Sales Strategy and Sales Skills. A sale is an act of selling between two or more parties (Maroofi et al., 2017). The buyer receives tangible or intangible goods, services, or assets in exchange for money.
Sales consists of two components. First, the activity involving a transaction working after a sale has been negotiated. And second, a documented plan for positioning and selling your product or service to qualified buyers. You do it in a way that sets your creative solutions from your competitors (Cook & Hababou, 2011).
Marketing and Sales
Marketing and sales relate with each other (Morgan et al., 2009). Think of sales strategies and selling skills as what happens once a person shows interest.
As long as there is room for two-way connection (Samad & Ahmed, 2021), or you have gained the interest in a deal. We’ve labeled this critical success factor (Rajan & Srinivisan, 2015).
To better help you, we expanded to ‘sales strategy & sales skills’. In truth a sales strategy does involve certain skills. Needs-satisfaction selling is different from Consultative selling (Dahmen & Rodriguez, 2014). Each is a unique strategy.
With it comes required skills. Adaptive selling is another one where you could argue all day. Is this a skill or a strategy? We say they’re both. A poor sales strategy will result in poor results. A poorly matched sales strategy done well will give poor results. You need both sales skills and sales strategy.
Sales Strategy and Skills Factors
One important thing you can do is to have a clear and concise sales strategy (Crook et al., 2008). This will help ensure that you are able to close more sales (Pettijohn et al., 2007) and increase your income (Kasperovica & Lace, 2021). There are six factors that you should consider.
Hiring Techniques
The first factor to consider is your hiring techniques. You want to make sure that you are only hiring sales professionals. They must have the right skills and abilities (Rauch & Hatak, 2014).
To do this, you will want to use a variety of assessment tools (Ellis, 2006). This will help you weed out those who are not a good fit for your company.
You want to make sure that you are providing adequate training (Ganesha & Aithal, 2020). This will ensure that they are able to sell.
You want to make sure that you have a good onboarding program in place. This will help new hires acclimate to the culture of your company. It will allow them to learn strategic sales skills and sales processes (Pettijohn et al., 2002).
Benefits of Hiring Techniques
There are benefits to using hiring techniques as a sales strategy.
First, it will help you ensure that you are only hiring qualified applicants. Second, it will help you provide adequate training for your sales team. Third, it will help you have a good onboarding program in place.
This will all lead to increased sales and more income for your business.
Qualified Applicants
When employing hiring techniques, one important thing to consider is hiring experts.
They must have the necessary skills and experience for the job. It means that they will be able to sell your product or service. The last thing you want is to hire someone who is not an expert.
Adequate Training
Another important thing is providing adequate training for your sales team. This training should cover all aspects of the sales process. It should be ongoing so that your team is up-to-date on the latest techniques.
Good Onboarding Program
A good onboarding program is an important part of hiring techniques as a sales strategy. This will help new hires learn about your company, products, or services. It will allow them to understand the sales process. The better the onboarding program, the more likely it is that new hires will be successful.
These are just a few of the key factors to consider when you are crafting your sales strategy. If you take the time to consider these factors, you will be well on your way to increasing your sales and income.
Personality Dimensions
The second factor to consider is your identity. This involves your strengths and weaknesses. This includes your communication style (Zhao & Seibert, 2006).
It’s important to understand how you come across to potential clients. You can adjust your sales strategy. Are you more of a people person? Do you have a lot of experience with numbers and data? Your answers will help you determine the best way to approach clients.
Benefits of Personality Dimensions
When it comes to sales, not everyone is equal. In fact, your personality can have a significant impact on your ability to sell (Brandstatter, 2011). That’s why it’s important to consider your personality dimensions when crafting your sales strategy.
There are five main personality dimensions. They are assertiveness, emotional stability, likability, will to achieve, openness to experience (Zhao & Seibert, 2009). Each of these dimensions represents a different way of interacting with the world. And each one can be beneficial in its own way when it comes to sales.
Assertiveness
It’s the ability to be confident and direct in your interactions. This can be helpful when it comes to selling. It allows you to be clear about what you’re offering and why it’s valuable.
Emotional stability
It is the ability to keep your emotions in check. This can be helpful in sales. It allows you to better manage difficult talks and objections.
Likability
It’s the ability to build rapport and relationships. This is important in sales. It allows you to develop trust and credibility with customers.
Will to achieve
It is the drive to succeed. This can be helpful in sales. It gives you the motivation to keep pushing forward even when things get tough.
Openness to experience
It is the willingness to try new things. This can be helpful in sales. It allows you to be flexible and adapt to different situations.
These are just a few of the personality dimensions that can impact your sales strategy and skills. When crafting your sales strategy, it’s important to consider which of these dimensions you excel in. You must know which ones you need to work on.
If you’re not sure which personality dimension you fall into, there are plenty of online tests that can help you. Once you know your type, you can tailor your strategy to your strengths.
Company Orientation
The third factor to consider is your company’s orientation. This will help you determine what type of sales strategy and skills you need (Cano et al., 2004).
If your company is product-focused, you need to focus on the products. If your company is service-oriented, you need to focus on selling the services you offer. It is important to know your company’s orientation. In this way, you can create a sales strategy tailored to your needs.
Benefits of Company Orientation
It is essential that you are able to orient your company around the sales process. This means that you need to have a clear insight of how the sales process works. You must know what you need to do to close more sales.
A company orientation will allow you to train your employees in the sales process. This will ensure they are able to close more sales. This will help them increase your company’s bottom line.
In addition, it will give you a better insight of your customer base (Pettijohn et al., 2002). This way, you can identify areas to improve.
If your customers are unresponsive, change your tactical sales skills. By orienting your company around sales, you can increase your income.
Skills Assessment
The fourth factor to consider is your skills assessment. This will help you determine what sales skills you have and what skills you need to work on. It is important to remember that no one is perfect. There will be room for improvement (Pettijhon et al., 2002).
Once you’ve determined your skill level, it’s time to start working on your skills. There are a number of ways to do this. One of the best ways is to attend sales training courses. These courses can teach you the latest sales techniques and strategies (Rentz et al., 2002).
Benefits of Skills Assessment
Helps to improve the quality of your sales teams and sales management
Can help you to identify areas where your sales team need development
Helps you to focus on the most important skills for your sales team
Assessing the skills of your sales team should be an ongoing process. This will help you to ensure that your sales strategy is evolving and your team is improving.
There are several ways you can assess the skills of your sales team. You can use assessment tools. Quizzes and tests are some examples. You can observe their performance over time.
Once you have assessed the skills of your team, develop a plan to improve them. This may involve training on new sales techniques. Provide them with more resources.
If you want to be the best business coach, you must have a strong sales strategy. By taking the time to assess and improve the skills of your team, you can ensure a successful business.
How to conduct a skills assessment?
Select a skill or behavior that you want to assess
Observe yourself or others performing the skill or behavior
Rate the performance on a scale from 1-10
Repeat the process for different skills and behaviors
Sales Training Program
The fifth factor to consider is whether or not you have a sales training program or “sales funnel” in place. If you do not have a training program, then you need to invest in one.
A training program will teach you the proper techniques for selling and how to overcome objections (Pettijohn et al., 2002). It is important that you learn these skills so that you can be more successful in your sales career (Ganesha & Aithal, 2020).
Benefits of Sales Training Program
A training program will give you the tools and techniques you need to align sales.
It will provide you a chance to learn effective sales strategies from others.
A training program can help you increase your close rate. It will allow you to improve your conversion rate.
You will learn how to handle and overcome obstacles that are preventing you from making sales.
A good training program will also teach you how to properly follow up with existing customers and clients, as well as potential customers and potential buyers.
Objectives of a Sales Training Program
The objectives of a training program should be designed to help you achieve your sales goals. Some common objectives include:
Increasing your close rate
Improving your conversion rate
Objection handling
Overcoming obstacles
Proper follow up
Building customer relationships
Increasing your product knowledge
Time management
Goal setting
A sales training program can be an excellent investment for your business. It can help you improve your sales skills and close more sales. If you are serious about increasing your sales, then you should consider enrolling in a sales training program.
There are many different programs available, so you will need to find one that meets your needs. You can find sales training programs online or offline. Make sure you choose a program that is reputable and has a good track record. You should also make sure the program is affordable. A good sales training program can be a great asset to your business.
Strategy Success Measures
The sixth factor to consider is what you will use to measure the success of your sales strategy (Roldan-Garcia et al., 2019). This is important because you need to be able to track your progress and ensure that you are making the necessary adjustments along the way (Crook et al., 2008).
Without proper measuring, it will be difficult to improve your sales skills and generate revenue.
Common measures of success include:
The number of sales made
The total value of sales
The conversion rate (the percentage of leads that turn into paying customers)
The average sale value
The customer satisfaction score, customer success, and performance management
Benefits of Strategy Success Measures
Aids the sales strategist in the development of achievable goals
Helps the sales manager to identify what needs to be improved
Provides the sales rep clarity on the progress of the sales strategy
Enables sales leaders to provide course correction when necessary
Some important strategy success measures to consider include:
Number of sales closed
Average value of each sale
Total revenue generated
Conversion rate
Cost per acquisition
Honing Your Sales Skills
At some point in your career, you’re going to have to sell something — even if you’re not really a salesperson. It could be an idea, your team, or maybe even yourself. But how can you improve your sales skills, especially if you don’t pitch people often?
Simply put, sales is a transaction or an action of selling between two or more parties where the buyer receives tangible or intangible goods, services, or assets in exchange for money (Pettijohn et al., 2007). It’s vital for any and every business or else that business would fail. It has two components:
The activity involving a transaction working after a sale has been negotiated
A documented plan for positioning and selling your products or services to qualified buyers in a way that makes your solution unique from competitors
Sales is an extremely cutthroat industry. If you hope to make sales and earn a profit, you’ll need to be equipped with the most important sales skills and strategies to stay ahead of competitors. To hit your numbers, knowing everything from the product to the market will be vital in creating messaging and value propositions.
Some sales skills require more targeted effort (Rajan & Srinivisan, 2015). But while we all have our own natural aptitudes, anyone can learn to become better at persuading and influencing others — which, in essence, is really what selling is all about.
Some of us are born salespeople (Vinchur et al., 1998). Others need to put in a little extra effort to bring our abilities up to the level at which we could compete. Incorporating these skills into your daily routine and practicing them consistently will turn them into habits. In time, you will be able to use these skills as easily as you breathe and become a sales generating Rockstar.
The Problem
Some would argue you cannot ‘sell’ anyone anything. You really need to help them discover their own reasons to buy, buy from you and why act now. There are ethical and unethical means of generating sales. Which works best? When?
Here Are Some Sales Skills That You Should Learn:
Product knowledge is the foundation of a good sales pitch because it equips you with the right answers and solutions to offer customers.
Strong communication skills, both in writing and presenting, is essential to build meaningful relationships with clients and partners.
Develop a strategic approach to prospecting to better identify opportunities.
Gathering information is integral to understand any prospect’s company, business challenges, and current priorities. So, you’ll need to be able to ask intelligent questions, identify buyer needs, and follow up accordingly.
Business acumen will aid you in understanding finances and customer’s pain points.
Learn the basics of social media so you can do social selling.
Solid storytelling skills help you deliver clear, concise, authentic, and engaging stories that’ll set your company apart and appeal to your audience.