In an ever-changing economic environment, sales is a strategic pillar within companies. To excel in their profession, salespeople need to combine a range of technical, human and organisational skills. Here are the keys to boosting your sales performance and building a rewarding career, from every point of view!
Technical skills: the foundation of the profession
As an essential prerequisite, a good salesperson must master the technical basics of his or her field. This includes, first and foremost, a very precise understanding of the characteristics, advantages and limitations of the products or services they sell. It also means knowing how to put together a structured sales meeting, from the initial contact to the conclusion of the contract. Lastly, you need to be able to speak clearly and respond confidently to any objections.
1. Market knowledge: a key asset
A successful salesperson needs to have in-depth knowledge of his or her sector of activity. In particular:
- Market trends: they monitor the competition in order to identify opportunities and anticipate market developments;
- Competition: they know the strengths and weaknesses of their competitors, and are able to clearly position their offering in the competitive environment;
- Targets: they understand their customers' expectations and behaviour, and adapt their sales approach accordingly.
2. Mastering tools: optimising efficiency
The increasing digitalisation of companies has had a major impact on the sales sector. Digital tools have become essential allies for any successful salesperson:
- CRM (Customer Relationship Management): customer relationship management software enables salespeople to improve their efficiency, organise their prospecting and track sales more effectively.
- Social networks: these are particularly useful for identifying new prospects and interacting with customers.
- Analysis tools: dashboards are essential for interpreting data and adjusting strategy accordingly.
3. Planning and organisation: towards controlled management
Every good salesperson knows: time is money. To optimise their performance, salespeople need to know how to make the most of their time and plan their assignments effectively. In particular, this means:
- Prioritising essential tasks ;
- Defining clear objectives and identifying achievable targets;
- Following up customers by maintaining a relationship of trust over the long term.
Human skills: interpersonal skills at the heart of customer relations
High-quality interactions with customers require certain essential human qualities:
1. Active listening
It may seem paradoxical, but an effective sales assistant listens more than he talks. By listening attentively, they can better understand the customer's explicit and implicit expectations and adapt their offer to their needs. At the same time, it enables us to identify alerts and opportunities, and to establish the relationship of trust that is essential to any sales success.
2. Empathy
Empathy is the ability to put yourself in the customer's shoes, to understand their feelings and to build an authentic relationship with them. This quality is particularly useful in managing conflict situations, as it encourages constructive attitudes and defuses tension.
3. Communication skills
Knowing how to communicate clearly and convincingly is one of the fundamentals of sales. This means being able to adapt what you say to the person you are talking to, and using simple, precise and powerful language. This is a key skill for getting clear messages across and avoiding misunderstandings.
4. Negotiation
Negotiation is an art. A good salesperson must master it in order to respond to any objections without becoming defensive, and to propose win-win solutions to their customer. Far from being limited to obtaining advantageous terms, knowing how to negotiate means finding common ground that is profitable for both parties.
5. The power of persuasion
This is often the key to turning a prospect into a customer. Persuasiveness is based both on logical, factual arguments and on the ability to inspire confidence. Being credible and knowing how to demonstrate the added value of your product or service are part of this art of positively influencing the decision of the person you are talking to.
Continuous training: a lifelong learning process
The sales profession is constantly evolving. In particular, the increasing use of digital tools is transforming the sales environment and giving rise to new practices.
To stay on top of their game, salespeople need to :
- Take part in training courses: remote or face-to-face modules enable them to take part in workshops or seminars on specific topics;
- Read and inform themselves: by subscribing to specialist magazines, or by researching books on sales;
- Discovering new sales techniques: and adopting innovative methods to better meet customer expectations.
Status: which option to choose?
Salespeople can choose to practise their profession under different types of status. Some of the most common are :
- Salaried employee: on the basis of a permanent or fixed-term contract, this status usually involves a fixed salary plus a variable component and/or bonuses.
- Sales agent: an independent professional who represents one or more companies on the basis of an agency contract. They are remunerated in the form of commission calculated on the basis of sales or the margin generated by the customer portfolio for which they are responsible.
- As self-employed salespeople: they work as freelancers or micro-entrepreneurs.
Sales remuneration: the fruit of performance
Salespeople's pay is highly variable by nature. It is directly linked to sales performance, and depends on a number of factors: the level of the fixed salary, where this exists, the amount of commission and bonuses negotiated, and any bonuses. Another important element to take into account in a salesperson's remuneration package is benefits in kind, such as a company car or smartphone, which often supplement the purely financial aspects.
Career prospects: promising developments
Sales is a profession that opens the door to many opportunities for advancement. With a wealth of experience in the field, a good salesperson can progress to the following positions:
- Sales manager: supervising a team of salespeople;
- Key account manager: responsible for managing the company's strategic customers;
- Sales director: responsible for defining the company's sales strategy and managing the teams who will implement it in the field;
- Sales agent: a self-employed professional who works independently on behalf of a company that he or she represents.
Conclusion
As we have seen, becoming a successful salesperson requires a wide range of technical skills and human qualities. It also requires a dynamic mindset and a taste for challenge and going beyond your limits. With experience in the field, mastery of the right tools and the use of ongoing training to enhance your skills, the sales professions offer tremendous opportunities to build exciting career paths.
Are you a successful salesperson in the IT equipment and services or leasing sectors? Would you like to be more autonomous in your job and earn a flat-rate income? The status of sales agent may be of interest to you.
Econocom, the European leader in digital business transformation, is recruiting 100 sales agents across Europe.