The pressure is on as a sales professional. You must keep up with constant changes in buyer behavior while connecting with potential customers, nurturing leads, and closing deals—all in hopes of hitting your sales targets. Handling so many tasks at once certainly isn’t easy, but you can thrive with the right set of sales skills and qualities in your arsenal. If you want to learn how to be a better sales rep, start by mastering these essential selling skills.

In many ways, the pandemic has forced sales teams to become more efficient. Many teams have switched to a digital-first approach, which allows for more interactions on a daily basis. It also means spending less time and money on commuting and traveling. However, remote sales teams have a bigger hurdle when it comes to forging genuine human connections—and not just between sales representatives and customers, but also between one another.

Customer acquisition cost (CAC) was on the rise for many companies prior to COVID-19. According to ProfitWell, CAC for businesses increased by approximately 60 percent between 2014 and 2019. But since the onset of COVID-19, brands have actually been acquiring new customers more cost-effectively. McKinsey & Company reports that the shift to digital sales led to 30 percent higher acquisition efficiency for businesses.

Remote sales have become increasingly common, but it took a pandemic to truly establish virtual selling as the new normal. A McKinsey survey conducted in the wake of Covid-19 found that over 75 percent of buyers and sellers alike now prefer virtual sales meetings over face-to-face interactions. And just 20 percent of B2B buyers said they wanted to go back to in-person presentations of the past. This would seem to be the evolution of the classic “road warrior” salesperson.

Picture this: You’ve just taken on responsibility for a new sales team. You set out to craft an annual sales plan, but you quickly discover that you’re missing key insights and data points. You don’t know what the market for your product looks like, how many sales agents you’ll have on your team, or how much revenue your company made last year. To write a successful sales plan, you’ll need that critical information.

A run rate is a rough estimate of a company’s annual earnings based on monthly or quarterly financial performance data. Often called an annual run rate, or ARR, this number is usually calculated by taking the revenue results (using a revenue formula) from either a single month or a single quarter and annualizing the sales data to forecast what the company’s total profits will be that year.

Customers love to feel special and understood. According to research from Epsilon, 80 percent of customers say they’re more likely to do business with a company if it offers personalized experiences. Additionally, 90 percent indicated they found personalization appealing. Personalization often begins long before a consumer even considers making a purchase.

As a sales manager, your eyes are glued to your company’s revenue. You’re focused on helping your team close more deals and increasing profitability. But are you sure you’re measuring sales revenue in the best possible way? Gross sales and net sales are two common metrics that offer distinct advantages when it comes to gauging revenue. If you’re not sure what they are and how they differ from each other, you’re not alone.

Enterprise sales is like running a marathon. Your focus isn’t on short-term wins—you’re playing the long game. And just like a marathon results in big physical and mental gains, enterprise sales results in significant revenue and increased opportunities for your business. That being said, you wouldn’t run a marathon without training first. You shouldn’t jump into enterprise sales unprepared, either.

Sales teams across all industries are facing unexpected changes, including an abrupt move towards remote work. At a time like this, leadership makes all the difference. The LinkedIn State of Sales Report for 2020 found that 70% of sales managers think that being able to navigate change is more important now than it was five years ago.