Most sales leaders want ( need) elite top performance — but very few ever define what it looks like. They know the numbers, the outcomes they want to achieve, but seldom build the strategic sales skills stack in their sales team or themselves to achieve them. Highly competitive salespeople want to be #1, the top producer. Some sales managers have underperforming salespeople who spend time shadowing top performers, hoping this will improve their performance. Sales managers may mirror the leadership style of their CRO, Owner, President, or direct manager.  We find trouble with this approach when it mirrors sales hallucinations — behaviors that do not drive results in today’s marketplace. Untrained sales managers and leaders often resort to hovering, micromanaging, or closing all key sales proposals themselves. This may work in the short term, but they are a formula for disaster in long-term strategic sales and profit growth. In this post, we will share how your salespeople and sales leaders can achieve a top 10% ranking in sales skills to drive explosive growth in their organizations with a strategic sales skills stack.

Our assessment data from over 3 million salespeople globally shows that fewer than 50% of B2B salespeople have been trained, and fewer than 22% of sales managers and leaders have received sales skills training for their current roles.

The skills required to be a top-performing salesperson today are clear by industry vertical, and we can create a strategic sales skills stack plan to make your team in the top 10% of your industry.

We also know the skills required to be a top-performing sales manager and leader include sales skills and additional skills. Additional skills centered around coaching, leadership, recruiting, sales planning, and more. However, very few sales managers and leaders strategically map their sales skills stack. They count on time and the school of hard knocks to train them.

Buyer voice of customer research validates how buyers buy and the skills they want salespeople to have changed in the last five years.

As we design our sales skills stacks, we assess our skills, compare them to industry benchmarks, and ensure we have the skills buyers and decision makers have shared they require.

For example, Florida State did research with buyers some time ago, and they found 85% of decision-makers expect salespeople to connect the dots to the value they deliver, and sadly, less than 15% did at the time of the study.

What do we Know About the Science of Skills Acquisition?

Author Peter Hollins notes in The Science of Rapid Skill Acquisition that becoming the top 1% in any field is extraordinarily rare. Only 1% become the top 1%. But here’s the good news: you don’t need to be the best in the world to win big.

When we think of the top 1%, we think of LeBron James, Bruce Lee, and Pelé. However, there are many times more top performers in the top 10%.

If you strive to be in the top 1% of salespeople or CROs, you will grow frustrated.

You may make unnecessary sacrifices to achieve your desired sales growth goals.

What you need to strive for is to be in the top 10% — and the path to get there is through strategically stacking your skills.

In sales today…

Product knowledge alone won’t get you there.

Relationship-building alone won’t get you there.

Scripts and closing techniques alone won’t get you there.

Your sales tech stack won’t get you there.

The top 10% of sales professionals and managers build layered capability strategically through sales skill stacking.

Each sales skill stack compounds your advantage.

Each layer moves you up the talent curve.

And combined, they create a distinctive competence in your industry that very few achieve.

 

Your salespeople and sales leaders move to a trusted-advisor, industry-consultant status through strategic sales skill stacking.

How you sell today is more important than what you sell.

We must strategically build our sales skill stack.

The Sales Skill Stack: From Average to Top 10%

Let’s break down the skills progression from what most people in your industry have, tier 1, to how to become one of the top 10% of salespeople in your industry, tier 4.

Sales Skills Stack Tier 1: Foundational Table Stakes (Everyone Has These)

Here we find the baseline, the table stakes to get in the game. This is the skill level salespeople have without sales skills training.

Sales Skill Stack

Product knowledge

Features & benefits

Basic relationship building

Transactional skills

How to do business with your company

Order entry

 

These skills put you ahead of ~7% of salespeople in your industry who are new or who lack the skills above — but not enough to win consistently. You are a rep, and your sales status to buyers and influencers is one of a sales rep and a vendor.

Most salespeople stop here without training and coaching — and plateau here or are forced to exit a sales role.

Tier one salespeople will be replaced by AI within the next 5-10 years in most B2B sales roles.

 

Sales Skills Stack Tier 2: Professional Sales Foundations (50% Level)

Here, we find salespeople who have received foundational sales skills training. Either their company provided it, or they read books and paid for sales training themselves. They have their skills of tier one and the below skills.

Sales Skill Stack

Sales Process

 Consultative questioning

Understanding pain vs. urgency

Presenting value instead of features

Handling objections confidently

 

At this stage, you’re better than half the salespeople and managers field — but still replaceable.

Real growth, real distinctive competence,  starts in the next tier.

 

Sales Skills Stack Tier 3: Advanced Business & Revenue Skills (Top 25%)

Here we find salespeople with stronger sales skills who have demonstrated success selling products and services to current and prospective customers. When a salesperson or sales leader on your team is in the top 25% of your industry they are seen as a top producer and hit growth goals more than others on the sales team.

Sales Skill Stack

Prospecting

Negotiations

Closing

Figure it out factor

Business development planning

Multi-stakeholder selling

Executive communication skills

Time Management

Social Selling

Emotional and situational intelligence

Understand and use CRM

Skilled in Virtual selling

 

This is the zone where you stop being “a salesperson” and start becoming a  consultative salesperson, more of a partner in terms of your status ranking with buyers.

 

 

Sales Skills Stack Tier 4: Top 10% Skills — The Elite Layer

Here we find the best of the best salespeople and sales leaders. They consistently meet and exceed their KPIs and are often asked to train, coach, and mentor other salespeople on the team. Leaders are preparing these top 10%’rs for future sales leadership roles. They are seen as leaders in your organization and industry. They are often called on to sit on industry panel discussions, deliver webinars and speak and trade association events.

Sales Skill Stack

Industry & domain expertise

Social selling + digital credibility

Behavioral psychology & influence skills

Data-driven selling & forecasting accuracy

Competitive strategy & deal navigation

Self-management and resilience

Continuous learning & strategic skill stacking

Rejection Proof

Entrepreneurial Sales Mentality

Growth Mindset

Meeting facilitation skills

Sales plan design and execution

Business acumen — speak CEO/CFO language

Understand financial drivers & ROI modeling

 

These sellers and sales leaders win high-quality deals, protect gross margin, and consistently outperform quota.

When we run net profit by salesperson, their results are often significantly higher than other team members. 

They aren’t product pushers — they’re strategic thinkers who solve revenue problems.

They are valued as trusted advisor industry experts.

They uncover and strategically solve customer needs and constraints.

What about sales managers, you might ask?

No worries —we have data for them, as well as Sales VPs, CROs, and every leadership role in your organization, for that matter.

 

Skill Stack for Top 10% Sales Managers

To get a top-performing sales team, sales managers and leaders must stack skills too:

Let’s review the tiers and skills stacks to become one of the top 10% of sales leaders in your industry.

Tier 1: Foundational Sales Skills Stack

 

Sales Leader Skill Stack

Sales Skills

Activity management

Pipeline review

Team communication

Understand how to gather data from CRM

Communication Skills

Tier 2: Sales Skills Stack for Professional Coaching Leader

Sales Skills Stack

Sales methodology coaching (not micromanaging)

Build trust with the team/ Strong Psychological Safety

Live deal coaching & role-playing

Talent identification & development

Respected by the sales team

Emotional intelligence & adaptability

Develops industry trends and strategies from CRM Data

Tier 3: Sales Skills Stack for Elite Leadership

Sales Skills Stack

Revenue strategy & forecasting accuracy

GTM planning & execution discipline

Cross-functional alignment (Marketing, Ops, Finance)

Culture building & psychological safety

Coaching self-sufficiency — build coaches, not dependents

Performance agreements with each team member

Uses CRM to identify where in the sales process deals stall and develops training, coaching, and tools to move sales along

Understands how to motivate salespeople for top performance

Develops strategic compensation plans to drive desired outcomes

Strong sales forecast accuracy

Several of their salespeople reach the top 10% sales skill stack in their industry

 

Top 10% managers don’t run teams by inspection.

 

The top sales managers and sales leaders are not micromanagers.

 

The top 10% of sales managers build capability, confidence, and a culture of growth.

 

How to Move Toward the Top 10%

 

Start sales skill stacking intentionally:

 

1. Identify industry common skills

2. Assess your current sales competencies

3. Identify your lowest skill layer with the biggest correlation to performance in your industry

4. Write your layered skill stack plan

5. Improve one layer at a time

6. Build habits and practice like an athlete

7. Measure progress with KPIs

8. Keep leveling up — never stop learning

9. Strategically work your way up the sales kills stack ladder

10. Hire a Coach

 

The elite sales leaders don’t believe they “know it all.”

They believe mastery is a journey.

The Question for You…Where do you and your sales team’s skills sit today? 

• Table stakes?

• Competent?

• Advisor level?

• Top 10%?

 

How can you be sure of sales skills stack tiers when so few salespeople and sales leaders can accurately assess skills without bias?

And more importantly…

What’s the next skill you will stack in your or your team’s sales skills stack to get there?

Top-tier salespeople and sales leaders aren’t about natural charisma or luck —

It’s about disciplined skill stacking, continual learning, and intentional growth.

 

The good news?

The top 10% of sales skills in your industry is wide open with strategic sales skills stacking and is winnable.

 

What skills gap is costing you or your team deals you should have, could have, won?

Who on your team are the top performers with great skills, and who needs training and coaching?

In your industry, what skill is highly valued that most salespeople lack?

What skills as a sales manager do you need to become CRO?

As the CRO, what Skills do you need to stack to become a president or CEO?

 

Let’s schedule a consultation to explore how skill stacking can help you as a salesperson and the entire sales organization for sales leaders.

 

The sooner we start building your sales skills stack, the sooner you will be in the top 10% of your industry and driving explosive growth!