Soft Skills in Selling - Class 10
Two skills required to be possessed by sales personnel are Hard Skills and Soft Skills in Selling.
Hard Skills:
Hard skills are specific abilities that can be acquired through learning and practice and are task specific. For example, typing, writing, Maths, reading, and accounting, the ability to use software programs, management and leadership skills.
These skills can be learned in schools, books, in training centres and engaging tutor. Hard skills are tangible and can be measured.
Soft Skills:
Soft skills refer to personal qualities, attitudes, attributes and EQ (Emotional Intelligence Quotient). Salesperson needs soft skills like language, presentation skill, communication skill, negotiation skills, inter personnel skills and handling objections of prospective customers. Soft skills are less tangible and harder to measure.
To be good at hard skills take IQ (known as your left brain-the logical centre) whereas to be good at soft skills usually takes emotional intelligence EQ (known as your right brain-the emotional centre).
Distinguish between Hard and Soft Skills in Selling
| HARD SKILLS | SOFT SKILLS |
| Rules based | Experience based. |
| Technological/ Scientific | People related |
| Learned in school/training | Learned on the job |
| Measurable | Non-measurable |
| Tangible | Non-tangible |
| Maths, Physics, Accounting finance, biology. | Self-management, self-confidence, stress-management, communication and negotiating skills and Interpersonal skills. |
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Paramount Soft skills in selling:
(1) Communication skills:
Communication skills are the base of marketing. Communication is used to inform the target customers regarding the nature and type of the product or service, its features, uses, price, benefits and the places at which they would be available in the market.
Need and objective:
With growing competition in the market, it becomes necessary that right kind of communication is made to the right target groups/buyer’s market.
Objectives
(a) Favorable Image:
To create a favorable image for itself and also to motivate the prospective customers to buy firms’ products and services.
(b) Creates demand:
To inform the largest market about the firm’s products and services.
(c) Objective to remind:
To keep the product brand name in public’s mind and to refresh the memory of target customers.
(d) Maintains relationship:
To give customers more importance, to maintain healthy customer relationship, in these days of rising competition.
(e) Privileged status:
To show the customers of their special care and privileged status like customized order taking and fulfilling.
(f) Helps in Developing New Market:
To make constant communication with customers to create a building up effect.
Soft Skills in Selling - Class 10
How communication works:
The sharing of information between two parties can be oral or written, personal or public, using words, figures, symbols.
Proper communication skills are required for a salesperson to use variety of communication media, both written and oral.
Elements in communication:
There are four elements in communication: source, target, message and media. Media can be oral, written or gestural. Feedback is always important for effective communication, which is the response of the receiver.
(2) Negotiating Skills:
Negotiation means bargaining to reach a mutually agreeable outcome.
In negotiations there are at least two parties or more. It involves movement from both the parties towards a win-win situation, that is acceptable to both the parties.
Effective Negotiations Skills:
(1) Preparing for a meeting:
Before entering a bargaining meeting, one should collect information regarding buyer’s objectives,
attitudes, personality, financial position, expectations, likes and dislikes and priorities, past history of relationship between the two parties, to find out the outcome of past negotiations, area of agreement and common goals.
(2) Discussion:
During discussions one can gather more useful information about the views and ideas of the other party. One should be a patient listener with positive talking behavior.
(3) Active listening:
Negotiators have the skills to listen actively to the other party during discussion. At this stage one party has to decide whether he wants to move out of the discussion or continue.
(4) Proposing:
At this stage the seller/buyer sends a proposal for final negotiation. When one party initiates a proposal the other party should treat the proposal with respect, seek clarification if required.
(5) Emotional Control:
Good salesmen have ability to keep their emotions in control. Efforts should be to reach a compromise formula instead of breaking down the communication between the parties.
(6) Problem solving:
One should use negotiating skills in solving the problems i.e. agree to a compromise quickly to end a stalemate and close the deal.
In addition to these, the concerned persons should have decision making and inter-personal skills also.
Soft Skills in Selling - Class 10
(3) Influencing Skill:
Influencing skills are the skills to encourage and persuade others to act or believe your ideas.
A sales person should avoid using two words during negotiations – always and never. It is a part of diplomacy in influencing the other party. Communication skills, presentation skills, persuading skills and negotiating skills are important components of influencing skills.
(4) Emotional quotient:
Emotional Quotient the way we handle our own emotions and those of others and the impact they have on both, ourselves and others.
A salesman should rate himself/herself on self-awareness, self-regulations, self-management, empathy, social awareness and social skills for handling conflicts and objections with the customers. The object of rating EO is to help a salesman to identify or evaluate area of his/her relative strength and those areas with potential for development.
(5) Personal Grooming and Etiquettes:
The etiquette of business is set of written and unwritten rules of conduct that make social interactions run more smoothly.
Personnel Grooming: One should be appropriately dressed for any business occasion. The dress should be neat, clean, and ironed.
Accessories should be appropriately matched. Hand bags to be neatly organized in order to avoid spilling things in the presence of customers.
Personal hygiene should be maintained.
Courteous behavior is equally important in the long run.
(6) Ethical Behavior:
The term business ethics refers to the system of moral principles and rules of conduct applied in business. All sales and marketing activities must be conducted according to the intended customers/ buyers consider desirable.
A sales person should be:
(1) Fair in business dealings.
(2) Ensure that his actions will not produce negative effects.
(3) Knowingly not harm the other party.
(4) Reasonable and fair.
(5) Not resort to hoarding, black marketing or profiteering.
(6) Not deceive customers by undesirable means.
There are four questions that are called the four ways of ethical behavior for any ethical issue a business faces:
(1) Is it true?
(2) Is it fair?
(3) Will it build goodwill and better relationship?
(4) Will it be beneficial to all concerned?