A sales leader at an asset management firm reflected: “Our inside salespeople are doing a better job than our field salespeople. And they make one third as much.” In the pharmaceutical industry, where doctors increasingly decline to take face-to-face meetings with salespeople, one sales leader told us: “We need a different breed of salesperson with a higher digital quotient.” A technology buyer at our own consulting company complained about one of our vendors: “Although Alice has the title Customer Success Manager, she tries to knock down my door every time she smells an expansion opportunity. She is just a pushy salesperson.”
5 Skills Every Salesperson Needs to Succeed
Takeaways from an analysis of more than 20,000 job listings.
September 19, 2022
Summary.
A study of more than 20,000 job listings for salespeople posted between 2019 and 2022 reveal many of the attributes that have always been crucial for success in this field, such as communication skills. But this study revealed five forward-looking qualities that are showing up more frequently. They are anticipating the customer’s future, collaborating inside and outside the company, leveraging digital and virtual channels, the ability to get power from data, and the capacity to adapt.