as a sales director.
What skill do you consider to be the most essential for your success as a salesperson, and why?
Self-awareness. Each day, I reflect on what went well and what didn't to recognize my losses but also to remind myself of my wins. The losses are simply learning opportunities, lessons on how to improve. If I did more talking than listening in a meeting, I’ll spend more time preparing powerful questions for my next meeting. This can be an uncomfortable process, but it is critical to success.
What’s another skill that is less obvious or less appreciated that you also consider critical for sales success?
Resilience. It goes hand in hand with self-awareness because focusing on what didn’t go well and how my actions may have contributed is hard. It feels yucky. But if I dwell on not being perfect, I waste time not being better.
Each day, I reflect on what went well and what didn’t to recognize my losses but also to remind myself of my wins.”
What advice do you have for sales pros looking to strengthen their skills?
When things aren’t going as anticipated it would be easy to charge ahead and simply try harder. But I’ll stop, take a step back, and give myself room to identify and solve the root issue. If I feel stuck and can’t figure out why, I turn to my peers and leaders. Ten times out of 10, an outside perspective will break down the invisible barriers blocking my flow.
Verkada is a cloud-based security solution designed for enterprise building security.
Spears’ success as a sales professional can be attributed to maintaining a positive mental outlook. She said that by being self-motivated and ambitious in her day-to-day operations, she’s able to consistently build momentum with new prospects and clients, as well as quickly bounce back from any challenges that may come her way.
What skill do you consider to be the most essential for your success as a salesperson, and why?
Persistence. Walking the tight line between professional persistence and being a pest.
Successful salespeople realize customers buy from people they trust. Building and nurturing that trust is what I consider the most essential skill as it is required every step of the way. From the first cold call to the close, creating trust from nothing requires a subset of skills.
The first is personalized interactions. Prospects don’t want a generic sales pitch! They want something tailored to them. By becoming a subject matter expert and understanding your customers unique situations, you set yourself apart.
The second is providing a white-glove sales experience. Throughout the sales cycle, you have the opportunity to serve as a consultant to your customers as they evaluate your system. By supporting, training, and checking all the boxes for them along the way, it becomes a team effort. It is likely they will want to get the deal done as much as you do, thus making it a win-win!
And the third is building your champion. By asking the right questions and listening to customers, you understand the business problems they need to solve. This helps you and your champion build a compelling, data-driven presentation on how your system will specifically benefit them. That way, conversations are less about price and more about value!
With a positive and goal-oriented outlook, you have constant reasons to stay motivated and passionate about what you do.
What’s another skill that is less obvious or less appreciated that you also consider critical for sales success?
The common denominator behind success in sales is not a soft skill like relationship building or a hard skill like product knowledge. Instead, it is a trait that takes skill to maintain. The trait is mental toughness or grit. It requires the mental skill to stay focused and positive in the face of rejection. It is showing up to work everyday with a can-do attitude.
The skill of cultivating and maintaining mental toughness is critically important because working in sales can put a lot of pressure on you and your abilities — it is certainly not for the faint of heart! By being self-motivated, ambitious, and relentless in your day-to-day operations, you consistently build momentum and quickly bounce back from adversity to exceed expectations and quota attainment goals.
In order to build mental toughness, it is important to set both short-term and long-term goals from daily activity metrics to career aspirations. With a positive and goal-oriented outlook, there are constant reasons and reminders to stay motivated and passionate about what you do. The “why” behind your actions will keep you focused when you lose a deal to competitors or a global pandemic throws a wrench in everything.
What advice do you have for sales pros looking to strengthen their skills?
When I first entered the world of sales, I was drawn to the career path because it was easy for me to see that the effort you put into it has a direct correlation with the results you get out. Although I was inexperienced when I first started, I quickly realized there are a plethora of people and resources to study and learn from.
In the age of information, there is no need to “reinvent the wheel.” Sales professionals around the world have written books, hosted seminars and shared advice in all forms of media. It is easy to access, you just have to go looking for it. Closer to home, there are top salespeople on our teams and in the organizations we work for. If they’ve figured it out, why not ask how they built their foundation for success?
Another major step I’ve taken to strengthen my skills is I have adopted a mindset of continuous learning. Successful people are never satisfied. They are competitive with themselves and realize how imperative it is to innovate, adapt and constantly upgrade their abilities to stay relevant. My advice is to strive to be in the top 20 percent of your sales organization by going above and beyond expectations and learning from the best around you.
Sage Intacct is a cloud-based financial management software.
A willingness to understand and learn from her prospects has been vital to Hagmann’s success as a sales professional. She said that being an active listener enables her to understand prospects’ motivations and how Sage Intacct can better serve their financial needs.
What skill do you consider to be the most essential for your success as a salesperson, and why?
The ability to always be seeking to understand and learn. Be an active listener with your prospects and try to understand their motivations. By doing so, I’ve been able to engage with them and help them better understand how we can best serve their financial needs. Additionally, always be willing to also reflect on your own process or talk track — sales is never stagnant and you need to be willing to grow.
What’s another skill that is less obvious or less appreciated that you also consider critical for sales success?
Organizational and critical thinking skills are extremely important. When should I be reaching out to someone? How is what I’m saying relevant to them? Is this the right person? If you get your process down and are organized enough to execute it, you’ll be unstoppable!
Always be willing to also reflect on your own process or talk track.”
What advice do you have for sales pros looking to strengthen their skills?
Always be willing to try and fail! Your messaging from last year will probably not work this year so change things up and see if you get better responses! Learn through books, podcasts, LinkedIn, etc. There is so much great content that is free to keep you growing.
