Selling skills are the abilities that salespeople need to engage with buyers and sell products or services. They can be developed through practice and training. They can also be influenced by organizational and environmental factors.

Top Performers are 88% more likely to excel at inspiring buyers to approach them for ideas and advice than The Rest. They do this by using insight selling – the sales process that focuses on helping buyers understand how to improve their business by providing them with new ideas and perspectives (Ahearne and Schillewaert 2000; Kumar et al. 2020).

Insight sellers are skilled at understanding the underlying drivers of their customers’ buying decisions. They ask empowering questions, listen to the answers and respond appropriately to the buyers’ needs.

Demonstrating the impact of a solution on buyer’s business is another important selling skill. This requires a detailed understanding of the buyer’s current business situation, a thorough assessment of their stated and unstated objectives and a clear picture of the value that can be created through the solution.

It is important for sales managers to know which seller skills are most effective in their specific industry. This study offers seven verified categories of seller skills that can be used to help them plan their sales activities. They can also use this framework to evaluate and compensate their sellers. In addition, they can provide specialized training for each of these areas to maximize their sales performance (Ahearne and Schillewaert 2003; Futrell 2006). Identifying the right selling skills can help companies make better hiring and training decisions, as well as enhance the effectiveness of existing employees. skills selling