How Balanced are Your Sales Skills?
Everybody in sales wants to have great sales skills, but not everybody realizes that sales skills come in three varieties.
- Psychological skills. These are what most people think of as sales skills. They include the ability to complete a successful cold call, to get an appointment, to build rapport, to give presentations, to close business and so forth.
- Business skills. These are skills involve understanding your own industry and the customer's industry. They include specific knowledge about your product offerings, competitive information, the business climate, the market, and economic influences.
- Process skills. These are the sales skills that deal with the way that things get done in your company. They include the ability to use sales technology, forecast revenue, research customers, and so forth. These skills are a little different inside each company, depending upon the market and industry.
Working with your manager or a helpful colleague, do an objective assessment of your skill level in all three areas. Identify your strengths and weaknesses, then come up with a gradual learning plan that will fill in the gaps.
For example, if you've got great psychological skills but not much business acumen, take some general business courses at the local college. Similarly, if you've got an MBA but not much selling experience, get your company to send you to some sales training seminars to improve those skills.
The above comes from a conversation I had a couple of years ago with Joe Galvin, vice president and service director at SiriusDecisions, an advisory service for sales executives.