Why soft skills are driving sales success today

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Great news. One of your reps has landed a meeting with a big prospect. Heading in, he's well prepared — the slides are precise, the numbers make sense and he knows the product specs inside out. 

By every technical measure, his pitch goes perfectly. Yet, at the end of the meeting, the panel smiles politely and offers a perfunctory thanks. 

"We'll be in touch". 

A week later, the sale goes to a competitor. 

What went wrong? It wasn't the data or the product. They were interested enough to schedule the meeting, after all. 

In this case, it was the absence of something harder to quantify. Your rep struggled to make a connection. He didn't read the room or make the other side feel understood. The pitch felt like a monologue rather than a genuine conversation. And he didn’t project confidence in his pitch — those “umms” and “ahhs” add up.

Put simply, it came down to a lack of soft skills. 

It's crucial to have soft skills in many occupations, but sales is near the top of the list — particularly if you’re looking to create consultative sellers, not transactional ones.

But does effective sales training for soft skills exist? We know it does with experience and practice, and AI sales roleplay can play an important part in helping your team raise their interpersonal game. 

The power of soft skills 

The importance of soft skills in the workplace has been known for over a century.

A 1918 study (yes, you read that right) of engineers found that 95% chose well-developed interpersonal skills as key to job success. This placed them top of the list of desirable traits, whereas 'technique' — a byword for technical skills — came bottom. Remember, these are engineers we’re talking about! 

Fast-forward to today, and it sounds like many businesses didn't get the memo. According to the US National Soft Skills Association, only 27% of learning and development training budgets go towards improving people's soft skills. 

And it's young people who may be losing out the most. A recent General Assembly survey found that just 12% of mid-level execs and 48% of employees believe entry-level Gen Z applicants are ready for the workplace. 

The main reason? A lack of soft skills.

Nearly half of execs (48%) and more than a third of employees (37%) cited weaknesses such as poor communication, collaboration, and adaptability as reasons why entry-level workers struggled to land jobs. 

Not only this, but Gen Z agree! Some 40% also listed soft skills as their biggest shortcoming. 

This is a problem for everyone involved: Strong soft skills are linked to better wage progression for employees, and they deliver a boost for an employer's competitive advantage.

So, how do you build soft skills? What's the best sales team training you can offer if you want to get your reps up to speed? And as a sales leader, are you doing enough of it? 

Can you train soft skills?

We've talked about different learning methods before on the blog, including in this sales enablement article from earlier this year, so if you're a regular reader, you'll know that we're big fans of active learning. 

What is active learning? In short, it's 'learning by doing'. Active learning helps people process information by trying things out and talking them through, rather than passively consuming information. 

A new Harvard study has shown that active learning in classrooms leads to much-improved test scores, despite the fact that students felt like they learned less in these classes than traditional ones. For active learning, it seems performance beats perception. 

The good news is that salespeople are already way ahead of the curve when it comes to active learning. Three-quarters of reps say they prefer to 'learn by doing', with less than a third (32%) enjoying ‘classroom-style’ training. 

What types of active learning are there for sales teams who want to boost their soft skills? One way to learn by doing is on calls with actual prospects and clients. There's nothing quite like the real thing, right? 

Well, unless you enjoy letting your least-prepared reps loose on your pipeline. Mistakes here aren’t just learning experiences, but lost leads - and revenue.

Another option is roleplay. This can be a great way to brush up on soft skills in a safe environment. 

In my experience, however, reps tend to find it awkward and embarrassing, and sales managers often struggle to find the time to conduct sales training regularly enough to make a real difference. It can also be difficult to pinpoint the appropriate feedback for each rep.

The quality of training may also be inconsistent across different offices, departments, and sales managers. It's a learning and development lottery. 

This is where AI sales training helps. Roleplaying sales conversations in a safe environment offers a reliable, scalable way for your reps to learn by doing. And in the process, it hands them the ultimate tool to improve their soft skills, confidence, and sales performance — real-life practice.

Develop better soft skills in sales with AI roleplay

With AI sales training tools like UneeQ Sales Trainer, your team can practice the conversations that matter most with digital humans who look, sound, and respond like real buyers. 

The beauty is in how tailored and consistent the training is. Using generative roleplay integrations, new simulations can be spun up in seconds, taking into account your specific sales cycle and buyer personas. 

No more awkward peer roleplays or waiting for a live call to learn on the job — reps get to sharpen both their soft skills and technical skills in a structured, controlled environment where mistakes won't damage your pipeline. 

Every interaction is also scored in real-time against predefined targets. That means reps see how well they are building trust, recognising clients' needs, and closing the sale.

Sales managers, meanwhile, get clear insights to coach more effectively and better spend their time. 

Keep in mind that sales leaders want their managers to spend at least one-third (34%) of their time coaching, not the 21% (or less) of time they currently spend.

Practice soft skills often enough and better habits start to stick. That’s as true in sales as it is in leadership, customer service, and any other type of role where soft skills really count. 

‍With practice, soft skills begin to become second nature — so when your reps walk into the real meeting, they know how to walk the walk and talk the talk.

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