Top 8 Sales Skills of Successful Salespeople

1. Active Listening

Gone are the days when salespeople were aggressive predators pushing products onto clients without letting them speak. Experience has shown that a much more pleasant and effective approach for both sides is empathy and active listening. Ideally, during a sales meeting today, it's the client who does most of the talking—not the salesperson.

Thanks to active listening, a salesperson can:

• identify the client’s needs more quickly and come up with the best solution,
• follow up with relevant questions during the meeting,
• lead the conversation naturally,
• and build greater trust with the client.
  
  

Active listening is a skill that must be practiced. If possible, rehearse it with your team or attend a training session.

2. Relationship Building

If the client never hears from the salesperson again after paying the invoice, that’s a problem. A salesperson should maintain good relationships with clients because:

• the client may need another solution in the future,
• strong relationships increase the likelihood of the client recommending the company to others,

• the larger your network of contacts, the greater your chances of gaining new leads.

We recommend building relationships not only with clients but with all professionals in the industry. When people recognize the salesperson’s name, the chances increase that they’ll reach out when they—or someone they know—needs a suitable solution. Today, most salespeople use LinkedIn to build their network. We’ve covered more on how to use LinkedIn for sales in a separate article.

3. Product Knowledge

It may sound obvious, but in practice, some managers still believe they can send a new salesperson into meetings even if they’ve never sold a similar product before. But even the most charismatic salesperson in the world won’t succeed without product knowledge—if they don’t understand it well, they have nothing to sell.

Product training should be the responsibility of the sales manager, who oversees onboarding. They should prepare a detailed product manual for the sales team, regularly share updates about new features, and organize ongoing product training—for both junior and senior salespeople.

4. The Art of Conversation

A salesperson doesn’t need to be an extrovert, but they must know how to lead a meaningful business conversation—and engage in small talk. In addition to active listening, they should also:

• speak clearly and concisely,
• stay on topic and avoid repeating themselves,
• avoid lecturing the client,
• not interrupt the other person,
• and not be afraid to admit when they don’t know something.
  
  

Even though the client should do most of the talking in a sales meeting, the conversation is actively guided by the salesperson. They control its direction, duration, and purposefulness.

5. Strategic Evaluation

Every company—whether a corporation or a startup—should have a clearly defined sales process that acts as a guide for how salespeople should handle deals. Still, a salesperson must be able to evaluate independently which approach is best in a specific sales situation.

They need to decide:

• whether the lead is relevant and fits the ideal customer profile,
• if the product or service will genuinely help the customer,
• which solution to offer,
• whether it’s worth following up with the customer.
  
  

The ability to make the right decisions in such situations comes with experience. If you’re a junior, we recommend finding a mentor and sharing experiences with other salespeople—at work, networking events, or online. Self-study is also a big help—the more you read about sales, the more tools you’ll have for everyday practice.

6. Negotiation

They say in life we don’t get what we deserve—we get what we negotiate. This holds especially true in sales. A salesperson who knows how to negotiate brings better margins to the company and doesn’t need to rely on discounts as a sales tool.

Salespeople are constantly negotiating, for example:

• on price,
• on contract terms,
• with team members,
• with the product manager when requesting feature changes,
• with clients when issues arise.
  
  

You can improve your negotiation skills not only through daily practice but also via self-study, courses, and mentoring. While negotiation isn’t an exact science, there are many proven methods and techniques you can apply right away.

7. Project Management

Selling requires a systematic approach and smart planning. That’s why salespeople should take inspiration from experienced project managers. The same way they manage projects, salespeople should manage their deals.

Project management skills give salespeople control over ongoing deals, flexibility, organization, and the ability to treat each client individually.

With project management knowledge, salespeople can:

• meet deadlines more effectively,
• close deals faster,
• increase customer satisfaction,
• keep track of budgets for individual deals,
• and better forecast results.
  
  

The best way to master project management as a salesperson is to actively observe how project managers work in real-world situations. Think about how their know-how and experience can be applied to your everyday sales work.

8. Time Management

Everyone wants to make the most of their time. For salespeople, this feeling is intensified by the stress of knowing that if they don’t close enough deals, their commissions at the end of the month will be low. On top of that, salespeople often handle multiple deals at once and must independently plan their meetings, travel, calls, and admin tasks.

The good news is that mastering time management doesn’t require natural talent like active listening or the art of conversation. You just need to learn proven techniques and follow them.

We recommend, for example:

• automating admin work and cutting out pointless tasks,
• using templates for document creation,
• not postponing unpleasant tasks,
• prioritizing effectively,
• and making time to rest.
  
  

We explore these and other tips in more detail in our separate article on time management for salespeople.