Lightning Round: Top 10 Skills Every Salesperson Will Need in 2025
Question: Lenora from Reno, Nevada asks, “I work in an industry where customers are very price sensitive, and we are not the cheapest. I need to really connect and sell value—my customers seem to want it all. What tools can I use to help me spend more time customer facing? What can I automate, use or invest in to speed up my sales process and make it more effective?”
Book: Book More Business by Lois Creamer
❖ Send your questions to Meridith and Mark at hello@saleslogicpodcast.com
The following transcript of this episode was generated by AI. Semantic errors may occur.
[00:01] – Meridith Elliott Powell (Host)
Hey, this is Meredith Elliott Powell. You know what time it is. It is 8 am. Eastern Saturday morning. My favorite time of the week hanging out here with my partner, mark Hunter. It is time for SalesLogic.
[00:12] – Mark Hunter (Host)
It sure is. Hey, we got a great show. We’re going to be talking about speed, value or personalization. What do your customers really want? Is that a trick question or what? I don’t know, We’ll see. I don’t know. And we got a great lightning round because we’re going to talk about the top 10 skills every salesperson is going to need to be successful next year. Great show.
[00:49] – Meridith Elliott Powell (Host)
Awesome, all right, once again. 8 am Eastern Saturday morning time for Sales Logic. Now, before Mark dives into everything, I always like to tell you this show is about you. So if you’ve got a question, if you’ve got a topic that you want us to cover, something that’s going to help you sell more effectively, just go to saleslogicpodcastcom. We’ll feature you right here. So, mark, let’s dive in.
[01:14] – Mark Hunter (Host)
Okay, dive in Speed, value or personalization. Put your hand on the buzzer. Which one do you think customers really want? I mean, stop and think about that. I mean I’m going to jump in here and say I think it’s all three. I think it is truly a trick question, because there’s no way that customers don’t want to have their needs taken care of quickly. There’s no reason to think that they don’t want great value and there’s no reason to think they don’t want personalization, unless it’s a totally an online transaction. I don’t know. Thoughts.
[01:48] – Meridith Elliott Powell (Host)
Do you think there’s one you lead with more than the other?
[01:51] – Mark Hunter (Host)
I think we have to lead with personalization. I mean, that’s firmly what I believe, because otherwise we really could be totally done by way of a bot, and in this AI world we’re seeing that more and more. Now there are transactions that I do want to complete, where I don’t want personalization. I just want to complete the transaction. If I’m making an airline reservation, if I’m doing whatever, I don’t need personalization on that. So I think to a certain degree sometimes that doesn’t come into play. But by and large B2B we pretty much talk to a B2B audience Personalization is key.
[02:31] – Meridith Elliott Powell (Host)
You know, Mark, I think what? Because I tell you, when I’m making an airline reservation, personalization does matter to me. So maybe we need to define personalization in the sense that nothing irritates the fire out of me more than my airline not remembering things about me. And the more they can pre-fill, the more than they can take care of, the more they say we know you, Meredith Elliott Powell, and we understand you, the easier they make my life. So let’s kind of start there. I mean, what do we mean by personalization?
[03:00] – Mark Hunter (Host)
Well, see, I’m going to back up a little bit because I take yeah, I want my airline to know when I go in, book a flight on American, I want to know. That’s table stakes To me. That is table stakes. Personalization to me is when I can see that there’s a level of empathy that that person has towards me, I see that there’s a level of true, authentic communication that is happening with me. That’s what I feel is personalization. I don’t need to get creepy crawly. Oh, tell me about your life since grade school. No, I don’t want that. I don’t want to hear that from another person, but I do want to have a sense that they’re connecting with me, human to human.
[03:40] – Meridith Elliott Powell (Host)
Yeah, I feel like personalization means that you understand me, and understanding me means you understand how busy I am, how much I have going on, what I do for a living and the impact that I. You know, the work that I do and your connection with me is about helping me further accomplish my goals. And so, like we take the airline example, is that the very fact that when I go on, they pre-populate almost everything that I’ve got tells me that they understand how busy I am and don’t expect me to redo all this information every single time.
[04:22] – Mark Hunter (Host)
Yeah, but see to me, I consider that as table stakes now. So this is kind of interesting because what this means is that our expectations as consumers, our expectations as customers, are dramatically increasing, because 15 or 20 years ago, even 10 years ago, we would not have had that. We would not have had. I mean, right now you go in and make a reservation and it gives you the seat, your preferred seat assignment, right, it just automatically populates it if that seat’s available and I like that. You know, 10 years ago that probably did not happen. So that’s a degree of personalization that they know me and I’m flipping it around and saying what’s the personalization from the person I am dealing with? Quick, quick example. I’m talking with the CEO yesterday of a Minneapolis company. I’d never talked to him again.
[05:11]
It was an inbound inquiry. We set up a time to talk. We converse at the end of the call. You probably would not know this, but Thursday night Green Bay Packers played Detroit Lions and Green Bay is the nemesis to the Minnesota Vikings. So I asked him. I said, hey, I don’t know if you’re into football or not, but how were Viking fans taking that game last night? And he laughed. He laughed his head off and we talked for several minutes at the end of the call about the Vikings and the Packers, you know, et cetera, et cetera. Personalization, without a doubt. Did I do that at the beginning of the call? No, I did it only at the end of the call. When the call had gone successful, we arranged the next meeting. Things were very comfortable, so it was a natural way to take the relationship a little further.
[05:57] – Meridith Elliott Powell (Host)
Yeah, and I think it’s very, very important in today’s marketplace to have done your research so that you can personalize. I had a call yesterday with a CEO and I spent quite a bit of time even though I had done the research. The person that I was dealing with that I made the proposal with was not the CEO, but the CEO wanted to talk to me and I spent quite a bit of time doing the research, partly on him, but more on, really even more so on the company, to go really detailed to talk about what I could provide beyond the proposal. That would bring value but would also very much differentiate me from any competitor. Editor, and in my opinion, in my opinion, that is personalization. You know, I feel too often that we limit personalization to knowing a couple of things about people, but to me, personalization is personalization that says I understand the specific problems you have and I can solve those problems.
[07:04] – Mark Hunter (Host)
See, that’s personalization to the solution to the challenge at hand, which is absolutely key. Hey, I got to do a quick note here to Bill Snow. He says way to promote the Packers. Mark, yeah, but you know what? I wanted Detroit to win that game. It’s time for Detroit, anyway, hey, see, this is the thing. Personalization takes on several different levels. Personalization takes on do you understand the needs of the customer? Do you understand them and can you craft your solution to fit them? That’s exactly what you were doing. And are you connecting human to human? That was the example I was sharing with the CEO I was talking to See, both personalizations are absolutely key. The one you were talking about, absolutely essential on every sales call, every sales call, the one I was talking about. You know it’s not critical and for some people they’re going to get turned off by it, right? I mean you don’t like it when people pry. I don’t like when people pry in deep on me. No, I mean I’m an open individual, but I got boundaries, period.
[08:15] – Meridith Elliott Powell (Host)
Yeah, period, I don’t like it because you’re wasting my time, which is part of the personalization. It’s understanding what’s important to the customer. Understanding you know it’s understanding what’s important to the customer. Some people like to have a conversation and tell you about their life and things like that, but you got to pick that up pretty quickly. As to the type of you know it’s the type of individual that they are. I love what Dave is saying here.
[08:36]
With AI so prevalent, I believe that personalization, or what I call the real AI, stands out, that your potential client is important and significant. Great, great comment. And John Register is saying what do you study when you research? John? Such a good question. Personalization to me in the first couple of calls is I need to deeply and intimately understand the industry, not what is happening in the industry, that’s part of it, but more what is predicted in the industry, because I think personalization is being one step ahead of the customer. I’ll give you a great example.
[09:12]
A couple of weeks ago, um, when asheville finally got water back, my husband and I went out to dinner and it has been forever since I have been able to have an iced tea in a restaurant in asheville because we had no water and I and we went to a place we go on occasion we don’t go there very often and I ordered an iced tea.
[09:32]
Now, anybody who knows me knows I drink a lot Like if you put water in front of me, I’m going to drink four glasses during dinner. You put iced tea in front of me. I’m going to down three before dinner is over and the waiter, who’d waited on us a little bit, showed up with not only my iced tea, but then he brought my own little you know, my own little pitcher or whatever, and for me to allow to redo it myself, that is, that is, he was one step ahead of me. I would have asked him to refill it, but he, like he knew me, I can’t tell you the emotional shift of that. So, john, to me, doing the research is thinking about how can you make sure the person that you’re calling on understands that you’re not only did your homework, that’s, that’s like that’s 1985. It’s that you not only did your homework, but you understand and you’re one step ahead and you’re the resource they need to solve that problem.
[10:29] – Mark Hunter (Host)
OK, I love that example because what that? What that waitstaff person was doing, was not only personalizing but creating value and speed. Yeah, and when we personalize, when we understand again this whole thing, if we go into any call without doing some review of the industry, understand the industry and this is again is what AI can do for us. I mean, whatever tool you use, whether you use BARD, whether you use Gemini Copilot Chat, it allows you to get industry information and, like you said, I want to understand where the industry’s going, what are the challenges, and, again, ai can help you with that. That is very quickly, in my book, becoming table stakes. If we don’t do that, shame on us. And that allows us to A speed the conversation and it allows us to create more value with the person we’re speaking to, because we’re coming across to them at their level.
[11:25] – Meridith Elliott Powell (Host)
Yeah, I’ve really got to call out what Thomas is saying here. Personalization is the way that I can tell whether I’m talking with AI instead of a real person. I love this comment because I was working with one of my team members who happens to work with another speaker and the other speaker has a brand new CRM and on that CRM they’re using a lot of AI. Like AI can create the scripts, it can do all those types of things. I don’t want any of that. I don’t want any of that. Like, when I work with this team member, I want she and I both reaching out to have conversations with people. I don’t want any AI scripting anything because, as amazing as it is, it doesn’t replace the power of the salesperson, and the power of the salesperson is creating that authentic connection. That authentic connection and relationship. John Register, just because you’re asking, it’s unsweetened tea, so I love it.
[12:28] – Mark Hunter (Host)
I love it. Of course, it’s going to be unsweetened. You won’t put any sugar into your body at all. Here’s the situation. See, people default to AI because they think it’s the way to deliver speed, speed, and that’s the wrong way Because, again, ai is a great starting tool. We’ve talked about this before. It’s a great starting tool. It is not a finishing tool. My feeling is this because of this whole advent of AI exploding on the scene and just because you can send out 1,000 emails, 10,000 emails doesn’t mean you should I think we’re actually going to find ourselves going in reverse. Going in reverse in that we’re going to have deeper conversations with actually fewer people, because we’re able to personalize it better, because we understand their business, understand the marketplace, understand their needs better, and we’re going to be able to, as a result, create more value and it’s actually going to allow us to move faster. But it’s going to be an inverse in the numbers, from mass to much tighter amount of people the numbers from mass to much tighter amount of people.
[13:31] – Meridith Elliott Powell (Host)
Yeah, john is asking a great question here. How can you make sure the person understands that you did your homework and you are one step ahead, you know? First of all, don’t worry about that just because the energy that you put off in the call because you did the, you were going to come off so confident. The second is that it’s in the questions that you ask. There are a smarter set of questions, like, instead of asking Mark, what keeps you up at night, what are you worried about? I would say something to Mark.
[13:57]
Like you know, we’ve been working quite a bit in this industry in the last year and we have found that the top three issues are this, the most significant, the biggest priority being this going forward. I was using that with the CEO I was talking with yesterday. He certainly has a load of challenges on his plate, but from what I understand in his industry, his biggest prevention from getting to the level he wants to is the particular issue I wanted to talk to. So that’s a whole different type of question. Rather than just going from a you tell me what’s going on in your industry, you’re funneling it down, and when you do. When you do the homework, you get curious about certain things, and those certain things position you as an expert in the field.
[14:41] – Mark Hunter (Host)
See, this is what’s critical, because our questions, you’re right, what keeps you up at night? That was an 80s question. Because information is so prevalent, we need to be far more specific. I’m going to go back to the CEO that I was talking to yesterday, ceo of a major construction company in the Minneapolis area, and we were talking about the winter season and when, really, come November 1st, the ground freezes up. You can’t get the ground and because of my background, because of my experience, a I have lived in Minneapolis, so I know the area, but I understand the industry because I’ve worked in it, I was able to direct some pretty specific questions to him and I could tell that he was liking that and we were able to.
[15:21]
This is what’s key. You’ve got to come into any conversation with a degree of knowledge and be comfortable, and this is why you got to stay in your ICP, your ideal customer profile. You got to stay in that sweet space, because otherwise what happens is you’re going to get into areas that you just don’t know anything about. That’s going to reveal itself pretty. Then you’re going to have no value. You’re going to have no, no personalization.
[15:46] – Meridith Elliott Powell (Host)
Yeah, and Natalie’s making such a great point here. You got to know the organization, their growth mode, downsizing, what divisions are succeeding, where’s the opportunity. So so incredibly important, because even though you understand a lot of things about the industry, it may not be specifically true for the customer that you’re dealing with, and that is okay. Sometimes there are just things you can’t find out until you talk to the prospect. But going in from a position of expertise and knowing that you did the research and the homework makes you such a better interviewer, not because you’re trying to be a better interviewer, but because at this point, like I said, I go in and I do the research. I’m really curious. I want to know are these things true for this particular vendor? Mark Bryn Tillman’s got three levels of personalization here.
[16:37] – Mark Hunter (Host)
I love this. She’s saying hey, tailored to the role, industry, typical challenges. Two, tailor the information you uncover through LinkedIn, website and research. And three personalized introductions from clients you know and the person you may need, who may need your solution. I love that. You see, when we talk about personalization, there’s so many different levels, so many different areas we can go.
[17:01]
In fact, the center is we’ve got to get to the question, because the question this week comes from Reno Nevada, Lenora. She says I work in an industry where customers are very price sensitive and we’re not the cheapest. She says I need to connect and sell value. My customers seem to want it all. What tools can I use to help me spend more time customer facing? Oh, I love Lenora because she’s saying I got to be customer facing. Totally agree. What can I automate, use or invest my time to help speed up the sales process? See, this is where AI comes into play. But but we can’t chase a shiny object on trying to do every tool out there, because we’ll wind up going nowhere. My answer to Lenora is you’ve got to stay in the more you can personalize on their needs, and it’s not about a mass of customers, it’s about a tight group of customers that you’re focused on, on helping with I don’t know Thoughts comments.
[17:57] – Meridith Elliott Powell (Host)
Yeah, I mean. I think that I think, with what Lenora is talking about, is every single salesperson should be asking themselves that question what can I do to be more customer facing? Because in the age of heavy competition, shifting marketplaces, those types of things, your value, the highest value of a customer, of a salesperson, is to be customer facing. So I think one of the most important tools that you can use is your CRM and really keeping that CRM updated and the research and being really honest with yourself about pipeline.
[18:38]
I was working on my CRM this morning and I threw about five leads out of it, and the reason I threw them out of it is I’ve been playing with this. I’ve been playing with them forever. Now would they hire me one day? Maybe, but is this a good use of my time? No, because I am chasing a lead that never, ever responds. So I think one of the most important things that you can do, as Mark said, be really clear on that ideal customer profile and then be very, very, very diligent about your CRM. And you’re inside a company you don’t have a luxury that Mark and I have, so you may be. I would get very intimate with the marketing department and what can they do to help you build your reputation? That’s not legwork you’ve got to do, but if they can hear have heard of you beforehand, then getting through the door is going to be so much easier.
[19:31] – Mark Hunter (Host)
That is so key because there’s so many things. I mean, if you think about that, your reputation arrives before you do. I’ve talked about that numerous times, but it is so critical in this era because, just as we’re researching the customer, guess what the customer is researching us before they choose to do work with us. But I’ll tell you what. Lenora, this is a question you’ve got to stay in just tight. You threw out some leads. I had one yesterday. An association wanted me to speak there and they had sent me like three, four notes and I got to get this done and I came to the conclusion you know what? It doesn’t fit. My ICP it does not fit. And you know what? What I can bring to them? My solution isn’t going to really fit them. Forget it, threw them out, threw them out the window, that’s it. I turned them over to somebody else who could, who could provide them. This is what’s key. We personalize when we stay focused. Don’t personalize when you’re trying to stay broad.
[20:26] – Meridith Elliott Powell (Host)
I would also say if you work in a market that is price sensitive which a lot of us work in markets that are price sensitive value, personalization and speed are how you’re going to get price off the table.
[20:37]
Mark said this at the beginning Everybody is price sensitive to certain things, but everybody spends money on what other people think is ridiculous. I mean, one of my favorite sayings is my husband’s biggest fear is that I will sell his boat for what he told me he paid for it. But he thinks I get my haircut for about $70. And neither one of those is true. Now he would never pay what I pay to get my haircut for about $70. And neither one of those is true. Now he would never pay what I pay to get his haircut. I would never pay what he pays for a boat. Value is in the high of the beholder, but you have to sell value, whether people ask you for the value or not. Even if people are price sensitive, you have to say this is the price, but this is everything that you are getting for that price.
[21:23] – Mark Hunter (Host)
And that’s so key because value is in the eyes of the beholder. It’s not what you think it is. And that perfect example, the boat I mean there are so many comments that are coming in. It is unbelievable. Bryn comes in and says, having a framework and basic, clear process, templates can be tailored with AI. You’re right, this is how you use automation. But again, it only works if you stay tight with your ICP and you really understand your sales process. Well, time is like flying by. We have, we’ve got to get to the book. I mean, we’re at 21 minutes already.
[21:55] – Meridith Elliott Powell (Host)
I know, I know I do want to. I do want to just answer John’s question really quick. He said, you know, he says the question is what are the challenges and opportunities? You see, these are the question he he’s asking. Yeah, exactly, john. John is currently asking his prospects. What are the questions? What are the biggest challenges you see in 2025? He needs to be one step ahead by saying I work quite a bit in your industry, these are the challenges we’re seeing. Either which one of these is most important to you, or are those the challenges that you’re facing too, and then you can position yourself as a resource. So sorry, I just wanted to answer that I’ll jump into the book.
[22:39] – Mark Hunter (Host)
It’s great. John and I had this conversation when we were together a couple of weeks ago in Atlanta about this is the time of year to be calling your customers and just thanking them for their business and beginning to understand what’s happening next year. So many comments, so many comments coming in.
[22:54] – Meridith Elliott Powell (Host)
Well, and we got to draw the attention to this one, because Mark won’t Mark? Apparently his ICP keynote at Outbound was just incredible this year. I got no doubts about that.
[23:04] – Mark Hunter (Host)
Well, it’s a Bryn. Did Bryn rock the stage also? Hey, ok, are you ready? Ready for the book? The book comes from our good friend Lois Kramer Book more business. I mean, how easy a title can that be? Book more business. I’m glad you’re reaching for your copy. I can’t get mine fast enough, that’s right. Yeah, this is an excellent read and it’s not a difficult read. And there’s no, it’s a it is.
[23:32] – Meridith Elliott Powell (Host)
She’s got new content in here on sales, artificial intelligence, licensing and more. It is a book for speakers, but it is not just a book for speakers, it is really. It’s a great sales Bible, or however you want to describe it. I’m about halfway through it right now. I read her original publication on it, but this is just fantastic.
[23:48] – Mark Hunter (Host)
Yeah, and that’s what I love about it, because it is updated with entirely new and, regardless of the profession you’re in, there are insights, there’s value that you’re going to get from the book.
[23:58] – Meridith Elliott Powell (Host)
Okay, are you ready for?
[23:59] – Mark Hunter (Host)
the lightning round.
[24:00] – Meridith Elliott Powell (Host)
Yeah.
[24:01] – Mark Hunter (Host)
Top 10 skills every salesperson will need in 2025. Good.
[24:07] – Meridith Elliott Powell (Host)
Every sales person is going to need the skill of networking.
[24:12] – Mark Hunter (Host)
Two you got to have your own AI agent, just like we have in SalesLogic Mastermind, where we have the SalesLogic brain. Every individual is going to have to create their own.
[24:22] – Meridith Elliott Powell (Host)
Yeah, I think everybody is going to need in 2025, they’re going to need new and improved prospecting skills.
[24:31] – Mark Hunter (Host)
And I’m going to add to that you’re going to need tighter prospecting skills. It’s not about having a big list. It’s about having a tighter list that I can go deeper with big list.
[24:39] – Meridith Elliott Powell (Host)
It’s about having a tighter list that I can go deeper with. Yeah, you’re going to need to be very, very proficient at least at understanding, if not doing, your own content marketing.
[24:48] – Mark Hunter (Host)
We don’t know where the economic winds are going to go for next year. We don’t know what’s going to be happening, so you are going to have to be playing in at least two different industries. I’m always focused on just trying to get very tight, but you have to play in two because you don’t know from an economic standpoint what might happen.
[25:05] – Meridith Elliott Powell (Host)
Yeah, you’re going to need the skill of storytelling. I think that that is really something that is really coming to the forefront and sales probably always has been. But but if you are not adept at storytelling, if you have not mastered this skill, you’ve got to really get, get, master it.
[25:22] – Mark Hunter (Host)
You’ve got to come out of the shoot fast. January has to be an absolutely strong month because there’s a lot of optimism out there. There’s a lot of strength out there. Play it to your strength right now. Be booking those meetings for January.
[25:36] – Meridith Elliott Powell (Host)
Yeah, I guess we’re about at number nine. I’m going to say adaptability and resilience is you’re going to need to be more flexible and more resilient because, no matter what is in 2025, there’s definitely going to be headwinds and there’s going to be new opportunities and you’ve got to be able to shift on a dime.
[25:54] – Mark Hunter (Host)
So then I’ll say number 10, you’ve got to join the SalesLogic Mastermind.
[25:57] – Meridith Elliott Powell (Host)
Oh, good one.
[25:58] – Mark Hunter (Host)
Join the Mastermind. You’re part of a great team. We’ve had a number of the members chiming in this morning and that’s been absolutely terrific. Hey, with that, we want to say thank you for listening to SalesLogic. If you like what you hear, subscribe, rate and review the show on your favorite podcast app. Something we’ve said has earned you a single dollar. Consider telling a friend about our show, because it’s how we grow when we help you grow. I’m Mark Hunter.
[26:21] – Meridith Elliott Powell (Host)
And I’m Meredith Elliott Powell. Remember when you sell with confidence and integrity all of this uncertainty suddenly becomes your competitive advantage.
[26:29] – Mark Hunter (Host)
And the sale becomes logical.
[26:31] – Meridith Elliott Powell (Host)
All right, join us right back here next week for another episode of Sales Logic. We’ve got a fantastic set of questions going right through the holiday season. We’ve got a fantastic set of questions going right through the holiday season. You do not want to miss these shows because we are going to kick off strong in 2025. Think about joining the SalesLogic Mastermind if you want to take your business, your sales, to the next level. We’ll see you next week.