Top 17 Sales Assistant Skills to Stay Top in Your Job

Top 17 Sales Assistant Skills to Stay Top in Your Job

This post provides detailed information about the skills and qualities you should have for a successful career as a sales assistant.

Please continue reading to improve your knowledge of the sales assistant skills and qualities to be effective on the job:

The role of a sales assistant cannot be ignored in the day to day activities of a retail company.

Sales assistants are important to the execution sales related issues of retail companies and that’s why there is a rise in the demand for their service.

As explained above, sales assistants are needed mostly in retail companies where there is mainly direct contact with customers, which they make easy.

Who is a Sales Assistant?

A sales assistant is an employee who works for a retail company and is charged with the duty of relating with customers to ensure smooth transactions between the company and customers.

A sales assistant helps customers choose from an array of goods and services, as well as process payment for those goods and services.
Best 17 Sales Assistant Skills and Qualities to be Effective on the Job

Here are major skills and qualities needed by a sales assistant to stay top in their job:

1. Good Attitude

Attitude has to deal with one’s disposition or average reaction to a certain issue.

In one way or the other, we have different ways we react to different issues.

This is part of the human nature and goes a long way to determining how customers patronize your business.

Attitude is a very important factor to be considered in every business.

Bad attitude like they say is like a flat tire, you can go nowhere with it without changing it.

This to a big extent is very true to the growth of any business.

Therefore, as a sales assistant that is always faced with the prospect of dealing with customer reaction, bad attitude is one thing that should be thrown out of the window if you must impress your customers.

Customers are more inclined to organizations or businesses where they are made to feel special.

The good attitude of a sales assistant is one way to make customers feel special. This is very important.

You need to develop the skill of exhibiting good attitude towards the customers, they love it a lot.

Your smile, friendly greeting, and the little help you render to customers are all part of this good attitude we are talking about.

2. Good Outlooks

You might be tempted to ask what role good outlook play as a skill. The fact is that good outlook has a way of attracting customers to you.

Your good outlook is a sign that you mean business and also goes a long way to telling the customer that you believe in quality.

This is to be seen as a must and not as an option.

As a sales assistant, you need to understand the importance of dressing well and looking good.

Looking good should be your way of telling your customers that you are ready to serve them.

Also, this shows that you place value on your job as a sales assistant.

People are addressed the way they dress as the saying goes. That means, as a sales assistant, you have to dress like one.

Not just your dressing, even the way you carry yourself should show the kind of business you do.

It has to show in how you dress, how you carry yourself and how you talk.

3. Team Work

Understand that as a sales assistant, you don’t work alone or work for yourself.

This should make you understand that you have to work with people in the same business environment with you. You need to be a supporter of the team.

Team work demands that you contribute your quota to make sure the company you are representing and working for achieves its goals.

Your quota is important as well as that of other people in the company. This is what team work entails.

It is understandable that once in a while we want to do things our way and want to be able to make our choices and to an extent put our interest first; however, the spirit of teamwork is putting the team and the organization first before our own gain.

That doesn’t mean you don’t pay attention to your own dreams but selfishness is definitely out of it.

4. Good Communication Skills

Communication is very important in your job as a sales assistant. Being a sales assistant, demands a lot from you in terms of communication.

So, you need to have good communication skill to be able to excel in your job.

As a sales assistant, your communication is not only important to your employer but also to the customers you face every day.

You have to be good enough in this aspect to be able to stay top in your job.

You communicate with your bosses as well as your customers.

Most importantly is communication with customers. They need to be aware of what’s happening with the company they are patronizing as often as necessary.

More so, you have to understand that how you communicate with the customers can make a big impression on them as well as big difference in the fortunes of the company.

5. Marketing/Selling Skills

By reason of your job description, marketing/selling skills is a must have for you.

Your resume will definitely not be up to standard if this is not one of the skills you can boast of.

Your role is basically to help in the sales department of your company.

You need to be able to present your services to the public in an appealing manner.

That aura in your presentation when called up is a necessity if you must succeed in your job.

You should be able to talk convincingly to the customers of the company as well as potential customers.

To be a good marketer demands your ability to be trained in public speaking or presentation.

You need to be able to develop your marketing skills always to be able to excel in your job.

There is no one working in the capacity of a sales assistant that should neglect this skill.

6. Customer Service

This is the most important skill to possess as a sales assistant. Customers are the major pillars of any business.

So, ignoring the comfort of the customers is a direct way of pulling down the business.

Customers are to be given special treatment majority of the time.

Your pay check in the organization is hugely dependent on the patronage of the customers.

So this means that you have made the comfort of the customers a big priority.

You should be skilled enough to attend to the regular complains of customers.

Truth be told, customers can be annoying in their assessment of issues far beyond what it is.

Sometimes, their manner of approach can be rude, nevertheless, you have to hold your line and give them positive attitude.

Calm them down and assure them that their issues will be resolved as soon as possible. Make them feel special always.

7. Product Knowledge

Doesn’t it sound bizarre and absurd to learn that a sales assistant does not have a proper knowledge of the company’s products?

This doesn’t sound good at all. It can be embarrassing and somehow shows incompetence on your side as a sales assistant.

The first step towards establishing yourself as a sales assistant in any company is to have excellent knowledge of the products you are marketing or selling.

Failure to know the products you are dealing on is a big joke.

To do this requires training and orientation from the employer.

However, you as a sales assistant need to study the products well to know their basic functions.

8. Understanding of the Law and Some Other Rules

As a sales assistant, you have to be aware of the current business laws and some other rules and regulations that apply to your job.

There is no job that does not have rules and regulations guiding it. You need that knowledge to excel in your job.

Knowing these rules will help you coordinate yourself in the workplace as well as the market place.

Study these rules and try to incorporate them into your daily activities.

This is very important to your survival in that company. As long as you know the rules, you stand a better chance of obeying them.

Another set of rules or laws you need to know about are the prevalent company laws that guide the operation of companies in your geographical areas.

Though this is not too demanding on you, but you need to know the laws.

9. Delegation

It is important to know that your job basically is as an assistant, nothing more than that.

You are an assistant to help your superior manage your department. This is where the issue of delegation comes in.

At some point you have to act in the capacity of your superior; to act in the capacity of your superior demands that you develop necessary skills and qualities to be able to stand in for them if the need arises.

This calls for constant improvement on all relevant skills that can help you give your best when called upon.

To be a good delegate means you have sufficient knowledge of what you are expected to do even in the absence of your boss or superior.

You have to know what you are expected to do and how to go about it.

This is very important for your chances of excelling in your job as a sales assistant.

10. Active Listening

As a sales assistant, you do more of listening than talking. You work under someone so you take instructions from him/her and do exactly as he/she says.

This demands active listening skills. You listen to instructions and carry them out to the letter.

Since you are more of a listener than a talker, you have to sharpen your listening skills in order not be do the wrong things contrary to what you are instructed or expected to do.

You have to exercise patience and condition your mind to digest information passed down to you by your superior.

Avoid distraction at all cost while taking instructions related to your job.

And in situations you are not clear about something, ask questions rather than assuming.

This has been the downfall of many in this job. They assume things and when their assumption is wrong they suffer dearly for it.

11. Coachable

Working under a superior demand that you become coachable at all times.

This is not something you joke with. It is important you have that teachable spirit and improve on what you already know how to do. This will help you in your career.

Part of your coaching is observation. You observe what your superior does from day to day and what kind of result it yields.

You observe his/her method of doing things and how he/she solves problems. That’s part of your coaching.

The next thing to know is carrying out instructions given to you by your coach or superior.

Carrying out instructions will definitely expose you to different knowledge and understanding of how things work in the workplace.

12. Sociable

When you are faced with the task of handling people both in the workplace and the marketplace, you need to be sociable to be able to interact effectively with them.

Create that atmosphere of friendliness, especially when handling customers.

It is in the culture of people to be more inclined or attracted to people who are social in nature.

It is not to say that you have to lose your personality but a way of adjusting to suit the atmosphere that may be demanded of you by the customers.

Friendliness with the customers is a good way of establishing a lasting relationship with customers.

When you are sociable, with time you will discover that the customer will be more open to you than any other people less sociable.

13. Time Management

Your time management skill is important to your advancement in your job.

You have to develop that ability to make judicious use of your time to accomplish a lot in the workplace.

Your superior will definitely appreciate it if you spend less time doing one thing over a long period of time.

Managing your time entails organizing and coordinating your activities to be able to accomplish much within the shortest period of time.

To do this is no mean feat. To be effective in time management, you have to work on yourself and things that tend to take much of your time and know how to tackle them.

You can’t talk about time management without the idea of proper planning.

Proper planning helps you prioritize your activities and know when and how to tackle each of them.

If you can plan your activities ahead of time then you can effectively manage your time.

14. Quick to Learn

What is your learning speed? One of the things that actually militates against time management is slowness in learning.

When you are a slow learner, you tend to use more time in doing something that should actually take less.

One way of improving your learning skills is more dedication to your job even outside your workplace.

This involves searching out for better ways to do your job without causing problem in the long run.

When you search out for better ways, you will definitely find a way to help you do better.

Being a good learner requires rapt attention during training.

When you undergo trainings and seminars, you need to pay rapt attention to what you are instructed to do and ask questions when necessary about what might be confusing to you.

15. Resource Management

As an assistant, some things are made available to you to help function well in your capacity.

This may not be all you might expect but whether you are giving enough resources or not, you need to work with what you have and make the best out of it.

Be it money or any other resource at your disposal, be wise enough in using them and pay more attention to using the resources at your disposal to handle the jobs that cannot be overlooked.

If you can do that, then you are good to go.

Resource management is a way of your superior measuring your tenacity and your ability to work with little.

Sometimes, your superior may not be ignorant of the fact that the resources at your disposal may not be enough for you to carry out your job properly but he/she wants to know exactly what you can do with little.

16. Writing Skills

You need to be a good writer if you must be a good sales assistant. This is applicable to your everyday activities and not something you need to overlook.

Your handwriting should be readable and your points stated out clearly for anyone to understand if the need arises.

Sometimes, your boss may demand that you write down some events for future purpose.

You have to compose it in such a way that it won’t confuse you or anyone who might have access to it.

This is very important as failure to note that important events or transactions can be catastrophic in the long run.

In addition to this, most importantly to note down is your training procedures, as well as your daily job requirements.

You have to note down what your activities should be and what to do to make sure you meet your job target.

This will help reduce stress of trying to figure out what to do and when you should be in action.

17. Speaking Skills

Though you are majorly a listener in your job as a sales assistant, you also need to have the necessary speaking skills as a way of your feedback to instructions given to you by your boss.

You relate your ideas and your thoughts to your boss from time to time to help solve certain problems.

In this scenario, you need to learn the necessary communication skills needed to maintain a working relationship with both the customers and your boss.

When you are a good speaker, you will be given good audience either during your presentation or when attending to your customers.

One thing that will help you to be a good speaker is learning and knowing the customer friendly words.

What you say as a speaker is as important as how you say it. Understand that customers are not only sensitive to what you say but also how you say it.

Sales Assistant Skills for Resume

If you are a sales assistant in the process of writing a resume, it is wise to include the core competence section also called the skills section to show the recruiter the skills and qualities you are coming with to help you succeed on the sales assistant position.

You can create the core competence part of your resume that most recruiters will love by applying the sales assistant skills and qualities provided in this post.

Conclusion

The role of the sales assistant is very important to the survival or growth or retail companies.

This is to say that sales assistants are an important part of every retail company basically because they are always in direct contact with the customers.

This article explains the skills and qualities needed by sales assistants to be effective in their job and career.