If you think marketing skills are wasted on you, think again. A switch in thinking is in need. That’s because learning some skills typically associated with marketing can bolster the tools you have at your disposal when it comes to selling. Benefits will include adding value to the business, communicating better, closing deals faster and building better relationships with prospects.

Here are the marketing tactics you should learn to be more successful.

Copywriting

Typically, salespeople have the ‘gift of the gab’ – i.e. they talk a good game. However, to communicate better in the digital age, writing skills are necessary. Salespeople who are creating content and telling stories online effectively will be the ones able to provide the most value. The key is in creating compelling, concise content. It needs to be easy to read and the message simple. The same applies to crafting good prospect emails and networking messages. So, if your writing skills aren’t up to scratch, it’s time to brush up.

Social engagement

You might read this and think, that’s a social media manager’s job. But, if I told you online communities and channels are a lead generation goldmine, would you be more interested? Contributing to communities and on social media channels are ideal ways to create, nurture and strengthen prospect relationships. Typically, marketers are skilled in knowing where to find prospects and how to reach them, but if you improve your online skills then you don’t need to be waiting for marketing leads to come through, you can start speaking with prospects and generating conversations yourself. Plus, industry-specific groups are a great place to learn new skills and more and the industry you operate in. A win-win. Remember, no pitching, and don’t spend ages on social channels. Half an hour a day will suffice. The aim is for prospects to engage with you and see you as a go-to industry consultant. That’s what will separate you from other salespeople. As an extra string to your bow, learn video skills – there are plenty of tools that make this process easy (Vidyard and Wista). Pick a challenge your prospects often come up against and create some engagement around it.

Reporting wizard

Marketers love dashboards and analytics, and so should you. You might think this is time wasted, but the more data you can glean the smarter your decisions will be. That means optimised efforts and greater productivity. If you begin to understand reporting and metrics better, you’ll be able to tell what job titles are most responsive, where your sweet spot is, what industries work best, the average deal size you create, the number of deals per month and week, and so on. Plus, if you create a formula, you’ll be able to work out your conversion rates and, therefore, how many deals you need to create to hit your targets. Reporting shouldn’t be just a marketing and management skill, it should be a business skill. Data is the new gold, after all. Use it to improve your performance.

Businesses are moving at lightspeed and salespeople sitting around twiddling their thumbs is not acceptable. If you want to get ahead of the competition and drum up interest yourself, the skills above are a good place to start. There are always opportunities to exploit new markets and communities, these skills will help.