Like many jobs, the longer you are in a role the more experience you gain over time. Sales experience works in the same way, which can allow you to overcome challenges in your role and make you more successful. Today, we will explore the basics of sales experience and skills that can help you.

What Counts as Sales Experience and Why is it Important?

Sales experience is your history of selling products and services to leads. It is the result of interacting with consumers through forms of communication which can include calls, emails, training sessions and more. One of the challenges of sales is reaching out to leads who do not know who you are and asking something of them. As a result, it is possible that a large number of these leads might reject your initial sales pitch. Learning how and when to improvise in certain situations to overcome objections comes with more experience and more preparation before you reach out to leads.  

Most of our clients choose VA Partners because of our previous sales experience and our expertise that we have demonstrated over our time conducting outbound sales. Sales experience is important because it can show that you are not new to sales and have experience dealing with difficult situations that can happen in the sales process.

As a sales person, you will have set targets that need to be achieved and learning how to stay motivated can help you overcome challenges. Sales experience teaches self discipline and other skills that can help you overcome obstacles that make you more attractive to potential buyers.

Sales Experience Skills

• Active listening – If you make contact with a prospect they will quickly want to know who you are and why you are reaching out to them. At VA partners, if we reach a contact over the phone we reference an email we had sent to them and ask if they have had a chance to review it yet. Most of the time the contacts will say they have not reviewed the email and we then explain the value proposition to them within 15 – 20 seconds. After this is completed we wait to hear the contact’s thoughts or questions they may have. Sometimes the contact may wish to explain or go into detail about their current situation and how they are conducting their job currently. Keeping track of the information a contact provides to you should be noted.

• Communication– Includes how you present your message to leads about why you have the product that may help them solve a problem they are experiencing. A call script for example can help you refine your message and value proposition into a single line, this is also known as a sales pitch.

• Prospecting– This is critical because it helps you to fill your pipeline with qualified leads who may be unaware of your product in the market. Knowing how to properly prospect based on your ideal customer profile helps you to grow your sales pipeline with qualified leads.

How to Get Sales Experience

The first step in gaining experience in sales is to begin working in sales related role that includes interacting with consumers, there are other additional ways to gain sales experience that can help your professional skills. 

Taking a sales training course can be a way to get sales experience before beginning work in a sales job. Some courses focus on the basics of selling and different activities such as role playing which allows you to simulate sales like situations. Hubspot for example offers a full catalog of sales related training courses for free. Gaining B2B experience likely requires you to be involved in the sales process from the beginning through to the close. If you are new in your sales job you should ask a colleague with more experience if you could shadow them during one of their sales cycles so you can observe and ask questions to gain experience. Reading a sales book can be a way to learn from other sales professionals who are eager to share their knowledge. These books detail strategies and advise how to become successful in sales roles while also covering specific types of sales like Inbound or outbound sales. For more information consider this article.

How to leverage your sales experience

If you are engaged with a contact and they communicate a problem they are experiencing there is a chance they could offer clues about possible solutions you could offer. Some contacts express an interest in either follow up with existing markets or express an interest in expansion into new markets. Make sure you are actively listening to the information a contact is communicating to you. In a recent experience a contact expressed an interest in expanding their target market to include municipalities in Ontario. With our recent experience working with a company selling a SaaS related solution there was a track record of booking meetings with many municipalities all across Canada. This contact explained he planned to use a company located in another country to conduct their outbound sales I also explained the main benefit of VA partners is follow ups through phone calls in addition to emails. Communicating this experience in a precise way was important in addressing this contact’s questions.

The goal of leveraging your sales experience is overcoming challenges that may be a barrier in the sales process. If  you want some help with your sales efforts, you can reach out to me.