Is your sales team utilizing only 50 percent of the selling skills needed to acquire and win business during the pandemic? If so, chances are pretty good that a competitor, who is utilizing 100 percent of the necessary selling skills, is outselling them. And those skills are the soft and hard skills of selling, Sales EQ and IQ.
It’s similar to losing weight. Sure, watching your diet and calories will bring some success. But when you combine diet AND exercise, then you will see quicker and more sustainable success. The D & E of weight loss.
For example, most sales organizations have had to retool their value propositions because of the changing market and/or buying influences. Value propositions fall into the hard-skills-training bucket, consultative sales training, Sales IQ. They are important skills and you can think of them as the “diet” portion of successful selling.
However, if sales managers are not teaching their sales teams how to incorporate empathy into their value propositions, the salesperson’s outbound prospecting efforts will not emotionally connect with qualified prospects. You are missing the “exercise” portion of successful selling.
Your salesperson is missing 50 percent of the skills needed to be successful in sales.
Let’s look at another example. Many of my clients are finding that new decision makers, with bigger titles, are now are involved in the purchasing process because of the pandemic. Sales managers recognize this change and work with their sales team to design thoughtful and customized questions for these new buyers. But once again, the seller is equipped with only 50 percent of the skills, hard skills, needed to be successful.
What’s missing are the EQ skills required to hold a high-level, high-stakes C-suite conversations. Skills such as emotion management, confidence and assertiveness. A seller might be fearful that this “big” prospect knows more than them. Or, they’re fearful they’ll be asked a question they can’t answer. A salesperson that gets rattled during a sales meeting can’t execute those great questions you designed.
If a seller lacks confidence, why would a prospect be confident in purchasing the services provided by your company?
Sales managers, provide your team with 100 percent of the skills needed to be successful in sales. Provide coaching both the soft skills and hard skills of sales and influence.
Good Selling!
