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There’s good news and bad news if you’re in search of peak personal sales performance. The good news is that you don’t need the “gift of the gab” (and you probably never did) but the bad news is that you do need to master a few other skills instead to maximize your sales potential.

Here’s what every modern salesperson must be able to do:

DEMONSTRATE EXPERTISE

It really shouldn’t come as a surprise that if you don’t know what you’re talking about when you talk to prospects; you’re not going to sell them a thing. You need to know more than just product information too – you need to understand the customer’s industry, pain points and how to clearly and simply show how your product meets their needs and delivers appreciable benefits.

SHOW CURIOSITY

Asking a bunch of rote questions won’t cut the mustard. You need to genuinely care about your prospects and be curious not just with them but on their behalf. Even tracking them on LinkedIn can help you better understand what they really want.

FREE INTERVIEW GUIDE

Do you want the world’s best salespeople on your team?

Grab your free bta Sales interview guide, where we outline the qualities of the world’s best salespeople, and give you some invaluable questions to identify them at interview.

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HAVE EMOTIONAL INTELLIGENCE

Your prospect is a person with real feelings and needs. Getting to know the person and not just the position is what separates the sales superstar from the also-ran. Build sincere and genuine connections with your prospects and you’ll find that they are more likely to want to spend time considering what you have to offer.

BE CONFIDENT

This doesn’t mean become an egotistical monster; it means get the facts and information at your fingertips and don’t be afraid to use them when you need to. This is the confidence of mastery rather than the fake confidence of the snake oil salesman.

WORK AS A TEAM

You can’t do everything brilliantly yourself and nor should you; the best salespeople of today aren’t loners carving out a trail ahead of their peers – they’re working with their peers to constantly improve each other’s skills and they’re letting their peers in on their work and playing to each other’s strengths when it counts. Your clients want value and you’re more likely to find that through team work than solo play.

TELL STORIES

Want people to connect to what you have to say? Then you need to be able to tell a story which gets your message across. Nobody listens to someone reading a data sheet, everyone enjoys a good narrative. Telling stories is the ultimate communication tool.