Eight Extremely Important Sales Skills You Learn From Best Sales Training Companies

Finding the right sales training program is pivotal to the effectiveness of clients and customers. A sales training course should teach you how to approach cold leads to closing sales deals.

According to Norman Behar, Sales Readiness Group, more than half of sales professionals lack essential knowledge and abilities. This knowledge gap could be easily closed with the best sales training programme. Companies providing courses for sales employees to maintain and enhance their sales skills after their initial training see significant increases in their sales.

Hence, professional development is vital for salespeople. 

Best sales training companies will provide high-quality training, which a salesperson can learn to master the best sales techniques. Hence, to continue progressing in your sales career, choose the best sales training to develop and refine essential sales skills.

8 Essential Sales Skills That A Sales Training Programme Should Teach

The eight crucial sales skills you must master should be the focus of any sales programme you select. Ensure that at least a few of these skills are covered in your sales training programme.

1. How to be a ‘driver’

When it comes to surpassing sales goals, people with a "driving" personality are more likely to succeed. Such people are aspirational, optimistic, and competitive. You may have a driving personality if you constantly take the initiative, make decisions, and focus on closing the sale.

Through sales skills training, one can develop and improve the skills that make a driver an excellent salesperson. Some of the ‘driver’ traits you can learn with time and practice include,

• Being assertive
• Communicating directly
• Problem-solving
• Quick decision-making

2. Effective communication

Being a great communicator is a prerequisite for exceptional salespeople. Effective communicators can communicate their needs, boundaries, and ideas without difficulty.

Effective communication is essential, but it can be challenging to master on your own. You will need to have complete knowledge about your product or service, pay close attention to your customers, and market specifically to meet their demands. Additionally, there are specific body language cues to learn and voice control techniques that can significantly improve your communication abilities.

The right sales training program will provide the skills you need to develop effective communication and includes the following techniques

• Asking open-ended questions
• Being open
• Conveying a message
• Framing your views
• Giving feedback
• Observation
• Word choices

3. Digital sales

One of the most powerful sales tools in recent times is social media. According to studies, 78.6% of sales representatives using social media routinely outperform those who do not use social media.

A sales training programme that teaches salespersons how to sell on social media will cover how to communicate with customers, advertise the product, and draw in new customers.

4. Relationship building

You may have mastered many skills required to build meaningful relationships in your personal life. However, connecting with customers and prospects brings a different challenge.

Business networking and relationship building go beyond simple friend-making. Instead, it serves as a vital tool for creating new opportunities. This includes expanding your customer base and promoting repeat business.

The following are some basic relationship-building abilities a sales training program should include:

• Active listening
• Building trust
• Finding common ground
• Following leads
• Maintaining relationships
• Mirroring and matching

5. Delivering engaging presentations and demonstrations

Whether a small group at a car show or thousands of people at a product launch, salespeople often find speaking to an audience essential to their profession. Public speaking is another ability that can be developed, just like the others on this list.

• Delivery
• Demo customisation
• Presentation design
• Solution mapping
• Stage presence
• Structure

The right sales training programme must cover the basics of public speaking and presentation.

6. Time management

Better time management, according to successful people, provides you extra hours in the day to accomplish your objectives. How much time do you think you spend selling?

According to Forbes magazine, salespeople only devote about 35.2% of their time to selling. It is evident that one of the fundamental talents lacking in the sector is time management.

For salespeople, efficient time management is a crucial skill. It helps make the most of every minute of the day to spend more time on actual sales. Some time management skills that should teach in a sales training programme include

• Prioritizing tasks
• Planning your day
• The 80/20 rule
• Setting deadlines
• Tracking time
• Pomodoro technique
• Project management software
• Batch tasking
• Establishing an effective routine

7. The art of persuasion

Not all methods for enhancing your sales skills were created in the digital era. Some originate from the time of Aristotle. The Greek philosopher outlined the three principles of persuasion:

• Establishing your credibility
• Appealing to emotion
• Making a valid argument

These guidelines were created by contemporary psychologists, who also improved our understanding of social impact. Here are a few instances:

"The reciprocity principle" offers a free trial or sample to potential customers. This technique opens a quid-pro-quo relationship, and the customer is more likely to buy the product.

People who have mastered the art of persuasion also use techniques based on the "principle of scarcity," or our propensity to anticipate regret. Using this psychological bias, techniques like making certain deals only available for a short time are used.

A surefire strategy to increase your sales success is to become an expert at persuasion and use the techniques from the beginning to the end of the sale.

8. Storytelling

Communicating why someone should purchase your goods is essential by packaging your presentation inside an intriguing tale. Almost every excellent salesperson is skilled at weaving their pitch into a beautiful story that accomplishes more than simply explaining why a customer should buy. Potential customers can better understand how your product could benefit them by adding stories to the facts, such as by providing real-world examples.

According to NCBI research, this may motivate others listening to the story to behave more cooperatively. Ideal when you're attempting to close a sale! In a sales training course, you might learn about several important aspects of storytelling, such as:

• How to relate it to people
• Balancing a story with facts
• Effectively telling your tale
• Using metaphors
• Building suspense

It takes time, practice, rehearsals, and repetition to become a master storyteller. However, if you take a sales training course covering this kind of communication, you can learn its theory. If you have trouble with narrative, look for the best sales training companies to assist you with the basics.

The Closing Thoughts

There are so many excellent sales training programmes available. So how do you choose the best sales training companies? Where do you begin?

First, examine whether there is any training that is expressly designed for your field. Whether you're in the real estate, technology, or high-tech industries, several sales training courses have been developed for specific industries.

Additionally, look for programmes that focus on a subject you've identified as a weakness. Perhaps you know that social media should be a part of your sales plan, but you are unsure where to begin. Or you are aware that your public speaking skills need to be improved.

If you are looking forward to beginning your sales career,  Juno School of Business invites you to begin the journey with us. 

In an eight-week interactive online session, we teach all you need to know to begin a successful sales profession (and get hired). Start your application now!