What are soft sales skills?
Because employers recognize that your soft skills are directly linked to the results they want, e.g., market growth, product re-branding, recovering lost accounts, etc. More than ever, we’re seeing soft skills as the deciding “X” factor among clients who are hired.
Typically, you land an interview because you have the education, training and work experience that an employer desires. But once you get the interview, then what? The employer won’t spend much time on your education or training. Instead, they’ll ask questions, like How did you do that? How would you address this situation?
It used to be that Myers-Briggs was the main test used to discover these soft skills. But the Gallup Organization (and other companies that specialize in developing sales and marketing talent) have pioneered new methods for finding these soft skills and integrating them within a corporate model to give their client companies a competitive advantage.
Review some of your recent projects. Detail these projects as:
a) the challenges you initially faced,
b) the actions you took to address these challenges and,
c) the beneficial results from your actions.
This should give you a clear perspective on how you achieved your results.
How did you overcome these problems and challenges? Intuition? The ability to see opportunities that others overlooked? The ability to leverage resources in creative ways? You’ll find your soft skills while answering to these questions. List those skills and rank them. Concentrate on your top six skills. This may be a real eye opener: Most people THINK they know their top soft skills — but really don’t.
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How to Show-off Soft Skills on the Resume
There’s probably no hiring manager alive who hasn’t seen a resume open with a line like: “Innovative, tenacious professional seeking…” To avoid this…
Don’t Use Soft Skills in Your Initial “Branding” Statement! Few people will believe you; it sounds too subjective. Okay, then, where do you put your soft skills in the resume? Answer: where you detail your projects, e.g. “Showcased organizational and leadership skills in developing the XYZ product line, now producing $24 million per annum.” Contrast this to your peer’s, “I’m organized, and I’m a good leader.”
The key to being plausible is connecting something subjective — your soft skills — to something objective (e.g. the XYZ product line). The XYZ product line is the anchor. No one doubts that XYZ exists. It has substance — and that, in turn, gives your soft skills substance and credibility.
How To Show-off Your Soft Skills in the Interview
Listen for the “How” question. The moment you hear “how” in an interview get ready to distinguish yourself from your competitors. Here’s what to do: First, mention how your education, training and work experience relate to the question.
Second, mention your strongest soft skills in the context of your achievements, i.e. “I achieved that $15 million increase in 18 months, because of my ability to marry corporate marketing strategies with sales tactics.” (adaptability, connecting disparate elements) or, “I achieved that because I established a referral sales network within the organization, despite being new to the account.” (relationship skills).
Being able to demonstrate your soft skills in a substantial way, both within your resume and during your interviews, will bring you that much closer to the job of your dreams.
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