After closing on XANT in August 2021, Aurea announced their intention to rebrand the company to InsideSales to its current customers based on the heritage, trustworthiness and success of the original brand. InsideSales is now a critical pillar in Aurea’s future of commerce solutions portfolio, helping to create B2C-like buying experiences for B2B transactions.

“InsideSales is a storied name in enterprise software,” said Aurea CEO Scott Brighton. “Over the course of 15 years — from 2004 to 2019 — it became one of the most recognizable brands in the industry. We’re excited to honor that track record of success, innovation and commitment to improving how B2B enterprises sell to each other by restoring the classic InsideSales.com brand name immediately.”

Aurea purchased XANT, once valued at a peak of nearly $2 billion, on their quest to create B2C-like buying experiences for B2B transactions. Products like PlayBooks — which optimizes sales representative contact rates through powerful AI — are now critical components of Aurea’s Future of Commerce library.

The library includes more than a dozen software solutions like InsideSales, Infer, and FirstRain, enabling B2B salespeople and marketers to target and engage prospects across the entire sales and marketing funnel more intelligently. InsideSales technology will help bridge the all-important gap between marketing and sales engagement — the initial prospect contact.

As part of the rebrand, the XANT.ai domain and website will be retired in favor of an updated experience at https://www.insidesales.com.

RELATED: XANT To Host Online Sales Development Summit

In this article:

1. Who is Tom Hopkins
2. Tom Hopkins and the Sales Acceleration Summit
3. Work on Yourself
4. People Buy Emotionally
5. Empathy is a Closing Strategy
6. Sales Strategies – Turn “No” into “Yes”
7. Understand the Root of “No”
8. Be Proud to Represent Your Company
9. Tom’s Techniques for the Digital Age.

Tom Hopkins’ 6 Powerhouse Closing Statement and Closing Strategies

Closing Strategy Definition: A closing strategy is a technique or approach that salespeople make when they want to seal a deal with a customer.

Who Is Tom Hopkins?

Tom is a successful real estate agent who became a sought-after sales mentor. His techniques are honed from his 40-year career as a sales strategy consultant.

In his books, Sales Closing for Dummies and When Buyers Say No, Tom has shared tips on how to finish strong with the right closing strategy.

A leading industry expert on the technique of powerhouse closing statements,
Tom has a wealth of knowledge to share. So keep reading to find out more!

Tom Hopkins and the Sales Acceleration Summit

At XANT’s Sales Acceleration Summit, the world’s largest online sales summit, Hopkins shared simple strategies in his talk. These are strategies that sales professionals should follow in order to close more deals and build a more successful business.

Work on Yourself

One of the most important things you can do to close more deals is to be a people person. Work on becoming more likable, energetic, and trustworthy.

If people find you personable, they’ll want to listen and buy from you. Thus, you should work on your approach or sales persona.

Your biggest tool when closing a deal isn’t a closing statement. It’s you.

Therefore, you should always try and improve and work on yourself as much as possible. There’s still an opportunity to grow, so take these opportunities if it’s presented.

People Buy Emotionally

Too many salespeople try to sell their products and services based entirely on logical arguments, such as money-saving benefits. While money is essential, you need to understand what is emotionally driving your prospects and address that.

The first thing to remember is that man is a creature of emotion. Instead of looking purely into reason and evidence, you should tap into emotions as well.

This closing strategy of Tom Hopkins is backed up by evidence in a study that states that people’s purchasing decisions are emotional.

Some will argue that people don’t buy through pure emotion, and that’s true as well. Again, according to the study, people do buy emotionally, but they justify their decision through facts and logic.

Empathy is a Closing Strategy

Using empathy to improve sales

Speaking of emotion, empathy and emotional selling go hand-in-hand. Hence, salespeople need to develop empathy for their prospects.

They need to put themselves in their shoes. After all, prospects care more about feeling like they’re being understood than understanding what’s being sold.

Empathy selling is the ability to put yourself in the shoes of your prospects. When you try empathy selling, you better understand your prospect’s story.

At the same time, you can better explain how their mind works.

RELATED: 5 Secrets To Closing Seven-Figure Deals

Sales Strategies – How to Turn “No” into “Yes”

Just because a prospect might say “no” doesn’t mean its game over. Reliable sales professionals know how to transform a “no” into a “yes.”

In the case of a “no,” circumvent that argument with this closing statement/strategy. Remember this simple acronym:

• The “Y” in “yes” stands for you. You are the product or service, and if you can sell yourself, you can sell anything.
• The “E” stands for excited and enthusiastic. Enthusiasm can drive a sale more than product knowledge.
• The “S” stands for a sincere desire to serve. Be truely eager to help and take care of your prospects.

By remembering the “YES” acronym, you can better judge whether a “no” is a dead-end or an opportunity for you.

Understand the Root of “No”

Another important aspect of closing a sale is understanding the typical reasons someone might say “no.” That way, you can anticipate what someone might say and strengthen your pitch.

• Lingering questions: There can’t be any confusion. If your prospects don’t see things clearly, they put off making decisions.

• Inadequate explanation of benefits: Different buyers need different amounts of info. You need to be flexible and clearly explain how your product or service will benefit them.

• Additional discovery as required: Your prospects might not always be upfront in voicing their questions or concerns. Investigate further to find what’s unclear.

• A misstep in qualification: Not all products are right for everyone. Go back to qualifying steps and present the right solution for the buyer’s situation.

• Unrevealed questions or objections: They haven’t told you everything about their needs, and you need to find out more.

• Timing: Buyers know how to slow down the sales process and delay decision making. In such cases, you need to become a follow-up specialist.

• Not you: You can’t please everyone. If your personality is hurting your sales, work on becoming more likable in order to build trust, and reduce sales resistance.

Be Proud to Represent Your Company

Prospects can tell pretty quickly whether or not you believe in what you’re selling. They can also determine how you feel toward your employer.

If you can take a moment to express your pride in representing a particular brand, your prospects will notice.

Besides, if you don’t like the company you’re representing, it stands to reason that people won’t trust that company. It’ll be tough to prove that your products are worth buying if you don’t want to sell them in the first place.

A strong belief and pride in your company is a strong defense against rebuttals from prospects themselves.

Tom’s Techniques in the Digital Age.

Tom’s techniques and sales strategies are as relevant now in the digital age as they ever were. His points about the importance of empathy for your customer is a major marketing tool in digital marketing funnels.

Tom also advocates for self-improvement, company pride, and understanding who your customer is.

Companies in 2020 have to focus on the digital marketing funnel and not lose sight of one of Tom’s core ideas; likeability. Now more than ever, people buy emotionally.

Tom Hopkins proudly shares his sales closing techniques for us in the Sales Acceleration Summit. All in all, he highlights that a good closing strategy is all a matter of understanding.

Basically, it’s about understanding and bettering yourself and your approach. Additionally, it’s also about understanding the reason behind customer actions.

When you take these approaches, your closing statement will matter less. Overall, the opportunity to close a sales deal will become more natural for you.

As long as you do the work and follow these tips we heard on closing strategies, sealing the deal will be less of a trial for you. Good luck!

Which one of these closing strategies have you tried out? Let us know in the comments section below!

Up Next:

• Grant Cardone’s 7 Simple Tips to Improve Sales Follow-up
• Jamie Shanks Reveals 5 Must-Have Skills of Modern Sales Pros
• Working Harder VS Working Smarter Five Ways To Prioritize Your Leads And Improve Contact Rates W/ Brandon Bornancin @Seamless.AI

Editor’s Note: This post was originally published on March 21, 2016, and has been updated for quality and relevancy.

Related: WHAT C-SUITE EXECS REALLY THINK WHEN CONTACTED BY INSIDE SALES REPS

In This Article;

1. The History of Marketing Funnels
2. Examples of Traditional V’s Digital Sales
3. What’s Changed in Digital Marketing Funnels?
4. The Bounce Rate
5. Voice Technology
6. Do Likes and Followers Equal Sales?
7. Content is King in 2020
8. Is it Circular or Funnel Shaped?

Understanding Marketing in the Digital Age

The History of Marketing Funnels

Converting to a digital marketing funnel may seem an intimidating prospect, so let’s look back at the history of marketing funnels.
There has been a significant shift in the past 20 years in how consumers shop and how they locate their preferred products. The pre-internet pattern was;

Awareness of a product – customer considers purchase – the customer buys a product.

Examples of Marketing Funnels

Example A:

It’s 1998, and I need to buy a book as a gift for my golfing enthusiast father. I find the address of two local bookstores in my local newspaper.

I drive to the two local bookstores; one has signage in the storefront offering ‘buy one get a second half off.’ I browse the sports section for a book on golf and find two I like. A natural choice, I bought the two books, and I was pleased that I got a bargain!

The counter staff gift wrapped the books for me for free. I decide on impulse to browse further and buy two more books the staff recommend.

Marketing funnels worked to a predictable pattern before the digital age.
The funnel moved prospective buyers from awareness-interest-to desire, and finally to action.

Mass marketing – advertise in local papers.

Interest – Sales Offers in Store.

Desire – Customer Considers a Purchase.

Action – Customer Buys Products.

Example B:

Now it’s 2020, and I need to buy another gift for my golf enthusiast father.

I open my smartphone and search ‘golf gifts for dads.’ I’m presented with 1000’s of options. I browse the first few websites, and then I see a golf store Golfwithus.com with 50% off golf putters. That seems like a good deal, so I click Buy and leave them in the Cart while I go check out the product.

I open a second browser window, search the golf club’s brand, and read the online reviews. I check the brand’s Facebook page, see lots of good reviews, and link it to a special offer in another online golf store. I also copy and share one of the funny videos on the Facebook page with my friends. I canceled the original golfwithus.com order.

I open the link from Facebook to a second website and find it has 60% off the same golf putter and free next day delivery. I quickly buy the putter for my Dad in the online store.

What I did not do was leave the comfort of my house to browse at the local golf store. I didn’t see the company website or any social media presence. That local store also had 50% off the same golf club.

What’s Changed in Digital Marketing Funnels?

Prospects are walking themselves through the funnel, then walking in the door ready to buy. In both B2B and B2C businesses, customers are doing their own research online.

Everyone has the internet in their pocket.

In 2019 1.37 Billion smartphones were sold worldwide.

A 2016 USA study showed that 88.5% of the population used the internet.

The speed of internet connections has increased year on year since fiber broadband arrived. The world is connected by 3G, 4G, and now 5G. This speed eliminates wait times for a website to load; it also allows you to open as many websites or social media platforms as you want.

Caroline Donahue, CMO at Intuit, oversees numerous web-based products. Donahue says the funnel changes because “with cross-sell and up-sell, you move from awareness to action instantaneously.”

The Bounce Rate

A ‘bounce’ happens when someone visits your website and leaves without interacting further with your site. This is tied into Google’s analytics of your website.

It is very important to keep the bounce rate low. How you keep people interested in your site long enough for them to purchase is the key to a successful digital market funnel.

Your website needs to be fool-proof for sales. It needs to look and feel contemporary. Your marketing team should be making constant small adjustments to keep it up to date and user friendly.

The days of expecting clients to navigate a complicated sales website are over.

Voice Technology

Sales through voice-activated software (Alexa / Siri / Hey Google) are likely to be + 20% in 2020 and growing year on year.

This will require monitoring as voice-activated software requires additional information. Adding words such as ‘near me’ is something that businesses will have to address.

Google can handle two keywords, but voice-activated searches will ‘listen’ to a full sentence.

Do Likes and Followers Equal Sales?

One of the most challenging aspects of digital marketing sales is finding the balance between content marketing costs and sales revenue.

Luxury brands will often have millions of followers, but not millions of customers. However, without that brand awareness, they will fall out of fashion with those who can afford the products.

A good example of a successful digital marketing strategy is the Oreo cookies brand. Oreos have over 40million online followers—more than fashion behemoth H&M.

Oreo grew in popularity as they produce daily video content, including how you can make a fun dessert or drink using Oreo cookies.

This requires a large marketing team, but it also translates into worldwide sales of an affordable product. In New York or Tokyo, you can buy a pack of Oreo Cookies.

In 2019 the Oreo brand reached $3.1 Billion in net sales globally.
Its standard cookie sells twice as much as the nearest competitor in the USA.

This success is down to an aggressive marketing strategy online. Understanding who their consumer is and what life stage they are at.

Content is King in 2020

You need to speculate to accumulate and grow your output.

Spread across multiple social media sites and produce regular content.

Keep them interested, understand what your target audience likes; sport, art or cooking, etc.

Reacting to trends is vital. What’s everybody talking about on social media?

B2B email sales need to be 1:1 and personal. No more generic mass marketing.

Is it Circular or Funnel Shaped?

While the marketing world tries to keep ahead of the game, new maps of marketing techniques are cropping up. The fast-paced changes are creating difficulty for companies.

The circular ‘Customer Decision Journey’ is the connection between purchase and advocacy. Where the CDJ fails for some experts, is that advocates do not equal sales.

You may have a lot of advocates for your company online, but it’s not guaranteed revenue streams.

In 2020, round, funnel, or spiral, one truth that’s universal and cannot be ignored is that it’s no longer a linear market funnel, it’s ever-changing and evolving.

Engaging potential buyers to garner interest in your sales website long enough for them to purchase is the key to a successful digital market funnel.

If you enter a website and search for an item, and it’s not visible in a few clicks, you will leave and move on to the next site in approximately 2 minutes.

Imagine a Sales Rep. trying to sell a product to a new client in 2 minutes.
This is why a strong marketing team is essential to a successful business

Do you think the Digital Marketing Funnel is the best option for marketing teams?

Let us know and Comment Below :

Up Next;

• SALES IS NEVER GOING BACK
• 8 TIPS TO AVOID SALES SLUMPS
• COLD MESSAGING: HOW TO EMAIL SOMEONE YOU DON’T KNOW

RELATED: Winning Sales Tips And Sales Strategies From A Hungry Team Who Dared To Dream

In this article:

1. 1. Permission Marketing: Turning Strangers into Friends and Friends into Customer – Seth Godin
   2. How to Win Friends and Influence People – Dale Carnegie
   3. Never Eat Alone – Keith Ferrazzi and Tahl Raz
   4. The Challenger Sale: Taking Control of the Customer Conversation – Matthew Dixon and Brent Adamson
   5. The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People – Stephen R. Covey
   6. Digital Minimalism – Cal Newport
   7. Secrets Of A Master Closer – Mike Kaplan
   8. The Little Red Book Of Selling – Jeffrey Gitomer

Best Sales Books for Sales Development and Strategies

How Reading the Top Sales Books for Sales Professionals Can Help Reps

The best sales books for reps

Sales reps today can educate themselves on sales best practices with a variety of books available on the subject, but there are so many books out there it’s often hard to know where to start.

We’ve done the work for you and listed our ‘Top 8 Sales Books” to help inside sales reps increase their performance and expand their technique.

This list consists of both classic and recently published sales books, which can help reps get insight into what can help them become more successful salespeople.

Many of the books on this list are best sellers and sales must-reads; even if you have read them, it might be time to pull them off the shelf and review their quality content.

Here are eight best sales books to read, absorb, and share with the entire sales organization for better results in delivering sales pitches, closing deals, and building secured relationships with potential customers.

1. Permission Marketing: Turning Strangers into Friends and Friends into Customer – Seth Godin

What is Permission Marketing? This marketing concept recognizes and respects the consumers’ right to choose if they want to receive marketing materials or not.

While at first glance this book seems to be pointed toward marketers, sales reps can still learn a thing or two from this book. Permission marketing offers great advice and information that sales reps today can use when dealing with leads and prospects.

Also, sales and marketing are converging. By learning how to approach new leads and prospects, reps can build upon the foundations the book suggests to get the sale.

Learning how to gain permission makes sense and can help any rep become a better marketer when pitching to a prospect. This concept respects the consumer’s choice as a valuable part of its sales strategy.

So, instead of pushing a lead into making a purchase, this marketing concept understands the power of a consumer’s choice to listen to your pitch. When a potential client shows interest in sales conversations you initiated, there’s a higher chance for sales success.

2. How to Win Friends and Influence People – Dale Carnegie

This book by best-selling author Dale Carnegie is one of the sales books of all time. It’s a classic for any aspiring sales champions.

The benefit of reading this book is that it can help a sales professional develop the interpersonal skills needed to clinch a sale. The techniques Dale Carnegie teaches not only helps with lead generation, but they are also necessary for closing the sale.

Learning techniques on how to interact with people, becoming likable to others, winning people over, and other helpful information can benefit anyone who works in sales.

It’s great for newbies who want to improve in the business. Experts and sales executives should also re-read this book to refresh themselves when they find themselves in a rut.

RELATED: How To Pitch Anything And Close More Deals

3. Never Eat Alone – Keith Ferrazzi and Tahl Raz

Learning how to network and develop sincere and good relationships with others is something every great sales rep need to know. This book can help sales professionals connect with others at trade shows and in everyday situations over the phone and Internet.

To discover more about the psychology of selling, a salesperson must first learn how to decode human psychology. The book teaches the importance of not asking, “What’s in it for me?” But rather, “What can I do for you?”

This is an essential lesson for successful salespeople to become more compelling to their prospective buyers. By doing so, they can build lasting relationships, opening chances for future sales as they follow their buyer’s journey.

4. The Challenger Sale: Taking Control of the Customer Conversation – Matthew Dixon and Brent Adamson

This book is great because it is one of the more current books about the sales industry. It looked at the skills, attitude, behaviors, and know-how of top reps.

The authors did a comprehensive study that involved sales reps across various industries and locations. They discovered that reps fall into one of five profiles. And, while all reps can deliver average results, only one (“The Challenger”) can deliver great results consistently.

For sales reps, it teaches the importance of how to pitch to customers, creating a tailored message, and taking control of the sale.

The Challenger is a great read for sales reps who might be a little out of the game and are trying to learn the modern processes of sales. Salespeople who have been following classic selling tips and techniques will find this book insightful.

5. The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People – Stephen R. Covey

The late Stephen Covey was the author of this highly successful book that influenced millions of people and taught them to be their best productive self.

In 7 Habits, Covey showed readers (and sales reps) how to be proactive and take responsibility for their own success and failures. C-level executives have read and followed this book’s to lead their sales organizations towards success.

In fact, people beyond the sales industry read and stand by these habits. Executives of other companies apply the seven habits in their operations.

Sales reps can also learn to not get caught up in the “here” and “now.” Rather, they should start everything off with the beginning in mind and develop a personal mission statement.

By incorporating the lessons learned from this book, a sales rep can become a sales professional if they are able to apply these principles to their daily lives.

At the end of the day, it’s up to the sales rep to determine if they have done everything they can to get the sale. Books can be a great asset to help improve skills and, hopefully, increase performance.

6. Digital Minimalism – Cal Newport

Cal Newport’s best selling book teaches you how valuable it is to focus on the technology that is helping you rather than distracting you. This is the concept of digital minimalism. The concept is not saying no to any technology, but to say no to unnecessary technology.

It’s a modern problem that affects everyone. In the age of multi-platform social media, distraction is everywhere. The constant beeping of your smartphone is taking your focus away from the tasks at hand.

If you think about your smartphone’s development over the last 10 years, you know that there are new apps added to every upgrade. What Newport is proposing is that you take time to think about what the benefit is of all these new apps.

What technology do you need to improve your skill-set, and which ones are just distracting you from your tasks?

The benefits in the workplace of a focused sales team are apparent, but what about your employees’ downtime? Are they fully rested when they arrive at work, or do they binge the latest’ must-see’ until 2 am on their tablet?

This book may not seem like it belongs in the category of best sales book, but it is a top seller for a good reason. Your sales team may resist the idea of editing down the apps on their smartphones, but it has been proven to improve sales revenue and the quality of life away from the office.

It is important to be mentally present at work, and it isn’t easy to do this when your smartphone is dictating your life.

7. Secrets of a Master Closer: A Simpler, Easier, And Faster Way To Sell Anything To Anyone, Anytime, Anywhere – Mike Kaplan

There is a clear, no-nonsense approach to educating you on how to sell in this popular best sales book.

Mike Kaplan sets out an 8-step road map to help the reader understand the nuts and bolts process of sales. Using scripted dialogues between the seller and buyers is a useful guide for beginners and a good refresher for the more experienced.

Kaplan is from the common-sense school of sales. He is critical of the modern trend towards gimmicks for selling and how it can come off as disingenuous to your clients.

Instead, he recommends following the tried and tested path, the fundamentals of selling. This includes understanding your clients and selling to them rather than at them. Taking the aggressive spin out of sales is more likely to endear you to your clients and generate repeat business and referrals.

The book asks you to follow all the steps and not skip over any closely. The ideas behind Kaplan’s book is that once you master these skills, you don’t need to learn anything else, just reapply the rules to every sale and enjoy the rewards. According to reviews by salespeople, this is proven to be very successful in the field.

Kaplan says that you must be a driven and motivated person to sell. Use his techniques, and your mission to succeed will drive home those sales.

8. The Little Red Book of Selling – Jeffery Gitomer

The Little Red Book of Selling is a neat and humorous way to brush up or learn sales skills. Along with the cartoon illustrations, the cover should not deter you from this pocket-sized guide to all things sales.

The appeal is that it is pocket-sized and not sales manual sized. The author realized that most salespeople do not want to pick up a book about sales on their downtime.

Gitomer is a respected business author, and this book wants to take the mystery out of why customers buy what they buy. Using his tips, you should improve your sales figures if you can understand the motivation for customers purchasing decisions.

Another important tip that is covered is learning about who sets the budgets rather than spends the budgets. How do you deal with a client who says ‘my purchasing budget is spent’? This small red book has the answers.

This strange little book is a top best sales book because it is to the point. Designed to be dipped in and out of when needed, it has all the obvious’ work hard, stay motivated’ lines that you hear at every sales meeting, but this book reminds you with a little wit and a funny cartoon.

Then again, all of the best-selling books in the world won’t be of much help if reps don’t apply the lessons properly.

It really comes down to if the sales rep has absorbed what they have read and implemented it into their daily sales strategy.

Which book do you consider your sales bible? Let us know which books can help other salespeople improve their techniques in the comments section below! 

UP NEXT: 

• How To Improve Your Sales Performance With Systems Thinking
• 7 Tips To Build A Successful Sales Strategy Plan
• Amanda Holmes Teaches Time Management Secrets of Billionaires

Editor’s Note: This post was originally published on October 6, 2012, and has been updated for quality and relevancy.

RELATED: How To Develop A Next Gen Sales Rep w/Mor Assouline @Practice Panther

In this article:

1. What Successful Sales Professionals Have in Common
2. Why Sales Success Decreases over the Years
3. Evaluating a Sales Representative’s Performance
4. Different Types of Salesperson Skills
5. The Sales Associate Skills That Make a Great Representative

11 Top Sales Skills Every Top Performer Should Have | What Makes a Good Salesman or Saleswoman

Click here to jump to the sales skills list infographic.

What Successful Sales Professionals Have in Common

There are 5.7 million sales professionals in North America — and perhaps millions more throughout the world. And yet, only a few can claim to reach stellar performance or results.

What makes a great sale representative reach the heights of Zig Ziglar, Grant Cardone, David Ogilvy, or Dale Carnegie?

What separates the good from the truly great? And what sales techniques help reps get more business, handle objections, and have better overall sales conversations?

We made a sales skills list of the top sales skills from the best sales reps, and you know what? Talking people into buying things wasn’t high on the list.

Why Sales Success Decreases over the Years

Data from the Miller Heiman group shows that only 53% of sales professionals are hitting or exceeding their quota. This percentage has steadily decreased from 63% over the last five years, indicating that something is wrong when it comes to sales performance.

Do sales professionals lose their sales negotiation skills even with constant training, practice, and use? Or do they lose sight of their goals because of the challenges of today’s market?

XANT studies have shown that leadership activities like coaching and mentoring positively impact the growth and retention of top performers, maximizing investment in people and processes.

In B2B organizations, transitioning just 15% of sales reps from lower-performing groups to higher performing quadrants can lead to a significant revenue increase.

So, how do you find the top sales skills that allow some sales representatives to constantly over-achieve and break records — and weed out the behaviors causing others to underperform?

Evaluating a Sales Representative’s Skills and Performance

Evaluating a sales representative’s skills and performance and skills should be an ongoing process. To be able to rate sales professionals on a scale, sales leaders can look at key metrics, such as:

• Closed revenue
• Sales conversations
• Qualified leads
• Number of sales activities

However, the numbers only tell part of the story.

How you get to these numbers is a matter of perseverance, communication skills, and hard work. There’s no silver bullet.

Different Types of Sales Representative Skills

Before anything else, do note that there are different types of sales representative skills. There are hard skills, soft skills, and specialist skills.

Hard Skills are skills you can measure and teach directly to people. For example, reading and writing are hard skills.

On the other hand, Soft Skills aren’t measurable and are often subjective in terms of whether or not you have them. Some examples of soft skills are communication skills, leadership skills, and persuasiveness.

These are the two main categories of skills. However, there is also something called Specialist Skills.

Specialist sales representative skills are simply a set of skills particular to a specialist’s role.

With that said, there are certain Hard and Soft Skills you need to have as a sales associate.

The Sales Associate Skills That Make a Great Representative

To become a successful salesperson, there are key skills to have.

Some sales associate skills and duties can be developed through training and experience, while others can reach their sales goals through existing qualities.

We asked sales managers what top sales skills make a great salesperson, and here’s what we found out. This is our sales skills list:

1. Active Listening Skills

Sales professionals are in a position that requires strong communication skills, and that doesn’t necessarily mean their talking ability. It means hearing out your customers and finding out what’s best for them — not for you, as painful as that may sometimes be.

Whether you’re doing face-to-face selling or cold calling prospects, it’s essential to give your clients ample time to talk. Most of the time, your buyer willingly shares their pain points if you let them.

“Successful salespeople don’t try to convince customers that their product or service is right for them. Instead, they begin by listening and finding out if the potential customer is a good fit before leaping for the sale,” said Joe Zente, CEO of The Alternative Board in Austin.

He added, “This prevents them from coming off as pushy and saves time and money that would otherwise be spent on chasing unlikely leads.”

“Great salespeople need to understand the prospect, their problems, and goals,” added Steve Benson, founder and CEO of Badger Maps. “They communicate solutions that enable them to be more successful,” said Benson.

“The only way to understand your prospect is through listening,” adds Matt L. Schmidt, Sales Director of Diabetes Life Solutions – “however, very few salespeople take the time to listen.”

“If you listen carefully to a client or prospect, they will tell you exactly what they need or want,” said Schmidt.

Building long-term relationships with clients involve having a productive conversation and practicing active listening.

RELATED: Sales Effectiveness Metrics for Evaluating Your Team

2. Have Resilience and Grit

“Sales suffer from one of the highest attrition rates of all professions, which is why it serves to recruit salespeople who show resilience and grit,” explained Calum Coburn from the Negotiation Experts.

“Sales pros have to deal with rejection a lot. They do not get calls back; they do not receive feedback after investing a great deal of energy and time on a proposal or sales pitch,” said Calum.

He further said, “So when recruiting sales managers and leaders, you would do well to recruit those who have staying power.”

“You can measure grit or fortitude,” added Calum. “As well as looking for grit from previous roles in the form of sticking it out in the face of knockbacks, ask your sales applicant about their hobbies and extra-mural activities.”

“If they stuck with something for two years or more, this shows staying power. One year is the bare minimum,” Calum continued.

Jon Gorman, sales manager at Fundera, added that he looks for salespeople who are hardworking and resilient when hiring. Sales reps who don’t give up even after multiple buyer objections are those who become great sales leaders in the future.

“If you’re behind on your numbers for the month, how will you deal with it? Are you going to call it in, or work harder, double down, and catch up?” said Gorman.

“The right attitude goes a long way in sales, and if you are hardworking and resilient, you will be better at your job,” he added.

3. Show Empathy

Show empathy to prospects and understand their pain points.

Being empathetic is also one of the most incredible sales representative skills that’ll allow you to tune into customers and anticipate their needs and wants.

When you’re empathetic, you can build better relationships with your prospects by truly understanding what their pains are. Plus, it helps you identify what your clients and prospects need.

Not even the best sales skills and abilities can help you if you can’t provide prospects with solutions.

“Great salespeople are empathic. They need to listen to the prospect and care about their issues,” said Carrie Pobre, trainer at Sandler, a Sales skills training school in Los Angeles.

Pobre further stated, “The key here is listening with an unbiased ear. They are humble — they need to be willing to put the prospect and/or client first before themselves and their company.”

“A great salesperson knows what the customer wants before they even know it, and guides them to the perfect product or service,” adds Eddie Kane, sales manager at Tadi Brothers.

“If the customer has confidence that the salesperson will find the perfect product, it will be a closed deal. The customer will be happy and repeat purchase,” said Kane.

4. Be Prepared

Cold calling isn’t dead — it’s reborn in the digital age with new tools to incorporate into the sales process. Sales reps now spend a few minutes researching each prospect or contact before calling them to ensure they have the right person, so they can personalize the message.

Plus, prior client research helps the sales team prepare for possible objections during the negotiation process. Reps can create a script they can refer to when their clients and prospects become a bit difficult to deal with.

According to Coburn, the best sales pros recognize that every client interaction is a negotiation, so they prepare beforehand.

Some of these ways include:

• Doing a quick SWOT analysis to help them gain valuable insights
• Researching their key accounts and who they’re selling to on a company, industry, and personal level

SWOT Analysis Definition: A process in strategic planning that allows someone to see and analyze the Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, and Threats of an organization or a person.

BONUS TIP: Research Is One of the Most Important Sales Skills; Use It Wisely

Different types of research are needed for different kinds of prospects.

Even if one prospect is in the same organization and the same industry, you shouldn’t consider them as one when researching. You have to pay attention to their pain points and what they expect from their initial conversation with you rather than what you want from them.

When researching a prospect, you have several places to look into. Some of them are:

• Social media pages, like LinkedIn, help you keep track of their recent professional activities as well as their work history.
• Competitor Press Releases: This gives you an idea of who they’re working against.
• Your Prospect’s Company’s Press Releases: This is to give you a summary of significant things that have been going on in the company.

These are only a few of the different places you can look into that’ll help you be prepared for that conversation with your prospect.

5. Self-Motivated and Competitive

According to Pobre, “Great salespeople are self-motivated and competitive. Most often, they put forward sales goals themselves to motivate them, and don’t wait for company direction. They also identify opportunities.”

She also adds, “Great salespeople are competitive. It’s just in their blood.”

“One of the oddest things I’ve found in sales is that a ‘love of people’ is actually not required. Some very successful salespeople actually don’t really like people,” she pointed out.

Adding further: “What they do have is a desire to help others and the sales job skills to help the prospect figure out if their product/service is a fit.”

Being a salesman or saleswoman can be difficult at times, especially when you get rejected frequently. This can be demoralizing to some people.

Thus, having the ability to motivate yourself and learn the art of competitiveness helps develop that much-needed drive. It’s especially important during those days when you’re not motivated.

How to Remain Motivated as a Salesperson

Becoming self-motivated isn’t as easy as it sounds. It can be quite challenging to manage when you’re not used to the multitude of rejections that salesmen and women face regularly.

With that said, here are several ways you to help you become more self-motivated:

a. Always Have a Plan

To keep yourself in line and not feel lost, you should make a plan for yourself. Aside from a primary goal within a year, you should also highlight the steps necessary to reach those goals.

Having a plan and following through with it helps you get less distracted by a few bumps on the road.

b. Connect with Motivating Salespeople

If you surround yourself with high-achieving sales reps, their presence is more likely to motivate you.

You’ve probably heard that quote about being the dumbest person in the room and all that. This doesn’t mean you should refuse to learn — it just means you should be with people that have something to teach you.

c. Disconnect from Your Work Sometimes

Sometimes, you need to take a step back to see the bigger picture clearer. At this point, it might be better for you to step back a little and take a break.

You’ll be surprised just how a short break can help you be better at your job.

6. Establish Trust with the Customer

Prospects think twice about closing a deal with a sleazy salesperson but not with someone they built a trusting relationship with. How can one build trust without sacrificing maximum sales opportunities?

By combining all the sales associate skills of top performers together, a great salesperson can compel a prospect to close a deal.

Bombarding clients with products and services they might not need forces them to become wary of your presence. Instead, be a consultant for your client.

Figuring out what more they need to strengthen their brand is already a skill in itself. Build trust from there.

If you can figure out their organization’s problem, then they’ll trust you to provide a solution to that problem as well. Follow through with quality service or products, and you’ll have a loyal customer who’ll think of you first when another problem arises.

It also helps to establish a trustworthy billing process. This way, they’ll be sure to know all transactions they made with you are legitimate and legal.

7. Ask the Right Questions

Practice the art of asking the right questions to truly connect with prospects.

If a prospect says no, they’re either not ready for your offer or haven’t recognized their issues yet. A good salesperson tries to find another way to turn this around.

Instead of forcing your service on them, ask the right questions. This way, you’ll be able to determine their reason for saying no and probably work around that.

Rejection doesn’t always mean failure. Tenacious people see it as an opportunity to gain more knowledge and craft new strategies to overcome other possible refusals in the future.

This is where your listening skills become useful, but don’t stop there.

How to Know When You’re Asking the Right Questions

To know if you’re asking the right questions, you have to know the two different types of questions in sales: the open-ended questions and closed questions.

If your question aims to continue the conversation in some way, then ask an open-ended question. On the other hand, if you intend to ask a multitude of yes or no questions to narrow down on specific information on your prospect, then closed questions are ideal.

Remember, your questions should follow the conversation and not vice versa. That way, it sounds more natural and less like a one-sided interrogation.

8. Be the Authority

No one builds trust with a person who doesn’t know what he’s selling.

To gain more respect in the sales industry, you need to know your product backward, forward, and sideways. The more knowledgeable you are, the more trustworthy you become to your client.

Gaining their trust and respect can move your entire sales transactions to a more positive side of the scale.

Aside from product knowledge, a top-performing salesperson should also strive to update his/her selling skills.

Whether it’s about delivering excellent customer service, enhancing verbal communication, or developing people skills, you need to continue learning more skills and improving techniques to become an authoritative sales representative.

Society, technology, and industries evolve every minute, and you need to always catch up to these changes.

9. Social Media Skills and Social Selling

Social selling is more important now more than ever. In this technological age, social media is becoming an important tool that reps can utilize.

Social Selling Definition: The use of social media to engage with prospects frequently.

Social selling can be a good tool to find prospects. But, beyond that, socially savvy reps can also use it to understand their prospects more and build better relationships with them.

This doesn’t mean bombarding prospects with messages on their social media.

10. Technological Adaptability

These days, new technology seemingly pops up every day. While adapting to new technologies involves time to overcome a learning curve, the benefits are worth it since they can make a salesperson’s job more manageable.

From using CRMs to sales automation tools, one must be adept at using technology and adaptable to new ones. It’s essential to have the basic tech skills locked down and to possess or develop the ability to adjust to the rapid technological shifts these days.

11. Research Skills

Research is one of the most important, if not the most important, sales representative skills. Without research, you’ll have a hard time going through the entire sales cycle faster and more efficiently.

Research allows you to work with relevant and accurate information about prospects, so you’re coming in as someone who wants to help and not just someone who wants to sell them something. Learning more about the prospect and their needs can also help you tailor your offers to those that can help the prospect.

Bonus Tip: Product Knowledge

Know your product like the back of your hand.

Product knowledge is not the most crucial skill for a salesperson to have; however, it is a requirement for closing deals. Whether you are selling products or services, make sure you know the features like the back of your hand.

The best sales leaders specialize in giving industry-related solutions to their prospects. You can’t gain the ability to solve problems if you don’t memorize your products by heart.

Besides, product knowledge should be a fundamental skill all companies and sales associates should know. Without it, your product is in big trouble.

“Before you sell/serve anyone, you must know every detail and history of your products,” said Dave Ramsey, author and sales trainer.

Don’t forget to download, save, or share this handy sales skills list infographic for reference:

Develop a sales strategy maximizing effective sales techniques for your sales team to refer to. If you do so, every sales representative in your company becomes a key player in helping your business reach success.

Which sales skills do sales reps need to work on for long-term success? What are your most effective salesperson skills? What’s at the top of your sales skills list? Let us know in the comments section below:

We hope this guide helps you learn more about the essential sales skills that propel the performance of sales representatives and turn them into top performers.

Which sales skills do sales reps need to work on for long-term success? Let us know in the comments section below.

Up Next:

• Jamie Shanks Reveals 5 Must-Have Skills Of Modern Sales Pros
• 6 Effective Time Management Strategies From Sales Experts
• Sales Metrics Smackdown: Are These 3 Inside Sales Metrics Overrated?

Editor’s Note: This post was originally published on Dec. 14, 2017, and has been updated for quality and relevancy.

Here are a few expert-level tips and a few methods for dealing with no’s to help you fall into the latter category.

RELATED: How to Win Back Lost Customers (14 Ways)

Up Next:

1. Tips About How To Deal With Negative Pushback
   1. Validate
   2. Correct Only Misunderstandings
   3. Avoid Yes/No Questions
   4. Determine the Reason For the No
2. Methods for How to Deal with Negative Pushback
   1. Negative Reverse Selling
   2. The LOC Method

Tips about How to Deal With Negative Pushback

Validate

When making a sale, always keep this point in the back of your mind: the customer’s positions are always good ones. You should never invalidate their point or opinion by saying something that amounts to “no, you’re wrong.”

In fact, 90% of the time (the exceptions are explained in the “correct only misunderstandings” section below), you should agree with them wholeheartedly with something like “absolutely, that’s a great point, and it’s precisely why [insert your sales pitch here].”

Constant validations of the customer’s thoughts and opinions will put them in a good mood, which makes them more likely to buy. It will also make them feel in control of the sale, which is a good thing for any sales pitch.

Correct Only Misunderstandings

The only time you should correct a customer during your sales pitch is when the views they are expressing are the clear result of a misunderstanding. If they are talking about your market and are obviously misinformed, for example, it’s okay to explain the reality to them.

Even in this case, you need to be very gentle not to appear you are lecturing the customer; no one wants to be talked down to. Try something like, “that’s actually what we thought for a long time too, but eventually, we realized that [insert sales pitch].”

Never correct a customer just because you disagree with them.

Avoid Yes/No Questions

Customers are naturally wary of sales pitches, and a yes/no question is very likely to result in a straight-up “no.” That will completely close the door in your face, which you obviously want to avoid. Instead, ask open-ended questions that let you find out more about the customer’s needs and desires.

This tip is especially useful when you’re experiencing pushback because asking questions about why the customer is concerned about a product or service is an excellent way to make them feel in control of the situation. It’s also a good way to find out what you need to do to course-correct your pitch.

RELATED: Why Asking Questions in Sales is Important

Determine the Reason For the No

If, after you deliver your sales pitch, the customer is still not interested, it’s your job to determine why not right then and there. DO NOT let them get away with “I’ll think about it and get back to you later.” It’s just an excuse that wastes a lot of your time.

Instead, try something like “when someone tells me they’re not sure, it usually means one of two things: they genuinely need more information in order to decide, or they’re not interested. Which is it for you?” This should be the only time in your pitch you pose a binary question like this.

Methods for How to Deal With Negative Pushback

Next, let’s look at two advanced techniques for dealing with pushback. These methods are tough to pull off well and require practice to master.

Negative Reverse Selling

Some customers just don’t trust salespeople, and so they’ll disagree with the pitch at all costs. If you sense this is true with a customer you’re talking to, you can shepherd them towards the sale by using reverse psychology and steering the pitch in a direction opposite where you want them to go.

By saying things like “you’re probably right, it doesn’t seem like you’re ready for this kind of product,” you’ll drive a resistant customer into defending why they are ready. In essence, you can get them to sell to themselves.

Keep in mind that negative reverse selling should only be used as a last resort, once you see that a prospect just won’t buy under normal circumstances. It’s very risky and will often result in a “no,” but it’s certainly worth a try.

The LOC Method

One of the hardest types of pushback to deal with is the kind fueled by previous negative experiences with your company. The LOC method (listen, own, choose) is a method for handling prior negative experience pushback. It’s an extremely delicate procedure, though, and should be dealt with the same care as defusing a bomb.

First, you need to listen to everything negative your customer has to say about their prior experience. Do not interrupt them. Let them vent until all their grievances are aired.

Next, own your company’s mistakes as if they were your own. Do not defer blame. This step is essential to make the customer feel vindicated and to show them they have been heard.

Last, let the customer choose if they want to continue with your company. Assure them you understand their objections and are ready to right your wrongs, but make it clear the choice is up to them and them alone. Make sure not to come off as pushy or needy.

The sales pitch is a delicate art. And knowing how to deal with negative pushback is an important component of it. Let this quick overview guide you, and your performance when you deal with negative pushback is sure to improve.

Up Next:

• Email Prospecting vs Cold Calling: What’s Best?
• 5 Best Practices to Deal with Phone Anxiety As a Sales Rep
• Top 3 Things You Need to Perfect Your Sales Cadence

RELATED: How to Train New Salespeople When You’re Not in the Office

In This Article:

1. Make Sure It’s a Slump
2. Stay Up-to-Date
3. Revisit Positive Reviews
4. Listen to Motivational Podcasts
5. Micromanage Your Process
6. Be a Helper, Not a Closer
7. Teach Less Experienced Salespeople
8. Open Up to Your Peers

Make Sure It’s a Slump

Before you try addressing a slump, make sure it’s actually a slump and not just a decrease in performance due to a totally different reason!

Keep in mind, for example, that adjustments require you to go through a brief period of decreased performance. Are you trying a new sales technique that you think will improve your performance in the long run? Then it will probably cause a lull that you might mistake for a slump in the short term.

There is a myriad of reasons for performance dip that might look like slumps but are actually not. Before you can start working on a cure for bad performance, you need to determine the cause.

Stay Up-to-Dateavoid sales slumps

Being out of touch with current trends is not a good position for a salesperson. If a salesperson loses touch with what their customers want at the moment, they may find they are suddenly unable to sell as efficiently.

To avoid sales slumps, be sure to stay up-to-date on what’s going on in pop culture and the wider world around it, especially if there are changes directly related to your target market.

Revisit Positive Reviews

To be the best salesperson you can be, you need to remain passionate about the product. Perhaps the best way to do that is by revisiting positive testimonials from your satisfied customers.

The other benefit of this practice is that you learn exactly what customers love about your product. That knowledge will improve your sales pitches since you will have a better feel for what consumers want.

Listen to Motivational Podcasts

It’s not easy to stay motivated in a profession where the vast majority of prospects give you a hard “no.” But salespeople need to find ways to keep motivated anyway because losing motivation will result in decreased job performance.

To avoid sales slumps, you need to surround yourself with encouragement. One of the best ways to do that is by listening to motivational podcasts. You can consume them while commuting, doing chores, walking the dog, or cooking, and audio is a fantastic medium to lift spirits if the host knows how to be inspirational.

There are lots of great motivational podcasts specifically about sales.

Micromanage Your Process

Sales is a very temperamental business. It’s very easy to throw off your sales rhythm with even a small change in your routine. Sometimes, the change can be so small that you don’t even know you made it unless you take some time to think about it!

To avoid sales slumps, try to maintain your work-related schedule as militantly as possible. If you do find yourself in a slump, systematically pick apart your plan to see what you are doing differently.

Be a Helper, Not a Closer

Sales slumps are usually preceded by periods of sales fatigue. If you deal with the fatigue correctly, you can often avert the slump from happening at all!

Possibly the best way to deal with sales fatigue is by focusing on helping your customers rather than closing. Give it a try: during your next few sales pitches, focus on helping the prospect understand your product and your market better. Don’t even mention the sale. If you take away the possibility of closing, you’ll be able to de-stress and focus on the other parts of your sales pitch. It’s a valuable exercise for every sales rep to go through every now and then in order to avoid sales slumps.

RELATED: The #1 Mistake Sales Reps are Making Right Now

Teach Less Experienced Salespeople

Teaching is actually an extremely effective method of learning; imparting some of the things you’ve learned about sales to less experienced salespeople is an effective way to cement them in your mind. It’s also a nice ego boost because it reminds you that you actually know a lot about your industry.

Remembering that you know a lot about sales is a self-fulfilling prophecy; the added confidence will help you perform better and avoid sales slumps.

Open Up to Your Peers

Salespeople are generally a pretty proud bunch, and they are hesitant to ask anyone — especially each other — for feedback on their technique. If you want to avoid sales slumps, you need to overcome that hesitancy.

Although sales can feel like a very competitive world, the truth is that it’s also a kind of family and people in it want to help each other out.

Avoiding sales slumps is an essential skill for sales professionals, right up there with knowing how to close. Everyone is different and is bound to have their own “treatments” to help them avoid sales slumps, but these nine tips should get you started.

TRY AS YOU MAY TO AVOID SALES SLUMPS, YOU WILL PROBABLY FALL INTO THEM FROM TIME TO TIME. CHECK OUT THIS VIDEO FOR HOW TO GET OUT OF A SLUMP IF THAT’S WHERE YOU FIND YOURSELF.

Up Next:

• 6 Mind-Blowing Sales Acceleration Videos on Youtube
• 9 Disruptive Sales Trends
• The Best Words That Sell Every Sales Team Should Know

In the 9 tips below, we’ve organized some ground rules that will help you do just that.

RELATED: How to Lead from Home

In This Article:

1. Determine a Meeting Schedule
2. Let Your Team Focus on Specializations
3. Judge by Results, Not Performance
4. Let Your Team Know You’re Tracking KPIs
5. Acknowledge Success
6. Listen to Ideas
7. Set Realistic Goals
8. Admit Your Flaws, Help With Theirs
9. Be Hands-Off

Work Team Ground Rules

Determine a Meeting Schedule

At the start of each month, draw up a schedule that dictates when you’re going to have every meeting during that month. Doing so will make scheduling easier for everyone. It will also make people more comfortable saving their questions about projects until the next meeting.

It might seem that very frequent team meetings is the best strategy, but it isn’t! Some companies meet at the beginning of every day, and it’s a massive time-suck that doesn’t add much at all to actual functionality. Usually, a meeting or maybe two every week will be enough.

Let Your Team Focus on Specializations

Good teams are composed of people who have diverse work specializations. A tech specialist, for instance, a PR rep, a writer, an event organizer. As a team leader, it’s your primary job to make sure each specialist gets to focus on his or her area. If they are continually doing each other’s jobs, their workflow will become muddied and confused.

Make it easy for team members to communicate with each other and ask for help from each other when needed.

Judge by Results, Not Hours ground rules

As a ground rule, make sure never to judge your team members’ performances based on the amount of time they put into their work. Because ultimately, those hours don’t matter at all if they are not producing results.

Instead of hours, judge purely based on performance. If you can view results without reminding yourself how many hours it took to produce them, that’s even better.

Let Your Team Know You’re Tracking KPIs

Make sure your team knows you’re paying attention to their performance. Not in a “you better watch your back” sort of way, but in more of a “your work is valued, and I’m keeping track attentively” kind of way. There is nothing worse for productivity than an employee feeling their work (or lack thereof) goes unnoticed, and you need to avoid that situation at all costs.

RELATED: 7 Ways to Increase Visibility for a Sales Organization

Acknowledge Success

When someone accomplishes something especially commendable, let them know they’re doing a great job! As we said, people love being acknowledged for their work.

You don’t need to throw a company party every time someone does something good — they’re another way to waste time if held too often. A pat on the back and an expression of appreciation should suffice.

Listen to Ideas

Make sure team members know they can suggest ideas. Set up an anonymous portal for employees to propose changes they think the company should implement, and publicize it.

Once the ideas start pouring in, show you are listening! Let employees know the workplace is a democracy through the policies you implement.

Set Realistic Goals ground rules

Don’t be over-enthusiastic about your goals. It’s very hard for team members to give their all when they know they’re going to come up short anyway.

In fact, it’s a good idea to let team members help suggest deadlines. When you receive a client’s project, tell them you’ll talk to your team and ask them when they think they can have it done by. Then, bring it up at your next meeting.

Here are a few more ideas on what to cover during office meetings as a team leader.

Admit Your Flaws, Help With Theirs

It’s important the upper management at any company can bond with its team members, and one important part of that is showing humanity. In other words, you need to show you are just people rather than a soulless entity calling itself a company.

To help connect, admit your flaws. Letting employees know what their company could do better not only humanizes you but also gives them chances to help fill where you really need them.

Be Hands-Off

Once you establish ground rules, step away, and let your team work. Nearly everyone hates
micromanagement, and they actually love to do what they’re good at if they are allowed some free reign.

This is also an essential step in making team members feel respected, another important aspect of creating a productive work environment.

Establishing ground rules that will let your team thrive is not easy, but it is a huge part of the team leader’s job. These 9 tips are great places to start.

Up Next:

• 7 Steps to Gain Respect from Your Sales Team
• Are You a Leader or Manager of Your Sales Team?
• The 5 Characteristics of Great Leaders

RELATED: How to Lead from Home

In This Article:

1. What is a Sales Manager?
2. How Sales Manager Succeed
3. Why Some Sales Managers Fail
4. People Management
5. Management Styles
6. Benefits of a Successful Sales Manager

The Failures and Successes of Sales Management

What is a Sales Manager?

Sales managers have a broad range of responsibilities. You must manage and oversee the sales team, assign and monitor sales territories, and resolve client complaints.
You will also liaise with marketing, HR, and senior management.

The role requires a person who is analytical, flexible, and a good mentor.

Developing new and existing client relationships is an important part of the role of all sales managers.

How Sales Managers Succeed

A good sales manager knows the challenges that the role entails. You are the link between the sales team and management. Your position requires you to filter down the frequent and varied corporate decisions to the sales team.

It is your responsibility to ensure that your territories are gaining maximum returns. To achieve this, you must strategize and manage your team efficiently. You need to hold yourself accountable for your team’s poor performance as well as the successful ones.

If you are a good sales manager, you understand the importance of time management. In addition to your sales team, you have to distill marketing and accounts management into your working week.

It is vital to devote time to analyzing and tracking sales data from the sales team. This allows you to catch any shortcomings sooner rather than later.

Why Some Sales Managers Fail

Confusion is the hallmark of a bad sales manager. While you can advocate for your sales team in meetings with senior management, you are now part of the management structure of your company. Your job is to inform your team, not to ask them.

Mixed messages will negatively affect your team’s performance. You must resist sharing negative narratives such as ‘it’s us against the company’ with your team.

Another common error is fighting losing battles with senior management. You need to choose your fights to ensure you get a share of the marketing budget and training allowances for your team. If you are pushing too hard for changes you may lose the ear of your Manager. This will in turn result in losses for your sales team.

People Management

If you are promoted to manage your former colleagues you may find it difficult to navigate the world of corporate decision-making vs. personal relationships.

While you may enjoy the process of interviewing and building a new sales team, you must also be honest about the possible shortcomings of your existing team. If a sales rep. is continually not hitting achievable targets, or is not a team player, it may be time to let them go.

An exit interview is a worthwhile strategy to allow the former employee to air any grievances they may have, and allowing you to learn how to profile possible red flags with future employees.

Management Style sales managers fail

It is important not to micromanage your sales team. You need to track the top and lower end performers closely, but appreciate that you have to trust your team to do their jobs. You must manage the team, not the individual. Setting clear goals and targets will set clear parameters for your sales team to achieve.

In a large company, decisions are sent down from the top tiers of the company. You may personally view these changes negatively, but it is important to convey them to your team in a positive light. Rather than challenges, discuss opportunities.

Benefits of a Successful Sales Manager

At some point in your sales career, you will have encountered a ‘bad’ sales manager. These are the managers who disrupt rather than improve your working week.

In contrast, a good sales manager can guide and help a team achieve its targets and goals with minimum conflicts. This establishes trust and respect that creates a good working environment that will benefit your team and sales revenue.

Helping your team to grow the client base, and pursue new leads, will increase sales revenue. This will put you and your team in a good position with senior management.

A Sales Manager role is one of many facets.
A great Sales Manager will have opportunities to increase skills, progress in their career, and enjoy the satisfaction of managing and mentoring a successful sales team.

What have good or bad sales managers taught you? Comment below.

Up Next :

• THE #1 MISTAKE SALES REPS ARE MAKING RIGHT NOW
• THE BEST WORDS THAT SELL EVERY SALES TEAM SHOULD KNOW
• HOW TO WIN BACK LOST CUSTOMERS (14 WAYS)

RELATED: How To Keep Your Sales Team Motivated During The Holidays

In this article:

How Music Can Motivate Salespeople

1. You Gotta Want It – Roberta Gold
2. You Get What You Give – New Radicals
3. Lose Yourself – Eminem
4. Eye of the Tiger – Survivor
5. Fighter – Christina Aguilera
6. Live Like We’re Dying – Kris Allen
7. Proud Mary – Creedence Clearwater Revival
8. I Wanna Be Rich – Calloway
9. Don’t Worry Be Happy – Bobby McFerrin
10. We Are The Champions – Queen
11. We Are Family – Sister Sledge
12. How Do You Like Me Now? – Toby Keith
13. Start Me Up – The Rolling Stones
14. Standing Outside The Fire – Garth Brooks
15. Move On Up – Curtis Mayfield
16. Don’t Stop Believing – Journey

16 Pumped Up Songs To Motivate Your Sales Reps

How Music Can Motivate Salespeople

Few things have the power to motivate like music. The combination of an unforgettable hook and soaring lyrics can pump up your team of sales representatives.

We have put together a stellar line up of 16 ‘pumped up’ hits, some familiar, others to take your team on a new musical adventure.

Check out our songs to motivate your sales representative teams to stay motivated and hit those sales targets.

You Gotta Want It — Roberta Gold

Self-belief is at the core of sales. You take that self-belief to work with you every day to be a better sales representative.
If your sales representatives want to close that deal with their customers, let them know they ‘gotta want it’ with this song.

You Get What You Give — New Radicals

Stay focused on your “why” — the reason you do what you do. It will make a world of difference to you and everybody you interact with.
What you put into your sales; you get back. Good sales mean targets hit and job satisfaction. You really can ‘get what you give.’

Lose Yourself — Eminem

This is a song to encourage your sales team to listen to that inner voice that says you can do it. Push yourself to be the best you can be. Take pride in your successes. This is a pumped up hit song to remind your team that they have that inner fire. Take pride in hitting those targets as a team and as an individual.

Eye of A Tiger

No pumped up list can be complete without this Rocky classic. Sometimes your sales representatives need that extra 10% of motivation, and this is the song to do just that.
It’s a fun song, but at its core, it tells your sales representative team what they need to achieve to succeed, the eye of a tiger.

Fighter — Christina Aguilera

Fighter by Christina Aguilera is a pop hit to motivate. What doesn’t knock us down makes us stronger is the message of this song.
The combination of an artist with a powerful voice, amped-up music, as well as motivating lyrics is sure to create the formula for a sales motivation playlist that boosts your sales team’s motivation.

Live Like We’re Dying — Kris Allen

If every second counts, what could you have done with all that time you allowed yourself to be distracted? Kris Allen’s Live Like We’re Dying can remind sales representatives to be more conscious of their actions.
When they listen to the lyrics of the song, they’ll look back on all the time they’ve let pass by. We can’t go back, but we can take the lessons we learned, and move forward with clearer thinking.

Proud Mary — Creedence Clearwater Revival

Big Wheels keep on Turnin’. This is a classic pumped up song. The message of always moving forward is one to keep in the mind of your sales team. A company needs to keep on ‘rolling down the river,’ and it needs the motivation and hard work of its focused, forward-looking sales team behind it to achieve this.

I Wanna Be Rich — Calloway

Wealth comes in many forms; friends, family, and job satisfaction. Hitting targets is the goal of any sales team member. A rich and satisfying work-life can spread happiness in all corners of your life.

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Don’t Worry Be Happy — Bobby McFerrin

We all have rainy days, and a tune like this is the perfect pick me up on a Monday morning when the bed is just too warm. This song can add that spring in your teams’ step to get you up and out to start your week.

We Are The Champions — Queen

You’ll remember this famous pumped up song fondly from all those high school sporting events. This is a hit song for the ages, still as relevant and inspirational today as it was when you were a teen cheering on the local team. It is a great motivational classic to pump up the sales team and undoubtedly one of the most enjoyable to sing-a-long to in a team setting.

We Are Family – Sister Sledge

A company is a family. Like family, you grow by motivating and supporting one another. This hit from Sister Sledge reminds you that a team, like a family, needs to help each other to achieve their goals.

How Do You Like Me Now? — Toby Keith

When you first start to listen to How Do You Like Me Now? by Toby Keith, you’re greeted by a smooth riff that can gently rev you up to conquer the day. A song that will be relevant to everyone everywhere.

Everyone on your team has a strength and a value. Never doubt the inner confidence of any team member. Rejection is part of life; you have to pick yourself up, dust yourself off, and get back in the game.

Start Me Up — The Rolling Stones

A pumped up classic by rock and roll legends. This is a great motivational song for your sales representatives, ‘give it all you got, you got, you got.’ Encouraging a team to achieve their own success and feel the satisfaction of doing so time and time again.

Standing Outside The Fire — Garth Brooks

The message of this motivational country classic is that you need to push yourself, take a chance. A good message for any sales representative.

Move On Up – Curtis Mayfield

Some songs are classic hits for a reason. This song by Curtis Mayfield will motivate those who may feel the road ahead is rocky, to keep on going, to move on up.

Don’t Stop Believing – Journey

A classic hit that everyone will recognize, the soaring lyrics and loud guitar make this a rock classic to pump-up your team and keep the foot on the throttle for sales.

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With all of the pumped-up songs listed above, you’ll have a variety of theme songs that can serve as a playlist for your sales representative team. By taking a proactive approach to motivating your sales team, you can help them become more productive throughout the day.

Which of the pumped up songs are on your playlist right now? Let us know in the comments section below!

UP NEXT:

1. 45 Motivational Sales Quotes To Fire You Up
2. Why Sales Gamification + Spiffs = Increased Sales Motivation
3. Sales Metrics Smackdown: Are These 3 Inside Sales Metrics Overrated?

Editor’s Note: This post was originally published in May 2013, and has been updated for quality and relevancy