Soft skills are essential skills

We have it all backwards in sales.

The hard sales skills are the easiest to learn and become proficient in.

The so-called “basics,” or “soft" skills, take a lifetime to learn and master.

I call these the Essential Skills because they’re essential to how you differentiate yourself in competitive sales situations to close more deals.

So, stop talking about "soft” skills in sales.

Connecting on a human level.

Building credibility and trust.

Demonstrating true empathy.

Using your curiosity to ask insightful questions.

Listening to understand, not respond.

Truly understanding the things that are most important to your buyer.

Being a source of value that drives decisions.

These aren’t soft skills.

They are Essential Skills with tangible value to the buyer. And you.

Sales leaders can’t easily define and track the “soft" skills with metrics so they don’t consider them to have as much value.

As a result, they don’t emphasize their importance to their sellers.

On top of that, every seller believes that they already “know the basics.”

So, they stop paying attention to them. And stop practicing them.

Here’s the problem: “knowing" is not equivalent to proficiency.

In any competitive sales situation, where the margin between winning and losing is razor thin, it's how well you execute the “basics” that often make the difference.

If you’re not above average with your Essential Skills, your achievement will be average at best.

As we continue to automate sales, the machines start with the hard skills first. They are more easily automated. And measured.

But, where machines fall short is in the Essential human sales skills.

Authenticity, connection, rapport, empathy, curiosity, understanding, context, generosity.

So, what many sellers and sales leaders consider to be basics, are, in fact, the advanced selling skills that will enable you to win more deals.

And keep your job.

Because, if you can’t be more human than a machine, what future do you have in sales?