What hard skills are must haves to be a sales leader? What are nice to haves?

People's definition of 'hard skills' may differ depending on where they work, what the sales organization makeup is, and what product/platform they are selling. In my experience, the 'gold standard' sales leaders have a few attributes in common when it comes to 'hard skills'. For instance all seem to possess the ability to be dangerous with their technical skills, and business skills - similar to what we would may say about someone outside of work: they are book smart, and street smart. Strong leaders can keep up with the IT and Platform executives, but can also 'wow' prospects and partners with their ability to tell an effective story. Also, they appear to be educated and comfortable with the 'best of breed' platforms and applications, ensuring they stay on topic of the latest in tech. Finally, the strongest leaders I have worked alongside all have deep analytical skills that are super impactful to the sales organization including data analysis, research, creativity in problem solving, and are wonderful communicators.

To be an effective sales leader, you must have strong communication skills and be driven by data and process.

Strong communication, especially a coach-like mindset, is extremely important in terms of supporting reps to achieve quotas. Positive and effective communication between a leader and their reps allows for a smooth flow of information, which creates an environment that motivates the team to work towards achieving goals.

More than ever, being analytical and process driven is key to creating and scaling a high performing team. It’s important that leaders understand the story in the data, make impactful decisions based upon it and motivate their team with data.

In terms of nice to haves, having an eye for great sales talent is something that can take time to develop as a sales leader. I’ve been in sales my entire career and being able to identify great talent is something I'm always working on. If early on in their tenure a sales leader can hone in on a candidate's desire to learn and succeed, they are set up for success.

LIke most professions, you can not lead a team well if you haven't done the job yourself. 

Must Haves : 

• You should have been a quota carrying sales rep for at least 3 to 5 years before you can transition into sales leadership. 
• Have a good understanding of the product. You don't want to be in a meeting with your sales rep where you are not able to answer the use cases and functionalities of your profuct to the customer without any hesitation 
• Good understanding of the market you operate in 
• Ability to motivate the team and shield any unnecessary pressure from top management
• Good analytical skiils would always help you to identify trends in the market place as well as your own internal metrics
• Listening skills : They are both important as a sales rep as well as a sales leader. 
• Focus on Culture :Though some people might put this under "Nice to Haves", I strongly feel that being focussed on culture and building a strong team culture helps a sales leader a lot. 

Nice to Haves

• Some experience around areas of business development and customer success is always helpful
• Project management skills can come in handy as you go up the hierarchy and need to work across cross-functional teams

The hard skills that a sales leader must have are being a product expert, having industry knowledge, presentation + sales skills, and closing.

You have to remember that you're not managing yourself. Every person likes to be managed different and might have different goals than you did when you were selling. Understand those and manage to those goals. They're never going to work as hard as you did when you first got into sales.

As a sales leader, you also have to be a really good motivator. Everyone on your team is motivated by different things and that's ok. Use them to your advantage to push your people to do the best work of their life.