Understanding sales acumen and how to develop it in your team

Sales acumen bridges the gap between knowing what you sell, who you’re selling to and in what context. It’s what turns the average rep into a trusted partner who helps clients find the best solution for their needs.

In this article, you’ll learn what sales acumen is and how it differs from general business acumen. We’ll also highlight the key qualities of employees with strong sales acumen and share practical tips for developing these skills in your team.

What is sales acumen?

If you have strong sales acumen, you can confidently connect the dots between:

• What’s happening in the industry

• What truly matters to your customers

• How your product or service can help

This insight helps you tailor your approach to build trust, solve problems and deliver value at each step of the buying process.

What is the difference between sales acumen and business acumen?

Business acumen and sales acumen are two distinct (but interrelated) qualities.

Business acumen is your ability to understand how companies generate revenue, manage costs, compete and adapt to economic changes. Someone with strong business acumen can analyze financial reports, spot market opportunities and make sound business decisions.

Sales acumen focuses on the sales process itself. It involves identifying the right prospects, uncovering their needs and strategically positioning your solutions to drive sales.

Top sales professionals use both skills to sell with purpose and perspective, which helps them consistently win high-quality deals.

Author and CEO Colleen Stanley says:

Let’s say you sell coffee machines to offices. If you have good business acumen skills, you might notice that companies are looking to attract employees back to the office and are willing to invest in amenities to improve workplace satisfaction.

With strong sales acumen skills, you’ll use those insights to tweak your sales conversations. When talking to office managers, for example, you might focus on how a premium coffee station can create an inviting workplace at a much lower cost than other office perks.

While business acumen helps you understand how your company operates in a larger context, sales acumen is about using that knowledge to tune your sales approach.

7 characteristics of employees with strong sales acumen

While most salespeople focus on selling techniques and strategies, top performers with strong sales acumen share fundamental traits that make sales success almost inevitable.

These characteristics are repeatedly found in sales leaders across every industry. Here are seven qualities to look for (and cultivate) when building an unstoppable sales team.

1. Emotional intelligence

Emotional intelligence (EI or EQ) is a salesperson’s ability to read the room, manage their own emotions and respond effectively to how others are feeling.

Salespeople with high EI typically display strong levels of:

• Empathy to understand customer needs and frustrations on a deeper level

• Self-awareness to regulate their responses and manage difficult conversations

• Self-motivation to keep pushing toward their sales goals even if it gets challenging

Reps with sales EQ land more deals because they genuinely connect with buyers. They sense when a prospect is hesitant, excited or concerned and quickly adapt their pitch.

Customers who feel understood rather than sold to are more likely to convert.

Sales expert Shawn Casemore shares how he applies this skill in sales interaction:

The value of emotional intelligence in sales isn’t just speculation. A case study of pharma company Sanofi Aventis revealed that salespeople with EI training drove 13% more sales on average than those without the training.

Sales reps with high EI are also more likely to own up for their mistakes, reflect on past actions and take steps to improve future sales interactions. Sales expert and noted sales researcher Steve W. Martin points out how a lack of self-awareness can affect sales performance:

2. Deep product knowledge

Employees with high sales acumen understand exactly what their product does and why each feature matters to different types of customers. They can confidently:

• Answer technical or tough questions

• Highlight unique product or service benefits

• Connect those benefits to specific problems or use cases

Reps who really know their product help customers make faster (and better) purchase decisions. They’re also likely to bring in more high-value deals because buyers trust their expertise and fully understand the product’s value at the time of purchase.

For example, say a salesperson is selling point-of-sale (POS) software. When a potential client mentions staff turnover as a problem, the rep’s expertise with their POS system helps them demonstrate exactly how the training mode works, where the built-in tutorials appear and how the smart interface adapts to each employee’s experience level.

3. Business acumen

Business acumen is separate from sales acumen but complements it.

Salespeople with strong business acumen understand how industry trends, business models, competitive dynamics and financial decisions impact a company’s operations and profitability.

They can effectively use this insight to improve their selling approach while aligning outcomes with your company’s strategic goals.

Financial literacy is a key aspect of business acumen, especially for salespeople.

Understanding financial concepts like ROI, cash flow, profit margins, taxes and pricing structures can help reps connect each sale to real business value.

For example, a salesperson with tax knowledge can explain to prospects how your accounting software can help them save money by minimizing errors and staying compliant.

They might even study the client’s financial statements and point out how they can reduce tax by documenting certain expenses.

4. Critical thinking

Critical thinking is looking at information objectively before making a judgment or decision.

When you apply critical thinking in sales, you’re doing more than just presenting features and benefits. You’re analyzing each prospect’s unique situation, goals, pain points and industry context to offer tailored solutions.

For example, if two companies in the same industry show interest in your software, critical thinking prevents you from giving them the same pitch.

One might need your product to improve customer satisfaction, while the other might want to reduce operational costs.

By thinking critically, you’ll recognize these differences and adjust your approach.

Critical thinking also helps you:

• Question your assumptions about what a prospect needs

• Analyze feedback and objections more deeply

• Identify underlying problems that prospects might not see themselves

• Make better decisions about which opportunities to pursue

The most successful salespeople use critical thinking to move beyond surface-level conversations and create real value for their prospects. They know every sale is unique and requires fresh analysis rather than recycled solutions.

While average sales reps focus on basic stakeholder mapping and needs analysis, top performers walk the extra mile. As Matthew Dixon explains in his book The Challenger Sale: Taking Control of the Customer Conversation:

5. Resilience and persistence

Rejection is a huge part of sales, but a good salesperson quickly recovers without letting setbacks affect their performance or attitude. In other words, they’re resilient.

A resilient salesperson doesn’t take rejection personally. They analyze what happened, learn from it and move forward with renewed energy.

Resilience goes hand in hand with persistence. The best salespeople continue to find new opportunities to win clients over time, even after hearing “no” the first time.

For example, let’s say your logistics company’s prospect decides to go with another shipping provider. Rather than give up, your rep sets up quarterly check-ins to share industry reports and insights with the prospect.

When the competitor’s delivery times start slipping after a year, the prospect calls your rep first because they’re top of mind and have maintained helpful, professional contact without criticizing the competition.

6. Communication skills

Effective communication is one of the most important sales skills to develop in your team. It helps you learn about your buyers, strengthen relationships, demonstrate your product’s value and guide sales conversations toward mutual goals.

Salespeople who are strong communicators excel in these key areas:

• Actively listening to customers. Active listening means genuinely focusing on what your prospect has to say. When a CFO mentions concerns about ROI, a good listener digs deeper by asking what specific metrics matter most to their finance team.

• Asking the right questions. Challenging questions help you uncover real needs beyond surface-level information. Instead of asking, “What’s your budget?” you could ask, “How do you measure the financial impact of this challenge on your business?”

• Providing clear explanations. Good communication involves sharing complex information in simple, relevant terms without jargon. For example, when speaking to a CEO, you’d focus on bottom-line impact rather than technical details.

• Picking up on verbal and non-verbal cues. Skilled reps can often understand clients’ feelings by reading between the lines or analyzing their body language or facial expressions. They use this insight to tweak their approach and connect more deeply with their buyers.

• Being assertive when needed. Assertive reps can confidently challenge assumptions, redirect conversations, move deals forward and even say no to bad-fit deals – without being aggressive or pushy. For example, if a prospect is focusing on a minor feature concern, an assertive rep might acknowledge the concern but firmly redirect the conversation back to the core business value.

7. Tech fluency

Using technology to fuel sales efforts is a non-negotiable skill for your team. Salespeople who are good with tech are quick to learn new software and use it to sell better.

In fact, research consistently shows how important tech skills have become in modern sales. According to LinkedIn’s Head of Thought Leadership Amanda Van Nuys:

According to LinkedIn, the top three skills identified as vital by sellers globally in the next couple of years are:

1. Understanding and leveraging AI tools and insights
2. Adapting to new technologies
3. In-depth product knowledge and technical proficiency

Tech-savvy salespeople use sales technology to:

• Store and organize customer information in one place

• Track and analyze prospect behavior at each stage

• Automate routine tasks to focus on strategic selling

• Generate insights from past customer interactions

• Use data to personalize emails and conversations

In the next section, we’ll dive deeper into the different types of tools and how to find the right sales tech for your team.

How to build and improve sales acumen skills in your team

While some salespeople may naturally possess sales acumen, you can actively build some of these traits in your existing team through deliberate and structured practice.

Here are five strategies for improving your team’s sales acumen and equipping them with the tools and skills they need to sell better.

1. Invest in the right technology

Equipping your team with new and powerful tools can improve their productivity and make them feel more confident in selling.

Customer relationship management (CRM) platforms, AI and sales intelligence tools, analytics and reporting software, pipeline trackers and sales prospecting tools can boost your team’s productivity, give them a competitive edge and help them close more deals faster.

To ensure you invest in the right sales technology, start by looking at where your sales process gets stuck. Where do reps waste time? Where do they struggle to get the information they need?

For instance, you might find your reps are losing track of follow-ups because information is scattered across multiple files. Using a CRM like Pipedrive can solve this problem. It helps you store, organize and visualize all your data in one place.

You might also discover they’re spending too much time updating spreadsheets with deal information. With Pipedrive’s workflow automation, you can set up triggers and actions to manage your data.

For example, when a new deal is added, Pipedrive can automatically assign tasks, send emails and update deal stages, so there’s no need for manual data entry.

While a CRM is the foundation of your sales tech stack, you might also need tools to streamline specific tasks. Beyond CRM and automation, Pipedrive’s all-in-one solution lets your team:

• Send automated email follow-ups

• Monitor, visualize and report on sales data

• Track, record and analyze sales calls

• Forecast revenue and predict deal outcomes

• Book and schedule meetings with clients

Instead of spending hours learning different software, your team can focus on what they do best: selling.

2. Get customer-obsessed

The best sales training won’t help if you push reps to prioritize quotas over customers. Top-performing sales teams put the customer at the center of every decision.

When you’re obsessed with your customers, you go beyond basic research – you care deeply about their success. Instead of knowing a prospect’s revenue, you discover how your solution could help them grow that revenue.

LinkedIn’s B2B sales research shows that the top three things sellers need to do to drive more purchases (according to buyers) involve having deep knowledge about a prospect’s business needs, industry, competitors and buying stage.

What sellers need to increase purchase likelihood, according to buyers

For example, imagine two reps selling HR software:

• Rep A researches the prospect’s company size and current HR tools

• Rep B asks about their hiring plans, understands their retention challenges and explores how better HR processes could help them scale faster

Rep B is more likely to win because they’re focused on the customer’s business goals, not just their sale.

Here’s how to make this mindset shift practical for your team:

• Use a CRM to collect data at every touchpoint. Track and analyze every customer interaction – from first contact to after-sales support. Encourage your reps to tailor their conversations based on customer behavior and engagement patterns.

• Review deals based on customer value created, not just deal size. Look beyond the dollar amount and examine how each deal will improve your customer’s business. When reps understand their sale’s impact, they naturally focus on problem-solving.

• Reward reps who walk away from bad-fit deals. Reward them even when it costs short-term revenue. Encourage long-term thinking over quick wins that might drain resources later on.

• Build commission structures that reward customer retention. Split compensation between closing new deals and sustaining existing ones (e.g., subscription renewals).

• Implement a voice of the customer (VOC) program. Regularly gather and analyze customer feedback to stay connected to customer needs and frustrations. LinkedIn’s research shows 89% of deep sellers (i.e., top performers) ask buyers for feedback after almost every interaction – compared to only 53% of “shallow” sellers.

Customer centricity builds sales acumen because reps learn to think like business advisors rather than product sellers. They develop deeper industry knowledge, better judgment and stronger relationship skills – all integral to modern selling.

3. Prioritize employee training

Sales acumen is built through continuous learning (and unlearning of bad sales habits). Go beyond basic sales strategies and equip your team with deep product knowledge and industry insights.

Give reps regular hands-on time with your product. Have them test every feature, offer feedback and meet with your product team weekly to learn about new capabilities and potential customer use cases.

Regular training sessions upskill your team and help them adapt to changing market conditions and customer needs.

Here are some areas to focus on in your sales training programs.

• Starting sales conversations and building rapport

• Listening to customers and asking the right questions

• Handling objections or rejections from potential clients

• Analyzing competitor strategies and industry trends

• Using sales and CRM tools to achieve specific goals

• Leveraging social media for prospecting and selling

Training programs with hands-on practice, case studies and real-world applications are particularly effective in improving sales performance. For example, a global pharma company saw win rates increase by 27% after implementing AI-powered role-play training.

Finally, tailor employee training to individual skill levels and career goals. For example, newer reps might need foundational sales skills, while experienced reps could benefit from advanced training in negotiation or data-driven selling.

4. Facilitate cross-departmental collaboration

Successful sales depend heavily on alignment between departments. Unfortunately, as many as 75% of companies struggle with data silos that hurt performance.

When your sales team works closely with marketing, product and customer success, they can close deals faster and retain customers for longer.

A Gartner study shows that sales organizations with marketing alignment are nearly three times more likely to exceed their customer acquisition targets.

Here’s how to enable cross-departmental collaboration within your company.

• Create shared goals and KPIs that motivate teams to work together. Some examples of shared KPIs include total qualified opportunities that convert (sales + marketing), new customer feature adoption rates (sales + product) and time from proposal to signed contract (sales + legal).

• Use integrated sales tech (e.g., a CRM) to enable collaboration and data visibility between departments. For example, Pipedrive keeps information in one place so all customer-facing teams can make data-driven decisions. You can also create shareable dashboards and reports that display key metrics in real time.

• Get all customer-facing teams in one room. Sales can share what they’re hearing from prospects, marketing can explain what messages are working and product support can preview what’s coming next. You can also map out the buyer journey to understand how each team’s work impacts the customer experience.

Building a corporate culture that values (and rewards) cross-team collaboration can improve your team’s sales acumen and drive higher performance for your company in the long run.

5. Create a supportive work environment

Your organizational culture has a huge impact on your sales team’s performance. One study shows that companies with high culture scores consistently outperform those with low culture scores, especially in terms of sales growth.

When your reps feel valued and supported, they’re more likely to take initiative, collaborate openly and delight customers at every step. A supportive environment also boosts their confidence and helps them commit to your organization’s success.

Here’s how to improve your team’s sales acumen with a supportive work environment.

• Provide autonomy. Employees thrive in autonomous work environments. Give your reps the freedom to manage their time and approach. For example, trust them to choose when to disqualify prospects or how to structure their follow-ups.

• Encourage sales coaching and mentoring. Create opportunities for your best reps (and managers) to share what works. If a rep consistently aces their discovery calls, have them share their exact process with the team.

• Offer transparency into corporate goals and processes. Inform reps about strategic company priorities so they can align their sales approach. For example, understanding year-over-year growth goals can help your sales team strategize which accounts to pursue.

• Build psychological safety. Your reps should feel comfortable asking questions, admitting mistakes and seeking help. For example, when a rep loses a deal, focus the discussion on learning rather than blame.

• Allow room for experimentation. Encourage your reps to try new techniques to drive innovation, build confidence and sharpen their skills. For example, let them test different sales pitches, emails or cold-calling tactics with a subset of their prospects and share results with the team.

Sales expert and CEO Lori Richardson says:

Final thoughts

Developing sales acumen in your team lets you consistently close more high-quality deals and accelerate your growth.

The strategies above will help you develop key qualities in your sales team, such as the ability to connect with customers, think critically and offer tailored solutions that align with customer needs.

Part of developing strong sales acumen is learning to use the right sales technology. Pipedrive’s CRM empowers your team to sell better by centralizing customer data, automating repetitive tasks and generating insights that help them make informed, data-driven decisions.

Sign up for a free 14-day trial today or learn how Pipedrive can help you manage your sales team better.