What are the five basic skills of a sales representative?

While this may seem pretty obvious, it's important to remember that communication is more than just speaking clearly and concisely. A sales rep must also communicate effectively throughout the sales cycle, from cold outreach and follow-up to moving an opportunity along.

Sales prospecting is perhaps one of the most important skills that can help to increase your earning potential if you work in a commissioned sales rep job.

To be effective, salespeople need to develop a strategic approach to prospecting and work on it daily to identify new business opportunities. That means having the ability to research potential buyers, conduct cold outreach, and create new opportunities.

Social selling is about delivering effective messaging through in-person, email, or social media, such as LinkedIn to help reach potential buyers. Your sales enablement strategy should also include a documented social selling plan so reps can reference it as they learn.

You want to make sure sellers aren't copying and pasting your sales pitch into every direct message or posting on LinkedIn five times a day. Personalized outreach coupled with a steady presence is the balance that should be strived for.

Business acumen is an important skill for showing the employer that you understand their business and how best to sell the product or service. Whether you are trying to understand an annual financial report or the factors affecting your customers, the basics of good business are always critical.

A sales rep should use business-level information (like financial statements) to move a conversation forward around relevant pain points and ROI.

Active listening is all about staying in the moment and ensuring the seller clearly understands what the buyer is saying. In today's fast-paced business world, there's always a temptation to formulate a response or follow-up question before the buyer finishes talking.

Sale reps, therefore, should try to paraphrase, whenever possible, what was just said or slow the conversation down as needed to ensure they can genuinely position themselves as consultative sellers.