Selling skills are a set of abilities and competencies that enable your salespeople to connect with customers in meaningful ways, close more deals and deliver on their promises. Most of us have a story about a salesperson who made our buying decision a breeze by asking well thought-out questions, listening (instead of talking) and connecting their product or service to our stated or unstated needs.

A key selling skill is empathy, which enables salespeople to tune in to verbal and non-verbal cues from their customer and fully understand their feelings and emotions. It also enables them to identify and address any issues that may emerge during the selling process and develop strategies to overcome them.

Another important sales skill is the ability to show buyers how they will experience a return on their investment in a product or service. This is especially important for business-to-business products and services that are expensive or take time to yield results.

This study offers seven verified categories of seller skill level that companies can use to plan and structure their sales force. The future direction of research on B2B seller skills should focus on assessing the structural properties of these categories in relation to other sales performance indicators and their effects on sellers’ role perceptions, motivations and aptitude. It should also investigate the moderating and mediating effects of seller skills on sales performance. B2B sellers should continuously work to improve their performance in these areas: improved presentation and communication skills; greater knowledge about the product/technology; enhanced customer knowledge; and increased ability to apply sales technology. online marketplace