Increase Sales Blog

Credit www.sxc.hu

With all the focus on the technical sales skills of negotiating, fact finding, overcoming stalls, sometimes the most obvious and most critical ones get placed on the back burner. In working with many sales professionals and C Suite executive, I have discovered these seven (7) powerful sales skills since everyone is in sales. Sales Training Coaching Tip:  Everyone is selling something to someone; only sales people get paid to do that.

#1 Power Up – Personal Accountability

The ability to be responsible for the consequences of one’s own decisions and actions; taking responsibility for these decisions, and not shifting focus on blame or poor performance somewhere else, or on others.  This derives from an internal responsibility to one’s self to be accountable and this internal willingness to own up will tend to be exhibited outside in one’s actions. (Source Innermetrix)

#2 Power Up – Self Management

An overall capacity comprised of multiple factors, which involve a person’s ability to manage his or her own “self”.  Similar to a person’s ability to manage others, which involves empathy, understanding, the ability to gain commitment and various other leadership qualities, this capacity measures a person’s ability to marshal similar abilities toward managing themselves. (Source Innermetrix)

#3 Power Up – Results Orientation

The ability to identify actions necessary to achieve task completion and to obtain results.  This ability will be manifested in a person’s ability to meet schedules, deadlines, quotas and performance goals. (Source Innermetrix)

#4 Power Up – Consistency and Reliability

This is the capacity to feel an internal need to be conscientious in their personal or professional efforts.  The need to be both consistent and reliable in their life roles.  This is an internal motivation, as opposed to being motivated by external forces such as job, peer or supervisory pressures. (Source Innermetrix)

#5 Power Up – Relating to Others

The ability to coordinate personal insights and knowledge of others into effective actions.  The ability to make use of accurate interpersonal skills in interacting with others. (Source Innermetrix)

#6 Power Up -  Realistic Personal Goal Setting

The capacity for realistic personal goal setting is inherent within all human beings.  However, some have developed that attribute or capacity better than others. (Source Innermetrix) Sales Training Coaching Tip:  This is one attribute when even further developed can have a dramatic impact on the majority of all the 78 core attributes as identified by Innermetrix.

#7 Power Up – Diplomacy

The ability to balance personal emotions with the needs of the situation, to not allow one’s personal emotions or feelings to interfere, cloud or inappropriately affect their response to a situation. This attribute is looking at how clearly someone can keep the feelings and concerns o others in mind while dealing with emotionally charged situations. (Source Innermetrix) Sales Training Coaching Tip: Emotional intelligence has been determined to be a key skill for successful leaders and especially within sales leadership.  Within the Attribute Index, the talent of Diplomacy directly reflects the application of emotional intelligence. The application of this talent can begin to power start overall progress.

Just imagine if you could work on these seven power up sales skills with in overall sales leadership and start to realize immediate results. Yes technical skills are important, however those soft or people skills are even more important because people buy from people.

P.S. If you wish to have these talents assessed along with the other 71 talents as identified within the Innermetrix assessment, you can find more information here on performance appraisals. If you are still unsure, then consider this webinar Sales Leadership – Got Talent being delivered on August 28, 2012. (Scroll down to that date.)