Top 12 Sales & Business Development Skills to Put on Your Resume
In today's job hunt frenzy, standing out in sales and business development means showing a sharp mix of strategy, numbers sense, and people skill on your resume. Put those strengths on display, keep them concrete, and you tilt the odds in your favor. Doors open faster when your skills look real, recent, and ready to drive revenue.
Sales & Business Development Skills
- CRM (e.g., Salesforce)
- Lead Generation
- Negotiation
- Prospecting
- Pipeline Management
- Market Analysis
- Product Demonstration
- Account Management
- Cold Calling
- Email Marketing (e.g., Mailchimp)
- Social Selling (e.g., LinkedIn Sales Navigator)
- Data Analysis (e.g., Tableau)
1. CRM (e.g., Salesforce)
CRM (Customer Relationship Management), such as Salesforce, is software that centralizes relationships, activities, and revenue data across the customer lifecycle. It aligns teams, streamlines follow-up, and turns scattered signals into clear next steps.
Why It's Important
CRMs keep selling organized. They house customer history, track pipeline movement, surface insights, and support forecasts, which means better decisions, smoother handoffs, and a healthier win rate.
How to Improve CRM (e.g., Salesforce) Skills
Make the CRM fit the way you sell, not the other way around:
Customize the workflow: Map stages, fields, and page layouts to your sales process. Build dashboards that answer your team’s weekly questions at a glance.
Integrate core tools: Connect email, calendars, marketing automation, support, and billing so context lives in one place.
Champion adoption: Train often, document the “why,” and keep it simple. Remove fields no one uses. Celebrate wins driven by clean data.
Keep data clean: Deduplicate, standardize picklists, and set validation rules. Assign ownership for hygiene and run scheduled audits.
Lean on analytics: Build reports for conversion by stage, velocity, and coverage. Use cohort views to spot trends early.
Automate the tedious stuff: Replace old Workflow Rules and Process Builder with Salesforce Flow. Automate alerts, assignments, renewals, and follow-up tasks.
Upskill continuously: Stay current on new releases and features. Short, hands-on sessions beat marathon trainings.
Do this well and the CRM becomes a revenue system, not a chore.
How to Display CRM (e.g., Salesforce) Skills on Your Resume
2. Lead Generation
Lead generation is the engine for new business: attracting the right people and converting interest into qualified opportunities your sales team can actually close.
Why It's Important
No leads, no pipeline. Strong lead gen creates consistent deal flow, lowers acquisition cost over time, and feeds every stage of the funnel.
How to Improve Lead Generation Skills
Fix the website conversion path: Clear calls-to-action, fast load times, mobile-ready pages, and uncluttered forms. Every click should have a purpose.
Publish problem-solving content: Guides, checklists, webinars, and customer stories that answer real pains. Trade value for contact info—fair and square.
Segment and nurture with email: Send timely, relevant messages based on behavior and stage. Personalization beyond just a first name.
Be present on social: Share insights, join conversations, and run targeted campaigns to audiences that mirror your ICP.
Prioritize SEO: Target the search terms your buyers actually use. Earn traffic that compounds month after month.
Test paid programs: Spin up PPC and paid social with tight targeting, sharp offers, and landing pages designed to convert.
Work partnerships: Co-marketing, referrals, communities. Borrow trust from adjacent brands and voices your buyers already follow.
Blend channels, measure ruthlessly, and double down where the signal is strong.
How to Display Lead Generation Skills on Your Resume
3. Negotiation
Negotiation is the art and structure of reaching terms that work for both sides while protecting value, timelines, and relationships.
Why It's Important
It closes gaps, defuses friction, and lands durable agreements. Better terms, fewer surprises, stronger partnerships.
How to Improve Negotiation Skills
Prepare like it matters: Define trade-offs, walk-away points, and non-negotiables. Know their stakeholders and incentives.
Build rapport fast: Small signals of respect go a long way. Curiosity beats confrontation.
Listen actively: Surface underlying interests, not just stated positions. Mirror, label, and confirm.
Frame value clearly: Tie terms to outcomes they care about—risk reduction, speed, ROI, simplicity.
Problem-solve together: Trade low-cost/high-value concessions. Package asks; don’t nickel-and-dime.
Close with clarity: Summarize agreements, confirm owners and dates, and lock next steps in writing.
Run post-mortems: Capture lessons, update playbooks, and practice the tough scenarios.
Confidence is earned in prep; trust is earned in delivery.
How to Display Negotiation Skills on Your Resume
4. Prospecting
Prospecting means finding and engaging people who match your ideal customer profile and opening conversations that lead somewhere.
Why It's Important
It keeps the pipeline from drying up. New logos, fresh conversations, constant momentum.
How to Improve Prospecting Skills
Nail your ICP and personas: Industry, size, tech stack, pains, triggers. Get specific or get ignored.
Work LinkedIn with intent: Warm interactions, thoughtful comments, short notes that earn replies.
Write tighter cold emails: One problem, one offer, one action. Keep it human. Test subject lines and openings.
Show up where buyers gather: Conferences, communities, webinars. Prep targets and outreach in advance.
Teach through content: Share useful frameworks or benchmarks; give prospects a reason to lean in.
Track everything in your CRM: Cadences, replies, objections, next steps. No leads left behind.
Refine with data: Review response rates, channel mix, and messaging weekly. Adjust quickly.
Consistency crushes bursts. Prospect daily, even when deals heat up.
How to Display Prospecting Skills on Your Resume
5. Pipeline Management
Pipeline management is the discipline of guiding opportunities from first touch to closed-won, with clear stages, honest probabilities, and steady movement.
Why It's Important
It protects focus and forecast accuracy. You spot bottlenecks, prioritize the right deals, and keep revenue predictable.
How to Improve Pipeline Management Skills
Define crisp stages: Entry/exit criteria for each step. No fuzzy “maybe” stages.
Run regular reviews: Inspect coverage, changes, and next actions. Challenge sandbagging and wishful thinking.
Qualify hard: Spend time where intent and fit are real. Use a consistent framework (e.g., MEDDICC, BANT) and stick to it.
Use your CRM deeply: Custom views, alerts, and dashboards for reps and managers. Real-time updates or it didn’t happen.
Coach the middle: Most deals stall mid-funnel. Diagnose why and fix the motion—proof, access, value, risk.
Leverage analytics: Track conversion by stage, cycle time, win rates by segment, and slip reasons. Act on what the data screams.
Listen to customers: Post-loss and post-win insights sharpen your process fast.
Automate routine work: Route leads, set follow-ups, and sync systems with Salesforce Flow plus tools like Zapier or Make.
Strong pipelines aren’t mysterious—they’re maintained.
How to Display Pipeline Management Skills on Your Resume
6. Market Analysis
Market analysis sizes the playing field, maps competitors, and reveals what customers actually want—so you place bets with eyes open.
Why It's Important
It directs focus. You find the segments with the most traction, shape messaging, and avoid chasing ghosts.
How to Improve Market Analysis Skills
Define the market: Segment by need, size, and growth. Use credible data sources (e.g., Statista) to anchor estimates.
Study competitors: Product, pricing, positioning, funding, momentum. Crunchbase and public sites help sketch the landscape.
Gather customer insight: Surveys, interviews, win/loss, and social listening. Patterns beat opinions.
Track trends: Tech shifts, regulations, and buyer behavior. Stay alert; adjust quickly.
Run a SWOT: Be blunt about strengths, gaps, opportunities, and threats. Prioritize moves accordingly.
Test and learn: Pilot offers in one segment before scaling. Let results steer investment.
Keep learning: Short courses and peer groups sharpen your thinking as markets move.
Good analysis narrows your aim—and amplifies your impact.
How to Display Market Analysis Skills on Your Resume
7. Product Demonstration
A product demo shows—not tells—how your solution eases pain, unlocks outcomes, and fits into the buyer’s world.
Why It's Important
Seeing is believing. Demos reduce uncertainty, build trust, and shorten time-to-yes.
How to Improve Product Demonstration Skills
Start with their story: Tailor flows to the roles in the room. Speak their outcomes, not your feature list.
Prioritize must-have moments: Hit the 3–5 capabilities that matter most. Leave the rest in the appendix.
Tell a narrative: Before → After → Proof. Anchor the change with metrics or a quick case snippet.
Use clean visuals: Crisp screens, legible text, zero clutter. Lag kills energy—test in advance.
Invite interaction: Questions early and often. Adjust live so they feel seen.
Practice relentlessly: Rehearse handoffs, timings, and the tough questions. Get feedback; tighten.
Follow up fast: Send a recap with clips, next steps, and tailored materials.
When the demo mirrors their workflow, objections shrink.
How to Display Product Demonstration Skills on Your Resume
8. Account Management
Account management is the ongoing craft of growing customer value, preventing churn, and earning expansion through trust and results.
Why It's Important
It protects recurring revenue and opens doors to cross-sell and upsell. Happy customers talk—and that flywheel matters.
How to Improve Account Management Skills
Know the business: Their goals, metrics, org map, and change calendar. Insight beats check-ins.
Run strategic reviews: Tie outcomes to your product’s impact. Show progress with data, not adjectives.
Tailor solutions: Configure to their workflows. Small customizations can unlock big adoption.
Be proactively helpful: Anticipate renewals, risks, and key dates. Act before issues escalate.
Collect and act on feedback: Close the loop. Share product updates tied to what they asked for.
Monitor account health: Usage, NPS, support trends, stakeholder engagement. Early signals save accounts.
Educate continuously: New features, new playbooks, new wins. Become a trusted advisor.
Spot expansion: Map additional teams, geos, or use cases. Propose value, not just bigger contracts.
Great AMs run playbooks and build relationships that outlast champions.
How to Display Account Management Skills on Your Resume
9. Cold Calling
Cold calling is direct outreach to prospects who haven’t raised a hand yet—short, relevant conversations that open the door.
Why It's Important
It creates opportunities on demand, tests messaging in real time, and accelerates learning about your market.
How to Improve Cold Calling Skills
Research before dialing: Use LinkedIn and company sites to personalize with purpose.
Hook quickly: Lead with a sharp reason-to-care in the first 10 seconds. Respect their time.
State a clear value prop: Problem solved, outcome delivered, credibility in one breath.
Listen, then pivot: Ask one smart question, pause, and adapt to what you hear.
Handle objections calmly: Acknowledge, reframe, and offer a small next step.
Follow up without being a pest: Short emails and calendar nudges keep the thread alive.
Review calls: Analyze recordings for talk/listen ratio, openings, and momentum shifts. Iterate.
Polite, persistent, and precise wins the day.
How to Display Cold Calling Skills on Your Resume
10. Email Marketing (e.g., Mailchimp)
Email marketing uses targeted, timely messages to nurture interest, activate buyers, and retain customers—all measurable, all adaptable.
Why It's Important
It scales personalized communication, fuels pipeline with nurtures, and turns customers into repeat buyers, with data guiding every tweak.
How to Improve Email Marketing (e.g., Mailchimp) Skills
Segment smartly: Group by behavior, lifecycle stage, firmographics, and intent. Relevance drives opens and clicks.
Personalize beyond tokens: Reference actions, interests, and timing. Make it feel written for them.
Write subject lines that earn the open: Clear, specific, curiosity without clickbait. Test relentlessly.
Design for mobile first: Skimmable copy, strong visuals, one primary CTA. Light on images, fast to load.
A/B test key elements: Subject, sender name, offer, CTA, timing. Let the data pick winners.
Automate journeys: Welcome series, re-engagement, post-event drips, and lifecycle triggers that run while you sleep.
Stay compliant: Respect opt-ins, include easy unsubscribes, and follow GDPR/CAN-SPAM requirements.
Treat every send like a tiny experiment, and your metrics will climb.
How to Display Email Marketing (e.g., Mailchimp) Skills on Your Resume
11. Social Selling (e.g., LinkedIn Sales Navigator)
Social selling uses platforms like LinkedIn to research accounts, build credibility, and spark conversations that warm up outreach.
Why It's Important
Decision-makers live on social. Meet them there, add value publicly, and your messages stop feeling cold.
How to Improve Social Selling (e.g., LinkedIn Sales Navigator) Skills
Optimize your profile: Make it customer-first—headline, summary, and featured content that signal problems you solve.
Use advanced search: Filter by role, industry, headcount, and triggers to zero in on high-fit prospects.
Engage with intent: Comment thoughtfully, share insights, and tag relevant voices. Earn attention before you ask.
Build real relationships: Send brief, relevant notes and keep selling out of the first touch.
Ask for warm intros: Mutual connections lift reply rates and lower skepticism.
Measure and refine: Track connection acceptance, reply rates, and meetings booked. Tighten your approach monthly.
Be useful, visible, and patient—and the platform works for you.
How to Display Social Selling (e.g., LinkedIn Sales Navigator) Skills on Your Resume
12. Data Analysis (e.g., Tableau)
Data analysis turns raw activity into insight. With tools like Tableau, you visualize trends, spot bottlenecks, and forecast outcomes with more confidence.
Why It's Important
Decisions get faster and smarter. You find patterns early, prove impact, and guide strategy with evidence—not gut alone.
How to Improve Data Analysis (e.g., Tableau) Skills
Master the basics: Get comfortable with data connections, joins, calculated fields, and filters.
Clarify the questions: Tie every chart to a business decision—coverage, conversion, velocity, retention.
Choose the right visuals: Bars for comparisons, lines for trends, maps for regions, funnels for progression. Keep labels clear.
Build interactive dashboards: Filters and drill-downs let sales leaders explore without breaking things.
Use advanced features: Cohorts, forecasts, reference lines, and parameters. Add context, not clutter.
Share and teach: Circulate concise dashboards and explain how to use them. Adoption matters.
Iterate with feedback: Review with stakeholders and improve the next version. Less is usually more.
When the data sings, the strategy sharpens.
How to Display Data Analysis (e.g., Tableau) Skills on Your Resume
