How to deliver soft skills training

What are soft skills?

Soft skills, also known as people or interpersonal skills, are traits that go beyond technical skills or expertise. They’re the interpersonal attributes that enable people to effectively interact, communicate, and collaborate with others in and outside of the workplace. 

Soft skills vs. hard skills

Soft skills and hard skills are different, but both are important for employees to develop and hone. The combination of technical expertise (hard skills) and the ability to work well with others (soft skills) can lead to long-term success. In fact, 98% of workers say they perform their roles better when they feel confident in their skills and abilities.

Unlike soft skills, hard skills are easily defined. They’re specific technical skills or specialized knowledge that are related to a particular role. These skills are often measurable and can be taught and assessed. Hard skills include coding, project management, accounting, graphic design, and other industry-specific knowledge. These skills are often acquired through formal education, training, and on-the-job experience.

Soft skills, on the other hand, are not as easy to quantify. That’s because soft skills in the workplace can look very different depending on the industry, team, and organization. These skills include things like time management and critical thinking which are more intangible and subjective compared to hard skills. Let’s take a closer look at some soft skill examples that are important for every go-to-market teammate to have.

Essential soft skills for go-to-market teams

GTM organizations focus on bringing products and services to the market effectively. When combined with industry knowledge, market insights, and technical expertise, soft skills can empower GTM organizations to execute their strategies effectively, remain competitive, and reach business goals and objectives. Here are three important soft skills that can contribute to success. 

1. Collaboration: Collaboration is critical for GTM organizations as they involve numerous departments and teams that need to work together to achieve goals. Collaboration ensures ongoing alignment, coordination, and efficient execution of go-to-market plans. 
2. Adaptability: GTM organizations often operate in dynamic environments and industries where market conditions, buyer preferences, and competitive landscapes can change rapidly. Adaptability helps GTM teams stay ahead of the curve, maximize new opportunities, and respond to market changes. 
3. Communication: Effective communication is key for GTM organizations as they collaborate with internal stakeholders and interact with buyers and customers. Communication ensures that everyone can convey information clearly and effectively, both verbally and in writing. 

Sales soft skills

Sellers require a combination of technical sales knowledge and a range of soft skills to excel in their role. Here’s a glance at some important sales soft skills that reps should have.

1. Relationship building: Sellers need to be able to build rapport and establish trust with buyers and clients. They need to nurture long-term relationships by being authentic and understanding buyers’ challenges and needs. Building strong relationships fosters loyalty, encourages buyers to move through the sales process, and increases the likelihood of repeat business.
2. Resilience: Sales can be demanding as sellers experience rejections and setbacks throughout deals. Resilient sellers quickly bounce back from challenges, maintain motivation, and move forward. They’re optimistic, maintain a positive attitude, and continuously seek opportunities for improvement. 
3. Negotiation: Sellers need to be able to handle objections from buyers and effectively communicate with them in a way that ensures they reach an agreement on a deal. Negotiation skills ensure sellers can effectively interact with buyers during back-and-forth conversations, which is why relationship building and resilience are also important. 

Customer service soft skills

Customer service agents play an important role in representing an organization and delivering superior service. In order to do so effectively, they need customer service soft skills training that helps them hone the following skills.

1. Empathy: Empathy is vital for customer service agents. They should be able to understand and relate to customers’ emotions, frustrations, and needs. In order to demonstrate empathy, agents need to respond with genuine care and compassion — even in challenging situations. This builds a connection with the customer that can foster trust, enhance satisfaction, and increase loyalty.
2. Active listening: Agents must be skilled listeners to understand customers’ needs, questions, and problems. Active listening requires agents to give their full attention and clarify information. This also helps build trust, uncover opportunities for greater service, and tailor solutions to each customer. 
3. Problem-solving: Agents will encounter complex and challenging interactions. Strong problem-solving skills enable agents to analyze the problem, identify the cause, and provide effective solutions. This requires agents to think critically, make informed decisions, and provide clear communication. 

As you can see, there are a number of soft skills that every GTM team member needs to have. While some skills and traits are important for the entire organization, others are specific to each department and role. So, how can GTM leaders ensure that every team member has the soft skills they need? 

What is soft skills training?

While soft skills are typically developed through personal experiences and observation, they can also be honed through continuous training and coaching. Soft skills training includes programs, workshops, and continuous learning activities. Regardless of the format, soft skills training delivers helpful tips and best practices to learners so they can hone their soft skills so they’re more successful at their jobs. 

While many organizations focus on technical skills and product training, they often fail to recognize the importance of soft skills training. However, research from the Stanford Research Institute International and the Carnegie Mellon Foundation found that 75% of long-term job success depends on soft skills expertise. Additionally, many GTM organizations have experienced tremendous changes over the last few years, but employee skill levels haven’t kept pace with the speed of change. In a study by Gartner, only 20% of leaders said that employees have the skills needed for their current role and future career growth.

How to improve soft skills

Creating and delivering a soft skills training program from scratch can seem challenging. Let’s take a look at five steps that every organization can take to provide basic soft skills training to their team.  

1. Assess current skill levels: First, you need to evaluate and understand the existing soft skill levels of your employees. This can be done through self-assessments, surveys, or feedback from managers and trainers. This will help you identify the soft skills that need improvement and establish a baseline for measuring progress and growth. 
2. Create a comprehensive soft skills training plan: Based on the results of your assessment, it’s time to create a list of soft skills training topics that you want to focus on. You’ll also need to identify the best format and approach to training. We’ll touch more on this a bit later!
3. Develop engaging soft skills training courses: To ensure training effectiveness, focus on creating engaging content that’s tailored to the needs and learning preferences of your team. It’s also important to show employees what good looks like for each soft skill. For example, if you’re providing negotiation skills training, share a call where a seller displayed excellent negotiation skills to keep the buyer engaged.
4. Include interactivity: Learners who actively participate in training activities that include interactive and hands-on activities, are more likely to retain what they learn and hone skills faster. Role-playing and practice scenarios are highly effective training methods that reinforce learning. It’s also a great way to practice skills in a safe environment and receive personalized feedback from a trainer or manager for continued growth. 
5. Measure and evaluate progress: It’s also important to establish how you’ll measure the effectiveness of soft skills training. To do this, implement consistent evaluation methods that can help you gauge the success of training. Use feedback, self-assessments, and performance metrics to make necessary adjustments that will help your team grow their skills, 

The benefits of soft skills training online

When it comes to delivering effective soft skills training to your employees, we strongly suggest an online training format. Providing soft skills training online offers several benefits — here are three key advantages.

Accessibility and flexibility 

Online training provides employees with greater accessibility and flexibility to soft skills training. The best soft skills courses are self-paced and available on-demand, so employees can engage with training at their own pace and when it’s the right time for them. And now that so many organizations have a hybrid or fully remote team, online training gives everyone the chance to learn anywhere instead of requiring employees to travel for in-person training sessions. 

Scalability and consistency

Online soft skills training courses offer scalability and make it easier to provide consistent training across the entire team. Online training platforms can also deliver training to every employee simultaneously, allowing organizations to scale their training efforts without logistical constraints. 

Actionable insights and tracking

Online soft skills training platforms also help managers track performance and skill growth over time. By including knowledge checks, quizzes, and practice assessments, leaders can easily assess knowledge retention and application of newly learned skills. This helps them deliver real-time personalized feedback and coaching that can help employees further develop soft skills over time.

Deliver soft skills training online with Seismic

When it comes to managing your GTM organization, efficiency and effectiveness are top priorities. Instead of offering generic training and enablement, it’s important to deliver engaging training that helps frontline employees develop the critical soft skills needed for their roles. Seismic’s training and coaching capabilities help GTM organizations understand skill levels across their teams, deliver engaging soft skills training courses, and build personalized coaching plans that help employees hone skills faster. Jump into a free training lesson to see how.