Three Core Skills Necessary for the New Era of Selling

If you were to list the skills that have made salespeople successful in the past, what would you include? You might describe a good salesperson as a relationship builder, effective prospector, knowledgeable industry expert, well-connected networker, and hard worker.

Eh…OK. These are good skills, but are they sufficient for the new era of sales that is upon us? Many sellers are finding they are not. Instead of asking what sales skills worked in the past, a more important question to ask is, “What sales skills are required for future success?” The value of traditional sales skills taught in countless training courses is diminishing as the buying process shifts in new directions.

The number of people involved in the buying process has increased – growing from three people five years ago to an average of seven now, according to Gartner Group. Direct access to decision makers is also continuing to diminish. Pressing time constraints mean prospects are showing less interest in traditional face-to-face meetings. Buyers are also increasingly using technology to manage purchases rather than working with salespeople. All of these shifts require new skills. Below are three core skills sales professionals need to succeed in this new era of sales.

1) Facilitation
Selling complex solutions to large customers requires a large buying team. With the average number of people on the buyer’s side of the table hovering around seven, your company will need a selling team to match. Both the buying and selling teams will be filled with subject matter experts in addition to the decision makers and the sales team, but not everyone on the team shows up at the same time in the same room. More than likely, they are introduced over time and in different ways. This means the new era of sales requires a facilitator who can keep all the players interacting in a way that leads to goals. Those goals include building trust, developing a solution to the problem, overcoming system challenges, and so on. The facilitator makes certain that all goes smoothly and stays on track.

Salesperson, welcome to your new role as facilitator.

2) Project Management
Navigating today’s multifaceted selling process requires a greater level of attention to detail than past sales processes. Gone are the days of independent sales professionals. Now sellers must coordinate meetings between multiple groups, establish connections between subject matter experts, monitor procurement approvals, and perform quality checks – among other tasks.

The list of the components a seller has to manage is endless. Within each step of the sales process, there is a level of strategy – a gentle or not-so-gentle prodding – and obstacles to overcome. With more people involved, project management skills are more necessary than ever. These skills make certain that deadlines are met, commitments kept, and that a cadence is set that will lead to a close.

3) Solution Design
I had a boss who once said to me, “I don’t pay you to sell what’s in the brochure. I pay you to sell past the brochure.” He felt that providing standard offerings that could be seen in a brochure (and now can be found on the Internet) is not selling. He wanted me to design tailored solutions that address complex problems for customers.

This approach does several things. It differentiates you from your competitors, it creates unique value for your customers, and it creates a desire for customers to continue working with you in the future because they rely on your expertise. In the world of rapid commoditization, it is easy to replicate product offerings and service offerings, but the solution designer salesperson is able to add a tailored approach to product and service offerings. There are some salespeople I have met who have this skill, but very few. Those who do are almost always found at the top of the performance chart in their organization.

While the skills from the old era will not necessarily hurt your sales efforts, new core skills are necessary if you want greater success in the new era of sales.

Tom Searcy is CEO and founder of Hunt Big Sales – a sales strategy company that helps CEOs double the size of their company – and author of Life After the Death of Selling: How to Thrive in the New Era of Sales. Follow @tomsearcy.