What essential skills for the sales ?

The sales profession is undergoing some pretty radical changes. The buyer is in charge, field sales is moving inside, technology is transforming the profession. It’s so bad that some people are predicting that 15M sales jobs will disappear in the coming years. To survive in this environment, salespeople need a new set of  skills. We’ve identified a core set of 18 sales skills by analyzing these trends and watching what makes some of the world’s best salespeople successful in the new sales environment. The best salespeople:

1. Understand what the buyer wants
2. Sell in a buyer-responsive manner
3. Use psychology to engage the buyer
4. Establish trust with the buyer
5. Communicate succinctly
6. Act on what the customer is saying
7. Demonstrate subject matter expertise
8. Help (as opposed to close) their prospects
9. Tell really compelling stories
10. Are great copywriters
11. Sell effectively over the phone
12. Are socially active with target buyers
13. Personalize their interactions
14. Use a variety of marketing skills
15. Help prospects achieve next steps
16. Are more productive because of sales technology
17. Tie daily activities to quota achievement
18. Manage their pipeline like a portfolio

Here’s some detail on each of the aforementioned sales skills.