Though they consider various skills essential for the success of a salesperson — from understanding your “why” to be an active listener — two local sales leaders agreed on one attribute that will have long-term dividends: the unending desire to learn.
“Learn from everyone and every experience,” Dynatrace Inside Sales Representative Christina Zmrazek said. “Be a sponge.”
“Constantly be hungry for more knowledge in any way that you can get it,” Formlabs Direct Sales Manager AJ DiStefano said. “Even if you are the top sales rep on your team, there are things that you can improve.”
Below, Built In Boston connected with Zmrazek and DiStefano to learn what skills guide their success and how they strengthen their skills as salespeople.
What they do: Dynatrace uses artificial intelligence, advanced observability and automation to provide users an all-in-one software platform that simplifies cloud complexities and accelerates digital transformation.
What skill do you consider to be the most essential for your success as a salesperson, and why?
It’s difficult to pick one skill as there are a slew of skills and learned traits that make the success of any individual in any given role. Recognizing this, a skill that has most definitely been essential in my career thus far is the ability to be consistently self-driven. As a salesperson, you have to be able to understand your “why” and execute your plan on a consistent, daily basis.
We all know sales is a grind day-in, day-out. No one is going to do your job or pick up the phone for you. You’re going to have to carry the weight yourself and have the courage to take intelligent risks. This, accompanied with the mindset that the next opportunity is just around the corner, will bring you far throughout your career.
Salespeople get rejected multiple times each day, and you can’t let that bring you down or get you off of your game.”
What’s another skill that is less obvious or less appreciated that you also consider critical for sales success?
I have a post-it note on my computer monitor that says, “My energy creates my reality.” Your mindset is your most undervalued asset. Think about it. It’s easy to spot a yellow car if you’re always thinking of a yellow car, just as it’s easy to spot an opportunity if you’re focused on opportunity. Salespeople get rejected multiple times each day, and you can’t let that bring you down or get you off of your game. You have to have a short memory in that regard, bring your best self to your customers and your team day-in and day-out, and execute like every quarter is the fourth quarter.
What advice do you have for sales pros looking to strengthen their skills?
Learn from everyone and every experience. Be a sponge. Also, remember that your network is your net worth. Have a network of people from different business sectors and experience levels, and learn how to “chew the meat and spit out the bones.” By this, I mean to understand and learn the ability to leverage the advice and past experience of others but only in the ways that make sense for you and your opportunity.
Your inner voice and intuition are important, and you have to be able to not only cultivate the self-awareness to hear it but have the courage to follow it as well. You cannot use what you do not have and just because a certain strategy or positioning worked for someone else doesn’t mean it will work for you if it doesn’t feel natural. Stay true to yourself and continue to build your business on the foundation of integrity and credibility.
What they do: Formlabs is a 3D-printing tool, material and software provider. Its U.S., European and Asian offices produce solutions that span a number of industries including jewelry, dental, research, audiology and more.
What skill do you consider to be the most essential for your success as a salesperson, and why?
Active listening. A lot of salespeople can love to dominate a conversation, especially ones who are newer to a company and want to show off all the product and market expertise they have worked hard to learn. However, in sales we want the prospect talking for the majority of the conversation so that we can uncover more information about them.
Sales is about finding a solution to a prospect’s problem. This could be a problem they are currently aware of, a problem that they don’t know they have or both. Knowledge is power in this situation, as the more we know about the customer, the easier it will be to provide a perfect solution to their problem(s) — hopefully leading to a sale.
A sales rep who just spews knowledge at a prospect and dominates the conversation is overloading them with information that may not be applicable to them or their problem. A sales rep who strategically asks probing questions to get the prospect talking about their current problems and then engages in active listening will then be able to apply their product expertise selectively as it pertains to the customer.
Pick your spots in a conversation to get the prospect going and turn on your active listening.
Sales is about finding a solution to a prospect’s problem.”
What’s another skill that is less obvious or less appreciated that you also consider critical for sales success?
Organization. It seems fairly simple, but it’s not. In a high volume sales process especially, organization is key. You can be the best salesperson on the phone, but if your sales tools are a mess it might not matter.
Staying organized with your next steps, follow-up tasks and outreach activities will allow you to scale up volumes while maintaining the same efficiency as lower volumes. Mastering your workflow allows you to put all of your efforts into your sales conversations, rather than trying to remember who you need to follow up with or who you may need to still send a quote to.
I typically compare this to building blocks when discussing with our reps, as simple as it sounds. Your organization and workflow are your base. If you have a strong base, you can pile on and build up heavily with high activity and everything will be stable. However, if you have a poor base and try to pile on the activities, everything you build is going to fall apart.
What advice do you have for sales pros looking to strengthen their skills?
Constantly be hungry for more knowledge in any way that you can get it. Even if you are the top sales rep on your team, there are things that you can improve. (If you think there is nothing you can improve, please reach out to me.) There are a few main areas to focus on in order to continue your self-development:
- Read, read and read. There are so many great sales books out there that can constantly hone in your craft on your own time. Just because you’re done with school doesn’t mean you should stop reading for learning purposes.
- Attend webinars. I have been watching more webinars during COVID as they are much more prevalent. There are sales skills ones, but I have mostly been ones related to sales tools we use. I have picked up some tips and tricks that I pass along to the team. Even if you pick one thing up that can increase productivity!
- Talk to others. Sharing best practices is a great way to learn new things while also helping others. This is something that truly is not done enough. Whether it is a mentor, coworker or friend, never be afraid to ask questions and learn from others!
