30 Sales Skills Every Sales Rep Should Master

Becoming a great salesperson requires you to cultivate an ever-growing set of skills. It’s not enough to just be great at tracking down prospects, or resilient enough to manage objections. You need to be an agile powerhouse, constantly building on your sales representative skills. 

After all, customer journeys, buying patterns, and preferences are constantly evolving. While some of the sale representative skills you need today have stayed the same for decades (like communication skills), others have become increasingly important in recent years. 

For instance, 87% of sellers now say social selling is crucial to their company’s success.  

That’s why the best business leaders invest so much time and effort into constantly training their team members, and fine-tuning their abilities. Here, we’re going to share our insights into the most important skills for a sales representative to build in today’s world. 

Whether you’re entering sales for the first time, building on your career, or looking to upskill your team, this guide will act as your starting point for effective skill development. 

The Most Important Skills for a Sales Representative

If you’ve ever wondered: “How do you know if sales is right for you?”, it’s worth noting that there’s no single skill that instantly defines a great salesperson. Just because you know how to qualify leads or use sales software doesn’t mean you’ll be a great sales rep. 

The best sales representatives have a portfolio of unique attributes that help them thrive in their roles. They don’t just possess the most important hard skills for sales. They also have a suite of soft skills that helps them to communicate, collaborate, and build relationships with 

In fact, 92% of talent acquisition professionals now say that soft skills are more important to employers than hard skills. Throughout this guide, we’re going to look at all of the essential skills of a sales rep, from the ones related to “closing the deal”, to those that ensure you can connect with and convert your target audience. Let’s dive in.

The Core Sales Representative Skills 

The core or “key” skills of a sales representative are the ones you’re going to need as any type of seller. You won’t thrive in the sales landscape if you don’t know how to track down prospects, demonstrate confidence, and ultimately close a deal. 

1. Relationship Building

The prospects you interact with as a salesperson probably won’t be ready to buy straight away. In fact, 97% of people who arrive on your website, still won’t instantly make a purchase. That makes the power to build relationships one of the most important skills needed for a sales representative.

You need to be able to commit to connecting with your customers regularly, learning what they need and what they hope to achieve, and following up with them. If you can build a relationship with your customers, by solving their problems, providing access to useful information and listening to them, you’ll increase your chances of conversions. 

2. Prospecting

Prospecting is something most sellers hate. It takes a lot of time to not only find new leads, but qualify them, and ensure they’re the right fit for your product, service, or company. However, studies show that up to 82% of buyers will accept a meeting request when you reach out to them.

Prospecting is one of the key sales representative skills that requires constant work. You need to commit to constantly experimenting with new channels for finding leads, and new strategies for qualification. It takes time and effort, but the results pay off. 

3. Self-Confidence

Self-confidence may seem less like one of the key skills for sales representative success, and more an attribute you need to cultivate over time. But confidence as a seller takes skill to develop. You need to be able to show confidence, even when you’re not feeling it. 

That’s because customers won’t buy products or services from people who don’t have confidence. If you can’t position yourself as the ultimate source of guidance and knowledge for your target audience, they’ll look for a seller that does. 

Confidence in selling largely comes from preparation. The more you learn about your industry, your product, and your target audience, the more confidently you can pitch whatever you’re selling. 

4. Time Management

You’re likely to see time management on any sales representative required skills list, shared by employers and business leaders. That’s because your role as a salesperson will require you to complete countless different tasks with incredible efficiency.

The average salesperson only spends around 34% of their time selling. Beyond that, you’ll be spending your days on research, following up with customers, creating presentations and so on. 

Fortunately, there are plenty of tools that can help you make the most of your time. Take advantage of project management and calendar apps to help you optimize your schedule. You can even plan each day in advance, and use strategies like the Eisenhower matrix to help with prioritization.

5. Storytelling

You might think storytelling is just another aspect of communication – another of the key sale representative skills you’ll need for success. But it’s actually a key capability you’ll need to build on in a very specific way. 

Storytelling helps you connect with customers on an emotional level, while also implementing logic into the mix, with things like references to previous customer success stories, and data. It’s how you put yourself in your customer’s narrative, and show them the path to success. 

You’ll need to learn how to frame your product as the perfect solution to any challenge your customer is facing, in a way that resonates directly with them. This will mean drawing on your communication skills, as well as your research and presentation skills.

Essential Interpersonal Skills 

Now lets move onto the essential interpersonal skills of a sales rep with growth potential. You’ll probably notice throughout this list that we mention a lot more soft skills and interpersonal skills than essential hard skills for sales. That’s because while technical skills are always evolving (and can be taught and honed over time), soft skills are always critical in a sales role.

6. Communicating with Clarity

Communication is the number one skill mentioned on any sales rep skills list. If you can’t communicate effectively with your prospects, you’re never going to sell anything. The key to success is learning how to communicate clearly, and in your customer’s language. 

You’ll need to be able to explain how your product or solution is going to benefit your customer, in a way they can understand. That means understanding exactly what your customer is looking for. 

Secondly, you’ll need to be able to ensure you can communicate effectively across a range of channels and mediums. Whether you’re connecting via email, a social media app, or a face-to-face conference, your communication skills need to be consistent. 

7. Active Listening

Closely connected to your communication and relationship-building skills, active listening skills are crucial for any sales representative. You need to really understand your customer and what they need if you’re going to make the perfect sales pitch. 

Active listening skills are also crucial to earning the trust of your customers – no-one will trust your recommendations if they don’t think you’ve listened to them. As a business leader, you can use active listening activities that improve the skills of your sales rep, such as role playing games that simulate a conversation with a customer.

During those role playing sessions, encourage your rep to maintain eye contact, avoid interrupting the other person, and even use statements like “I see what you mean”. 

8. Asking Questions

Questioning is another of the top sales representative skills linked to communication and relationship-building. It’s one of the key skills sales representatives need to gather valuable information about prospects. Knowing which questions to ask during initial conversations is crucial. 

The deeper you dive with your questions, the more information you’ll reveal. For instance, rather than just asking “can you afford this product?” ask, “what would be the cost of ignoring this opportunity for your business?” or “how much money are you wasting on [issue] right now?” 

Follow up on open-ended questions, like “what are your desired outcomes from this project?” with deeper-dive questions that help you get to the bottom of your customer’s needs and objections.

9. Social Media Skills

When we mention social media skills as one of the top skills needed for a sales representative, we’re not just talking about “social selling” capabilities. Ideally, you should know how to use social media to connect with customers, prospect, and pitch products. 

However, you should also know how to use social media to build a trustworthy name for yourself as an authority in your industry. Developing a powerful personal brand, by sharing valuable content across your social networks, and positive reviews from other customers will boost your selling potential. After all, many prospects today will research their rep online.

If your reputation precedes you, then you’ll have a much easier time convincing customers to trust your insights, and buy your products. 

11. Collaboration

Sales might seem like a competitive environment, but that doesn’t mean you’ll be handling everything solo. One of the top skills needed to be a sales representative is the ability to collaborate effectively with others. You’ll need to draw on the insights and knowledge of support teams, account managers, and even product experts to thrive in your role.

Tahe more effectively you can collaborate with other members of your team, the more support you’ll have throughout the sales cycle. Plus, good collaboration skills should help you to negotiate with customers more effectively, which takes us to our next point. 

12. Negotiation skills

As we mentioned above, customers aren’t always ready to buy straight away – and when they are, they won’t always be happy with the first deal you offer. That’s why negotiation is one of the top sales representative skills you’ll need to master. 

You’ll need to figure out how you can create a win-win deal for your customers, adapting to their objections and preferences, without reducing your revenue. 

This means you need to understand when to stand your ground, and potentially risk losing a sale, and when you need to compromise. It’s a difficult line to walk, but it’s one you’ll need to master as you move through your sales career.

13. Problem Solving

This is one of the top sales representative skills that often gets overlooked by beginners. As a sales rep, your job isn’t just to close deals. In fact, you might not be responsible for closing at all – that task could be handed to an account manager. 

Rather, your focus should be on solving your customer’s problems. In other words, you need to be able to understand the issues your customers are facing, and show them how to reach a resolution. 

You don’t just need to present your product as the answer to your customer’s issues, you need to actively invest in helping them reach their goals in a range of ways. That could even mean sharing insights and tips you’ve learned through previous interactions with clients.

Technical Research and Product Knowledge Skills

Now we come to some of the more technical skills needed for a sales representative. Again, these skills can evolve and change over time, but there are a few hard skills you should be focusing on if you want to boost your chances of long-term success. 

14. Product Expertise

It probably goes without saying, but product expertise is one of the most important skills of a sales rep. Your customer might know what your product is, and even have an idea of the features it can offer, but it’s up to you to show them how those features translate into specific benefits. 

You need to understand exactly what you’re selling, and what it can do for your target customer. You’ll also need to be aware of the potential challenges a customer might face when using your products. This way, you can give detailed help and recommendations to your customers, boosting your chances of stronger relationships and long-term loyalty. 

15. Technology Proficiency

The sales world has become increasingly digital. Most sales representatives rely on a wide range of tools in their day-to-day roles. You’ll be using data networks and sales enablement platforms, project management and customer relationship management software, and so on. You may even need to interact with customers through video conferencing apps. 

Plus, in today’s world, you might find yourself relying more heavily on AI for prospecting and content creation. That makes technology proficiency a crucial part of any sales rep skills list. 

You don’t need to have an in-depth knowledge of every tool you might use, but you should be comfortable enough with technology to learn how to adapt to new systems and processes.

16. Buyer research

Research skills, particularly buyer research skills, are another of the key skills sales representatives need in their roles. As we’ve mentioned previously, the more you know about your customers, their pain points, and goals, the more effective you’ll be at selling. 

Being able to dive into CRM platforms, extract data from market reports, and even learn from insights you gather when checking out a customer’s social profiles will be extremely helpful. It’ll ensure you can tailor your pitch to your customers, and even speak to them in their preferred language.

17. Data Analysis

Data analysis skills go hand-in-hand with buyer research skills in sales. While you’ll be able to gather a lot of information about your customers by simply speaking to them, or checking online information, you may need to dive into more granular data from time to time.

If you can analyze the data from your previous conversations with customers, and closed deals, you’ll be able to better understand what kind of activities contribute to your win rates. Similarly, if you can understand customer relationship data, you’ll also be able to more effectively find the right leads for your business, and qualify them for your team.

18. Presentation Skills

In today’s world, presentation skills very much fall into the realm of “technical skills” for a sales representative. You’re probably not going to be taking a product to your customer and walking them through how it works in person. Instead, you’ll need to craft digital presentations that effectively highlight the benefits of your solution. 

Presentation skills also require strong communication and research skills. You’ll need to identify your customer’s problem in advance, so you can show them how you’re going to solve it. You’ll also need to be clear when you’re articulating the benefits of your offering to your customer. 

Personal Development Skills

Personal development skills are similar in some ways to interpersonal skills, but we’re covering them separately because they effect how you’ll “grow” in your sales role. Since sales is all about constant development, you need a growth mindset, and a focus on continuous optimization.

19. Coachability

We mentioned before that the top skills professionals need in the sales landscape are always changing. A few years ago, you didn’t need to know how to use an AI system to analyze customer or competitor data – now countless companies use these tools. 

The ever-changing nature of sales is what makes coachability one of the top sale representative skills. If you’re open to constant learning, and happy to frequently seek out coaching and training opportunities, you’ll never stand still in your career. 

No matter how effective you might be in your role, a commitment to continuous learning will always help you reach new heights.

20. Leadership skills

Leadership skills may not seem important when you’re first starting out as a sales rep, but you’ll need them to progress in your role. Even before you take on aa managerial position, you’ll need to demonstrate leadership capabilities. 

The ability to make decisions quickly, based on genuine data and insights is a crucial leadership skill for salespeople. Critical thinking, and the ability to motivate people are two others. Perhaps the most important leadership skill a sales rep needs, however, is the ability to manage conflicts. 

Sales is full of rejections, objections and complaints. If you know how to handle conflict effectively, you’ll build better relationships with customers, close more deals, and thrive as part of a team.

21. Closing

You might see “closing” as one of the key skills of a sales representative we should have mentioned in the “core skills” section above. However, not all sales representatives are actually responsible for closing deals. Sometimes, their job is to just move people down the funnel. 

However, developing closing skills will help you to move forward in your role, and become a more valuable member of the team. Knowing how to pitch a solution effectively, get expectations align, and respond to customer concerns will benefit you throughout the sales cycle.

Research closing techniques and strategies regularly, and consider working with a mentor for direct insights as you progress throughout your career. 

22. Resilience and Grit

Sales isn’t an easy profession – anyone who tells you otherwise is lying. You’re going to face a lot of stresses throughout your career, and you need to be able to handle them with composure. 

This makes resilience and grit essential. Learning how to stay optimistic, and avoid beating yourself up every time you don’t close a deal will come in handy throughout your career. Additionally, resilience will ensure you don’t miss out on potential opportunities. 

According to HubSpot, around 60% of customers say yes only after they’ve said no four times. So, start looking at every “no” as a step closer to a “yes”. 

23. Emotional intelligence

Emotional intelligence is another of the most crucial skills needed to be a sales representative in today’s world. It’s not just about knowing how to manage your own emotions and maintain composure in a difficult situation. It’s about understanding how to read the emotions of your prospects, and demonstrate empathy. 

A strong level of emotional intelligence will ensure you can connect with your customers on a deeper level, and build real, genuine relationships. You’ll be able to respond to objections more effectively, and show customers that you truly care about their best interests. 

24. Adaptability

Customer demographics, buyer preferences, engagement channels, and even the tools you’ll use in your sales career are constantly changing. That’s why salespeople need to be adaptable. To succeed in your role, you need to be comfortable embracing change. 

Becoming more adaptable isn’t easy, but it’s simpler when you have an open mind. Don’t see changes to your processes and strategies as a threat. Look at them as opportunities to improve your processes and accomplish more of your goals. 

Advanced Sales Representative Skills

Finally, let’s look at some of the more advanced sales representative skills you can prioritize as you pave your way to greater heights in your career. These are the skills you’ll need to develop with training and experience, but they’ll be incredibly valuable in the long-term.

25. Objection Handling 

Objections are a fact of life for salespeople – that’s one of the things that makes resilience one of the key skills of sales representative success. However, to truly thrive in your role, you don’t just need to maintain composure when you face an objection. 

You also need to be able to handle objections in an intuitive way. This means looking at each objection as an opportunity to dive deeper into a customer’s pain points and problems, and present them with a fantastic solution.

Don’t just ignore your customer’s objections, find out where they really come from. For instance, if your customer objects to the price, is it because they really can’t afford your solution, or because they don’t understand the benefits it can offer?

26. Upselling and cross-selling

Cross-selling and upselling skills are what will help you to transform from being a great sales rep, to one that constantly surpasses your goals and quotas. Once you’ve built a relationship with a customer, knowing when to suggest higher-quality products or add-ons is a great way to increase purchasing value. However, it’s important to approach this process carefully.

You shouldn’t just be focusing on getting customers to spend as much money as possible. Your aim should be to ensure they’re getting the best deal. Pay attention to what you learn about your customers and their goals, to identify relevant opportunities for cross-selling and upselling.

27. Business Acumen

Developing business acumen is a good way to build on the research and data analysis skills needed to be a sales representative. Business acumen isn’t just about understanding how your own company works. It’s about having a clear knowledge of the business world as it affects your customer, the market environment, and your industry. 

Strong business acumen skills will help you to more effectively qualify leads, and develop sales pitches that really speak to your target audience. 

It will also help to position you as a thought leader and authority in the eyes of your customers, if you can show a clear understanding of their situation.

28. Post-Sales Skills

A salesperson’s job doesn’t end when a customer makes a purchase. Getting a deal isn’t the end of the process – or it shouldn’t be. Maintaining a relationship with effective post-sales skills can improve your chances of success in the future. 

Knowing how to maintain good relationships with your customers by following up with them, offering access to resources, or delivering a good onboarding strategy will boost your chances of repeat purchases. It can also open the door to new opportunities.

Customers that you have a good relationship with are more likely to recommend your business to other buyers, and act as a champion for your organization.

29. Human Psychology

Developing great sales representative skills doesn’t have to mean getting a degree in psychology. However, learning more about how the human mind works can definitely help you in your role. 

Understanding how people work, what causes them to push back against a deal, and what drives them to connect with your company and product, will make you a better seller. Sometimes, even simple strategies, like guiding customers through a conversation so they feel they’ve come to a conclusion themselves, rather than just “telling them what to do” can make all the difference.

30. Coaching

Finally, as a new sales rep, you might not think of yourself as a coach. The chances are you won’t have the opportunity to coach other employees for some time. However, that doesn’t mean you can’t use coaching skills in your everyday work.

The ability to give and receive feedback from customers and your colleagues, set specific goals, and show empathy are all examples of coaching skills you can use as a sales rep. Even positioning yourself as a “coach” dedicated to helping customers reach their targets can increase your win rates. 

Customers are more likely to buy from a trusted advisor that understands their needs and challenges than a pushy sales representative.

Developing your Sales Representative Skills

Obviously, we’ve covered a lot of different key skills for a sales representative to develop here – but this list only scratches the surface. The reality is that the skills you’ll need will continue to evolve over time, as you move through your career. 

To achieve success in your career, you just need to commit to lifelong skill development. Seek out opportunities to grow constantly, and you’ll thrive in the sales landscape. 

At HSE, we’ve developed the perfect platform for the modern salesperson. Here, you can find the mentors, guides, and experts you need to work with to develop any critical skill for sales success.

Start investing in your future today, with the Hard Skill Exchange.


Rebekah Carter

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