3 Top sales skills reps need to succeed in 2025

With AI handling predictable tasks, and buyers becoming more informed and cautious, sales professionals feel increasing pressure to evolve or risk becoming obsolete. The future of sales success belongs to reps who can master and develop relevant, high-impact skills. 

At Unleash 2025, our annual sales conference, Lauren Cursiter, Global Marketing & Communications Manager, GTM at Google hosted a session titled 2025 Sales Skills Scavenger Hunt, that directly addressed these shifts. She shared tips and strategies for sales teams to be equipped with the skills they need for the now and future of sales. If you missed this session, don’t fret! We’ve got the recap here for you. 

Why sales training needs a refresh 

Technology has radically changed how buyers buy. They have access to more information and more tools than ever before. They’re doing their own research, seeking peer reviews, and even consulting AI tools like ChatGPT or Gemini before ever speaking to a salesperson. 

Modern sales training must reflect this reality. 

To be properly equipped for today’s buyers, reps need to focus on soft skills, emotional intelligence, and contextual fluency in live, high-pressure situations. Sales enablement trends in 2025 prioritize experiential learning for sales, blending real-world applications with skill reinforcement. 

Lauren highlighted that in today’s market: 

• AI is accelerating: AI tools can now automate research, content creation, forecasting, and even initial outreach. That means the human part of selling—intuition, creativity, strategic thinking— are competitive differentiators and is where reps can shine. 

• The competition is fierce: With products and pricing more transparent than ever, differentiation no longer lies in features but in how well a rep understands and communicates value. 

• Economic volatility is high: Buyers are cautious. Deals are scrutinized by more stakeholders. Sellers must reduce risk perception, build trust, and guide buyers through ambiguity. 

The top 3 sales skills for 2025 

For sellers looking to stay in the game, Lauren advised that sales training must include these critical sales skills: 

1. Insight-led consulting 

At its core, insight-led consulting is about being more than a product expert, it’s about being a business partner. Rather than reacting to a buyer’s stated needs, insight-led sellers proactively surface unspoken problems, offer new perspectives, and help buyers imagine better outcomes. 

Think of it as shifting from solution-selling to opportunity reframing. It’s not enough to ask what’s wrong; sellers must challenge assumptions, connect dots the buyer hasn’t, and tailor ideas to the buyer’s business context. 

Why it matters: Buyers don’t need a rep to tell them what their pain points are. They already know, and they’ve likely researched your competitors, too. What they need is a trusted advisor who understands where their industry is going, what they’re not yet thinking about, and how to create value in ways they hadn’t considered. Reps who master this skill move the conversation beyond feature comparisons and toward long-term strategic partnerships. 

2. AI-fluency and data-driven personalization 

In 2025, being comfortable with AI isn’t optional. It’s a core skill. But AI fluency goes beyond knowing how to use a few tools. It’s about knowing when to use AI, what to ask it, and how to apply its outputs in a way that augments — not replaces — human expertise. 

Sellers must be adept at leveraging AI for tasks like: 

• Researching accounts and personas 
• Personalizing email outreach 
• Analyzing past call transcripts to improve messaging 
• Identifying at-risk deals or buying signals 

But they must also know when to lean on their uniquely human intuition during sensitive buyer conversations, or when tone, trust, or nuance are essential. AI may empower you with account data, but it’s up to the seller to craft the message that lands. 

Why it matters: Automation is creating a widening performance gap between reps who know how to use these tools and those who don’t. AI-fluent reps close deals faster, spend more time on high-value conversations, and deliver a more personalized experience at scale. But the real advantage comes from combining data with judgment, reading between the lines, adapting in real time, and connecting at a human level. 

As Lauren pointed out during the session: “If you take away the energy you're spending on predictable tasks, you can focus on the things that are uniquely you.” 

3. Empathy and relationship building 

It’s a winning formula: connect emotionally and close the deal. Empathy is a revenue driver that allows sellers to build trust quickly, adapt their tone to different buyers, and maintain rapport through long, complex deal cycles. 

Empathy also plays a critical role in objection handling. It helps reps pause before they pounce, to understand where a buyer’s resistance is coming from, and respond in a way that reassures rather than pressures. 

Why it matters: As more of the buyer journey becomes mediated by AI, digital platforms, and asynchronous communication, the moments where humans actually connect carry more weight than ever before. Sellers who lead with empathy improve deal velocity, reduce churn, increase account growth, and become trusted advisors buyers want to keep working with. 

Lauren underscored this point with a simple but powerful piece of advice: “Always lead with empathy. It immediately creates a greater connection.” 

How to reinforce these skills on your team 

Training is only effective if it sticks, and that requires reinforcement. Sales coaching in 2025 must happen in the moment, with tools and systems that support daily application. 

Here are a few strategies RevOps and enablement leaders can implement: 

• Skill assessments at scale. Use tools like Outreach to assess reps’ skills across objection handling, storytelling, and demo delivery. Share results as growth insights, not critiques
• On-demand microlearning. Build short, focused modules that reps can access when they need them: during onboarding, before a call, or after a rough pitch.
• Targeted coaching programs. Offer specialized tracks for different roles or experience levels. At Google, new hires receive mentoring while tenured reps engage in coaching around advanced principles.
• Shift from skills to principles. Transition from skill-based checklists to principle-driven frameworks to help reps internalize and adapt core behaviors.
• Make training part of the workflow. Embed exercises and reflection into CRM tools, call planning, or post-call reviews. Use AI to surface skill gaps and recommend training in real time.  

This work must be supported by leadership and tied to metrics. Conduct sentiment surveys, track pre- and post-program results, and A/B test sales outcomes to prove training ROI. 

The future of sales enablement is experiential 

Enablement professionals must rethink how they equip sellers. The most effective skill-building happens not in isolation, but within the context of the work, embedded in the call prep, the deal strategy, the objection response. In short, in the thick of the hunt. 

X marks the spot: Key discoveries 

1. Every deal is a hunt, and the skills your reps develop with each one are their most valuable treasures.

2. Continuous, integrated skill development is essential for consistent wins.

3. Enablement leaders must build the maps and systems that help reps uncover and refine their own skills in the field. 

The 2025 sales rep is not just the talker or closer of the sales past. They’re now required to be a consultant, a strategist, and a relationship-builder. To get there, sellers need real practice, actionable feedback, and adaptive support. Achieving sales readiness for the current state of selling won’t happen on day one, but by treating each deal as a hunt for new skills, learning will happen day by day, deal by deal. 

Curious to see how Outreach can be used for your sales reps’ continuous learning? Get a demo.