Twelve key interpersonal skills to look for in a sales candidate

Interpersonal skills are abilities individuals use to effectively communicate and interact with others. These include verbal and written communication, active listening, empathy, confidence, adaptability, and a positive attitude.

These critical skills are essential for success in many areas, particularly in sales, where professionals use them to build client relationships and finalize deals. Identifying these skills early in the recruitment cycle adds value to the hiring process.

For example, a salesperson with strong interpersonal skills communicates effectively, understands clients better, and brings valuable leads. Hence, they improve sales, build customer credibility, and boost productivity.

A workplace is a diverse environment where people from different thought processes and backgrounds work together. Interpersonal skills are essential in building rapport, resolving conflicts, and achieving business goals in various settings. They help individuals appreciate and respond to client requirements, making the most of available opportunities. Thus, it ensures clients remain loyal, increasing chances of repeated business and upselling opportunities.

While technical skills are essential for business and individual success, interpersonal skills also play a crucial role in sales. These skills impact what you say and how you present the company to a client.

1. Growth mindset

A growth mindset helps sales professionals fine-tune their efforts toward continuous success. Professionals with growth mindsets believe in strengthening their natural talents and developing new abilities over time. Therefore, hire sales team members ready to break the mold and use their interpersonal skills to push themselves out of their comfort zones.

2. Adaptability

Changing customer expectations, increasing competition, lower margins, and administrative tasks take a toll on sales performance. Therefore, sales professionals who embrace continuous adaptability see consistent improvement in their professional growth.

3. Flexibility

The expectations from sales professionals are constantly evolving; therefore, candidates should be open to changes in work settings. They should actively seek and incorporate feedback to improve personal and professional growth. It helps identify improvement areas, adjust strategies, build client trust and credibility, and establish long-term business relationships.

4. Empathy

Sales representatives improve customer experience by understanding user requirements, aligning with their challenges, and articulating potential solutions.

It helps them differentiate when and how to put forth a point by understanding customers’ emotional, financial, and psychological needs in different situations.

5. Communication

Sales professionals need to articulate their ideas effectively without challenges. The language and spoken English used during customer communications allow for generating more opportunities and closing more sales.

Remember, communication is a two-way street. Therefore, aside from effective language skills, sales professionals should also possess effective listening and observational skills to identify unseen challenges.

6. Humility

Sales representatives must practice humility to build trust and rapport with potential clients. Humility helps establish credibility and resonance, improving the overall brand value. It shows that professionals genuinely want to understand customers’ needs and find solutions.

Additionally, humility encourages accepting mistakes and receiving constructive feedback, leading to improved performance and results in the future.

7. Confidence

Confidence enables sales professionals to assure a product or service’s value to potential customers. It is developed through experience, receptivity to learning, knowledge about services and products, trust in the brand, and determination.

Organizations must find candidates who are confident and clear-headed. This skill can also be developed through learning, starting from engaging with leads, pitching, and negotiating.

8. Emotional intelligence

Emotional intelligence is professionals’ ability to stay aware of their emotions and control their reactions in different situations. They should have the emotional intelligence necessary to influence prospects and receive desired results.

9. Resilience

Resilience in sales is the ability to bounce back from setbacks, challenges, and rejections that are a common part of the process. Sales is a high-pressure and competitive landscape, and sales professionals often face rejection and disappointment. Thus, these professionals must possess resilience and perseverance skills.

However, building resilience doesn’t mean ignoring negative emotions or avoiding a difficult sales call. It means finding healthy ways to manage difficult emotions to prevent burnout.

10. Authenticity

Customers know when businesses genuinely care about what products or services are sold to users. Therefore, find sales professionals who are authentic while interacting with clients.

Authenticity also involves keeping customers’ core interests at heart, being transparent about what’s achievable, and following up with an earnest interest in solving their problems.

11. Responsiveness

The digital era has improved responsiveness across industries. Therefore, when customers reach out to businesses with challenges, responsiveness by sales professionals improves the chances of sealing the deal.

Further, instead of waiting for the prospect to get back to them, sales professionals should be one step ahead. They should identify customer challenges, offer an invaluable solution, and move towards signing the deal.

12. Collaboration

Collaboration skills allow sales executives to work effectively with internal and external teams to achieve common goals. This involves sharing information, knowledge, and resources to improve business outcomes.

This skill also helps sales candidates identify new opportunities and develop strategies to reach potential customers.

Similar to key interpersonal skills, time management is imperative for sales professionals. If they work 60 hours a week and are unable to meet the desired targets or achieve favorable results, their time management strategy is not sustainable. Therefore, prioritizing work, delegating tasks effectively, and setting the right deadlines may help manage time.

Sales professionals can also use tools like customer relationship management (CRM) to import client data, continually track leads, resolve customer queries, and build valuable user relations.

Public speaking is an essential soft skill for sales professionals, as it improves presentation and client communication. Sales professionals need to regularly speak with different people, negotiate deals, and convince clients to purchase a product or service. Therefore, improving public speaking skills through regular practice will naturally enhance their sales pitch.

An effective sales strategy or pitch starts with product knowledge. Any salesperson visiting a potential client to sell a product or service should know about it extensively. Its specifications, details, drawbacks, unique selling pointers, current sales, and customization options are essential to offer details to customers.

When a sales professional doesn’t have this knowledge, they may fall short of words or build wrong client expectations. Ensure appropriate training sessions to help professionals understand the product and service clearly.

Objection and rejection are common in sales. However, sales professionals can’t lose hope after an unsuccessful lead. Instead, they need to stay positive to move ahead and find new, better leads and opportunities.

Knowledge helps improve sales pitches because knowing your buyer is the key to converting leads. Sales representatives should understand their potential buyers, relevant markets, industry trends, and competition. This research helps prepare a pitch that enhances sales interactions and chances of closing the deal.

Good interpersonal skills are important to get leads and continuously build rapport with customers successfully. If you believe your company should close more deals by offering value to clients, examine and improve the interpersonal dynamics of these interactions. Improving these dynamics is the key to increasing your closing rates.