What are the most important soft and hard skills sales professionals can build to become successful in their field going forward?

The most important soft skills a sales professional can build upon everyday are the following:

• Excellent verbal and written communication skills are crucial. Whether this be via slack, teams, over zoom, or with accounting and finance. You have to be able to drive next steps in the sales cycle with prospects as well as internally within your organization.

• Active Listening. My dad use to say, "God gave you two ears and one mouth for a reason."

• A deep understanding of where the prospect is coming from. Whether it be an inbound or an outbound lead. You have to be able to address pain points effectively and be a chameleon in your sales cycles with different industries and titles.

• Persuasion! When you're addressing an objection, you have to posses the ability to influence and educate prospects throughout the entire sales cycle

• Relationship Building. Use holidays and zoom backgrounds to your advantage. It cannot be forced rapport, it has to be natural like you met them in the wild. One of my favorite sales cycles an AE on my team donated to a prospect's New York Marathon fundraiser. It wasn't a ton of money, but it was a personal touch that made all the difference to stand out in the sales cycle. If you don't take care of the customer in a special way, your competition will.

• Problem Solving Skills. Being able to think critically and provide creative solutions is what the top sales people do on a daily basis. Treat each problem as an opportunity or problem-tunity to sell your services with a smile.

• Adaptability. The market will always be changing. Adaptability ensures your sales team can quickly address unexpected prospect issues. This also unlocks the potential for new revenue growth.

• Resilience. The highs are high and the lows are low in sales. Your job starts at no. In candidate interviews I always ask, "Why get up and get told no everyday?" There's nothing worse than a pipeline of maybes. You need to be able to push prospects to a yes or a no & understand why a prospect isn't building immediately in the sales cycle. At that point, it's ok to ask for help from other colleagues who have seen it before and get innovative to get the contract signed.

• Time Management. Your ability to over achieve your monthly or quarterly quota is your ability to manage your time.

• Teamwork. A lone wolf of a sales person is outdated and not scalable. In 2023, you need a wingman or wingwoman to manage the zoom chat while you're addressing the prospects over zoom. The best deals and biggest deals are multi threaded in an organization. You have to treat your teammates with respect and work with multiple departments.

The most important hark skills a sales professional can build upon everyday are the following:

• Product Experts. Know it as good as the back of your hard. Immerse yourself in usage and customer stories. In order to sell effectively and communicate the value prop AND address customer questions, you have to be a product wizard.

• Industry Knowledge. Break out the flashcards like you're a sophomore in high school. What terms do your prospects use? Engrave them in your brain and don't be afraid to use them.

• Sales Techniques. Sharpen your tool belt on a monthly basis with what's getting your prospects to buy in different industries. Whether it be negotiation or early selling techniques to build value, both are important to increase your ASP and decrease your time to sell.

• Presentation Skills. Are prospects looking forward to your demo? An engaging presentation never gets old and you do less of the talking.

• Prospecting. The best sales people are always on the hunt. It's not just a volume game, you have to make sure you're bringing the right leads into your pipeline.

• Closing. Always ask for the business.