5 Microskills That Every Salesperson Needs

Ryan Warner, Account Executive, Salesforce

There are over 21 million sales reps in the world across all industries. Only a few have the goal of becoming the very best in their team, company, or the world, and it’s an obsessive focus on small skills — “microskills” — that separates the world-class performers from the rest. I find the concept of microskills incredibly refreshing because it breaks a large area of expertise, such as sales, into more manageable skills that we can focus on improving each day. Below is a list of the most important microskills for me as a sales rep.

#1 Prospecting

If you can’t talk with your prospects, the remaining four steps are useless. The four channels I use for prospecting are phone, email, social, and my personal network. Regarding the latter, there is no easier way to land a meeting than to have a member of your network deliver a personalized introduction.

When prospecting on the phone, you likely will only have 15–30 seconds to get your message across and land a meeting. One of the more effective ways of using that limited time is not by rattling off product names or features, but by discussing a large macro trend impacting your prospect’s world and having an opinion on it. Research an industry trend and know enough about it to formulate an opinion.

#2 Research

Once you have the meeting set up, make sure you do research. A habit that a past manager instilled in me was: Whatever the length of your meeting, spend 3x as much time on research.

I start with the people I’m meeting with: Where did they go to school? Did their former employers use Salesforce (or the product that you are selling)? Next, focus on the company’s press releases, social updates (these are what they likely care most about), and then shift to the company’s competitors and any PR that the competitors have published. Lastly, and most importantly, what are the industry trends that the C-suite at your prospect account legitimately cares about? Improving your ability to conduct diligent research for a meeting will become more important as you move upstream, have fewer meetings, and, in turn, have fewer chances to make a good impression.

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