The Most Important Sales Skills (With Examples)

Most people have worked with at least one particularly effective salesperson in their history of capitalist encounters. They tentatively listened to your buying requests and were responsive to any questions you had. By the end of the buying process, you felt beyond satisfied with your purchase.

Being a good salesperson is a description that’s often saved for people whose job is to sell things. While sales skills are a necessity for jobs in the industry, these attributes are also incredibly useful in other fields and even for your personal life.

Types of Sales Skills

Swaying someone towards a sale is an objective that demands confidence and a specific set of skills. There’s a variety of qualities and tactics that go into having sales skills. A person who can make an effective sale relies on a series of strengths to accomplish this task.

Some examples of traits that go into sales skills include the following.

1. Strategic communication. The process that leads up to making a sale is largely based on productive communication. The salesperson is a master of active listening because this gains them access to a prospective buyer’s needs and goals. A person with sales skills uses targeted questions to enhance communication with a potential purchaser.

   You can’t pitch a product or service to a person if you have no idea what they’re looking for.

2. Product knowledge. Another quality that goes into having exemplary sales skills is strong product knowledge. Consumers want to know that they’re buying goods and services from the best providers.

   When a salesperson is familiar with everything about their company’s products, it makes buyers more comfortable working with them because they’re well-informed.

3. Empathy. A big part of sales skills is the ability to put yourself in the shoes of a prospective buyer. Selling things is much more about catering to a buyer’s needs through empathy than it is about pushing a product.

   Understanding where a consumer is coming from and what they’re hoping to accomplish with their purchase is extremely helpful for sales skills.

Benefits of Having Sales Skills

There are obvious upsides to having sales skills when you’re working in a sales profession, but it’s useful for other reasons as well. Below are three benefits that having sales skills can bring to anyone’s life.

1. You know how to build rapport. The essence of sales skills is the ability to build trustable rapport with strangers quickly. When you have well-developed sales skills, your abilities with rapport-building are also greatly enhanced. Social skills like these are important for succeeding in a wide variety of careers and personal interactions.

2. Enhances your ability to negotiate. Most people are thrown into a negotiation situation at some point in their lives. Sales skills can help you make it through negotiations on top.

   While sales skills are attributed to the person making the sale, they can also be beneficial on the flip side. Imagine a person who wants to buy a car is equipped with all the attributes that go into having sales skills.

   They’re familiar with the sales tactics that will be used and know how to command the negotiations to feed their needs. Whether you’re buying or selling, having sales skills can enhance your ability to negotiate.

3. Develops professionalism. Honing in on how to be professional is a valuable skill for any industry. Sales skills can help you improve your professionalism because it works all the same muscles. You need to be patient, communicative, and dependable to demonstrate sales skills. This is also needed for a display of professionalism.

Careers That Require Sales Skills

While sales abilities are beneficial for many different kinds of careers, some jobs absolutely require this skill set. Below are the top five careers that require sales skills.

1. Real Estate Agent

   Average Salary: $99,958
   Job Growth Rate: +7%

   A real estate agent generates sales and rentals of properties. They are a crucial part of a homebuyer and seller’s financial life. The real estate agent acts as a comrade to the client by advising on market conditions, showing a variety of properties, and facilitating negotiations.

   Being a real estate agent is a lucrative position for people who have an abundance of sales skills. It’s a career that mainly deals with making sales and requires the qualities that go into accomplishing this task.

2. Pharmaceutical Sales Representative

   Average Salary: $88,447
   Job Growth Rate: +2%

   A pharmaceutical sales representative works directly for a pharmaceutical manufacturer to market their products to doctors and healthcare facilities. They must be extremely knowledgeable about their organization’s medical products because their job is to inform doctors about their latest treatments.

   Additionally, a pharmaceutical sales representative has to promote their existing medicine products.

   Being a pharmaceutical sales representative comes with a very competitive work environment. Everyone wants to make the most sales for their manufacturing company. That’s why the most successful pharmaceutical sales representatives have incredible sales skills.

3. Marketing Specialist

   Average Salary: $52,097
   Job Growth Rate: +20%

   A marketing specialist works with a team of sales professionals to create advertising campaigns for brands and products.

   Many of their daily tasks involve conducting market research to better customize campaigns towards trends in the market and target demographic.

   They also spend a lot of their time coordinating with other marketing job titles to establish effective promotions; After implementing a campaign, a marketing specialist monitors and evaluates its performance.

   Rather than selling a product in-person to a customer, a marketing specialist must strategize selling to a massive audience. This responsibility requires strong sales skills.

4. Travel Agent

   Average Salary: $34,823
   Job Growth Rate: -6%

   There is a lot of planning that goes into having a leisurely vacation. Between transportation, accommodation, and activities, booking everything for a trip can be a full-time job. That’s the rationale behind many vacationers hiring a travel agent to help them with these things.

   A travel agent guides clients through the process of vacation planning by providing advice about the destination, coordinating their time, and booking travel arrangements. If an issue arises, the travel agent is on standby to assist with cancellations, rebooking, and refunds.

   A travel agent’s clients often come to them, but the career still requires a fair amount of sales skills. They must effectively sell the travel accommodations, transportation, and experiences that they represent.

5. Car Sales Representative

   Average Salary: $29,710
   Job Growth Rate: +2%

   The job of a car sales representative is to assist buyers with the huge decision of buying a car. They work for a car dealership to build a relationship with customers to meet the ultimate goal of encouraging them to purchase a vehicle.

   This involves informing potential buyers about the details of various cars, working within their budget, and finalizing sales.

   The position requires abilities in negotiation and communication, both traits that fall under the heading of sales skills.

Interview Questions About Sales Skills

When you’re hoping to land a job that relies on sales skills, it’s likely that you’ll receive some questions about your abilities in this area during an interview. To prepare for this, read through the following top five interview questions about sales skills.

1. Why are you passionate about working in sales? A hiring manager wants to understand a candidate’s motivations for getting into the industry. Did they pursue a sales career because they wanted to make a boatload of money, or was it because they enjoy working with people?

   A person’s reason for being passionate about their career tells a hiring manager a lot about their values.

   Example Answer:

   I’m passionate about working in sales because I love being able to help both the company and the customers that I work for. I feel like I’m making a positive difference from both sides when I assist someone while making a daunting purchase. It makes my job feel more meaningful to me.

2. What are your top questions to ask prospective buyers? A big part of having the strong communication that sales skills demand is asking the right questions to prospective buyers. A company that’s hiring for a sales role wants to rest assured that a candidate will know exactly how to get to the root of a potential sale.

   Example Answer:

   As a real estate agent, there are a few core questions that I ask a prospective buyer early on in the process. One of the first questions I ask is, “Why are you buying a home now?

   Understanding the life-shifting event that led them to buy a new home helps me meet their needs better. I also tend to ask clients what their dealbreakers are. This also gives me clear guidelines to work within when showing them properties.

3. What are your initial actions when sales are down? The sales world has a tendency to fluctuate. Sometimes sales are skyrocketing, and others they’re floundering.

   While fluctuations occur, a person with great sales skills has a plan to tackle any drops in business. A hiring manager wants to know how you’ll respond if your sales drop down below their normal rate.

   Example Answer:

   I try to take a strategic approach when I notice that my car sales have dropped. Firstly, I start setting tangible sales goals for myself.

   This helps me find a place to work towards. Additionally, I try to align my sales tactics back to selling what the customer needs. I work on my communication skills and try to build more credibility with my customers.

4. Tell me about a time you lost a sale. Not every sales experience goes exactly as planned. Plenty of sales will slip through the cracks, but an interviewer wants to know what you learned from these occurrences to improve your performance in the future. Explain the past situation, your actions, and the eventual result.

   Example Answer:

   In my first car salesperson position, I was experiencing a lot of success and began getting cocky about it. While a touch of confidence is useful as a salesperson, being arrogant turns off customers. I learned this firsthand when I lost a sale as a direct result of my attitude.

   The customer told me she couldn’t trust me because I was too full of myself. The experience was painful, but it taught me a lot about never letting my sales success get to my head. Now, I always come from a humble and honest place.

5. Sell me this pen. Many interviewers who are evaluating candidates for a sales position will pose this age-old task. They ask applicants to sell them the pen because it shows off their sales skills.

   A pen is a fairly simple and common object. If a candidate can sell it effectively on the spot regardless of this, then it’s more than likely that they can sell the company’s product.

   Example Answer:

   What are you looking for in a pen? If it’s a pen that writes smoothly, then this is the perfect gadget for you. If it’s a pen that has a long lifespan, look no further because this one lasts an average of seven years. Any quality that you’re looking for in a writing utensil can be found in this pen.

How to Improve Your Sales Skills

Your sales skill are a muscle that improves the more practice you put in. There are a few reliable ways to improve your sales skills.

1. Attend a sales training seminar. The easiest way to pick up on useful skills for selling things is by attending a sales training seminar. In these seminars, you are taught by expert salespeople to improve your abilities with negotiation, sales techniques, and relevant tools.

   Even seasoned salespeople regularly attend sales training seminars to keep their techniques and skills fresh.

2. Work on your active listening skills. The aspect that many people are missing in their sales skills is active listening. The importance of listening to a potential buyer when trying to illicit a sale cannot be understated. It can enhance your skills and completely transform a sales interaction.

3. Learn more about the products you’re selling. Vast product knowledge is crucial to building trust in prospective buyers. If your sales skills are lacking, it might be because you’re not experienced enough with the products that you’re trying to sell.

   Go back to square one. Learn more about your company’s products to strengthen the foundational knowledge that you’ll pass on to customers.

Author

Sky Ariella

Sky Ariella is a professional freelance writer, originally from New York. She has been featured on websites and online magazines covering topics in career, travel, and lifestyle. She received her BA in psychology from Hunter College.