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Introduction
Sales has never been a one-size-fits-all profession.
Walk into any go-to-market team and you’ll find a variety of roles, each with its own blend of commercial drive, process discipline, and people skills.
While the headlines often go to the “closers” or the “hunters,” the reality is that modern sales is more like a relay race where Sales Development Representatives (SDRs), Account Executives (AEs), Account Managers (AMs), and Customer Success Managers (CSMs) each play a critical part in turning prospects into long-term customers and partners.
Of course, there are plenty of other sales roles out there: solutions consultants, sales engineers, partner managers, and more, with their own set of nuances and required expertise.
However, for this article, I’m focusing on the most common and prevalent customer-facing revenue roles.
These are the jobs you’ll find in nearly every B2B sales organisation, and the ones that form the backbone of most commercial teams.
What unites these roles?
The need to be clear about what “good” actually looks like.
Whether you’re opening doors, managing complex deals, nurturing long-term relationships, or helping customers get value from your product, success comes down to a set of core sales competencies.
This article breaks down the competencies that matter most for SDRs, AEs, AMs, and CSMs.
As such, I think this article will be useful for various types of readers:
- Sales professionals who are looking to benchmark their own skills or chart a path to the next role.
- Sales managers, learning & development specialists, and enablement professionals who are designing sales training paths, upskilling programmes, or coaching programmes for commercial teams to help them develop sales competencies.
- Sales leaders who are aiming to systematise evaluation, promotion, and progression criteria across their teams.
- Job seekers and career-changers curious about what these roles actually demand in practice.
- Founders and executives who are building out a sales function for the first time need clarity on what to look for in each key role.
- HR and talent acquisition professionals who are responsible for hiring, onboarding, and designing competency-based interviews for sales and customer-facing roles.
Keep in mind, however, that this is not a rigid checklist, but a practical, big-picture foundation you can adapt to your company’s context – designed not to give you all the answers, but to offer a meaningful head start.
Role-by-role overview of sales competencies
Every sales role has its own rhythm, challenges, and non-negotiable skills.
To make sense of what “good” looks like in practice, I’ve distilled each role to its core competencies that matter most.
Before we dive in, a quick note on structure:
This article offers a high-level breakdown of the key competencies that define success in each role: Sales Development, Account Executive, Account Manager, and Customer Success. The goal is to give you a clear, strategic view of what top performers consistently do well.
However, each role section also includes a link to a dedicated, in-depth resource. There, you’ll find a granular breakdown of the specific skills within each competency area – like prospecting, qualification, or discovery – so you can explore each one in greater detail when you’re ready.
Sales Development Representative (SDR)
SDRs are the door-openers, responsible for sourcing, engaging, and qualifying leads.
They’re the first human touchpoint in the sales process.
It’s a role that demands resilience, curiosity, and a knack for making connections out of thin air.
They analyse buyer behaviour, understand when and how their audience prefers to engage, and adapt their outreach to match the timing, tone, and triggers that make prospects more likely to respond.
They focus on relevance over noise, tailoring their approach based on account tier and strategic value: personalising deeply for top accounts, and balancing speed and impact for the rest.
As AI becomes more embedded in prospecting workflows, the SDR role is evolving – less about repeating tasks, more about applying judgment, context, and creativity where it matters most.
While often seen as a launchpad to other sales roles, SDR is a craft in its own right – one that builds commercial acumen, confidence, and the habits that underpin long-term sales success.
Core SDR competencies
The following are the competencies that I’ve identified that top SDRs almost invariably possess.
Prospecting and lead engagement
Prospecting is found at the intersection of curiosity and discipline.
The best sales reps show great discipline when it comes to prospecting enough opportunities to meet their targets, but they will also look for patterns, signals, and the subtle cues that ensure a name is, in fact, a real opportunity.
Research is part of their daily rhythm: digging into company news, social profiles, and recent activity to personalise every touchpoint (AI can assist a lot here today)..
A crisp email, a timely LinkedIn comment, or a well-timed call, they are all intentional, not random.
What sets top performers apart is their ability to make each interaction count. They build rapport quickly, read the room (even over email), and know how to nudge a conversation forward without being pushy.
Early qualification
Conducting early qualification properly is a mark of an adept SDR.
The finest reps listen for nuance, ask open-ended and probing questions, and create space for prospects to share what’s really happening behind the scenes.
Personally, I’m a strong advocate of MEDDPICC for qualification. When applied thoughtfully and not as a tick-box exercise, it’s remarkably effective at surfacing real buying signals and flagging gaps early.
(Some SDRs may use other qualification frameworks like BANT, SPICED, or CHAMP, but the goal remains the same: to have a method that helps them quickly identify genuine opportunities and set up AEs for productive next steps.)
Effective qualification also means effective disqualification, which allows the sales organisation to focus on leads that hold true potential.
Customer-centric business acumen
Strong SDRs don’t just know what their product does; they understand why it matters to each customer’s business.
Business acumen means seeing the world through the buyer’s lens.
This starts with grasping how companies operate: how they make money, what their core challenges are, and which metrics they care about. The best SDRs adopt an outside-in mindset – they lead with relevance, not a pitch.
They prepare by researching and understanding the prospect’s business model, industry pressures, and financial drivers. That means digging into earnings calls, reading customer reviews, and recognising the operational context – whether they’re reaching out to a scale-up SaaS company or a legacy manufacturer.
Business acumen lets them connect the dots early. It helps them move past generic messaging and instead ask sharper questions, show empathy, and link their solution to meaningful outcomes.
Industry and competitive expertise
Top-performing SDRs treat industry context as a daily discipline, not an afterthought. They make it a habit to scan headlines, monitor competitor moves, and track the trends shaping their prospects’ world.
This gives them the awareness of what’s changing in the market, which challenges are top-of-mind for buyers, and how new industry insight might shift priorities for the prospects.
Armed with this awareness, they bring timely, relevant insights into every conversation by, for instance, referencing a recent acquisition, regulatory change, or competitor campaign.
In crowded markets like SaaS for example, it’s often this level of preparedness that makes an outreach stand out from the noise.
Product expertise
No one expects sales representatives to be technical encyclopaedias who understand API routes needed to integrate their product with an obscure customer support platform.
They do, however, need to have enough product knowledge to confidently connect features to the prospect’s real needs.
Put differently, they know the essentials: which problems each product solves, which use cases matter most to their target buyers, and how to field basic product questions without hesitation.
When a conversation goes deeper or turns technical, smart reps don’t bluff. They recognise the limits of their knowledge and smoothly bring in a technical expert or AE to keep the momentum going.
Time management and goal setting
Time is a scarce resource in sales – especially for sales reps.
Top performers know how to protect it. They focus on what truly moves the needle: identifying high-impact activities, carving out time for deep, focused prospecting, and actively minimising distractions.
Even on days packed with admin, follow-ups, and shifting targets, they maintain momentum by sticking to routines and adjusting priorities as needed.
Their calendars reflect intention, not chaos: high-value tasks come first, and progress is measured by outcomes, not hours spent.
Adaptability and resilience
Sudden changes are a reality for 99.9% of sales reps out there. The top 1% quickly update their routines and keep moving forward when priorities shift or messaging evolves.
A tough week or a string of rejections doesn’t knock them off course. Instead, they look for new angles, test fresh approaches, iterate continuously, and stay focused on what they can control to improve future sales.
They use feedback from prospects, managers, and their own results to refine their tactics. When a challenge pops up, they find solutions, seek advice, or adjust their process without getting too far off track.
This adaptability keeps them productive through uncertainty and helps them turn setbacks into learning moments that strengthen their performance over time.
Sales process and CRM proficiency
A strong process is the engine behind a high-performing sales team.
SDRs who master it execute the right steps with clarity and velocity and in a way that aligns with what the buyer needs.
That starts with understanding the sales stages, knowing the exit criteria, and being able to map those clearly to the buyer’s own decision-making process. It also means keeping CRM records accurate, detailed, and up to date – not just for hygiene, but so that every handoff, forecast, and analysis is rooted in reliable data.
When done well, this discipline builds trust across teams. It ensures AEs can step in confidently, sales managers can coach effectively, and the business can scale with insight.
For new SDRs, getting this right early lays the groundwork for strong habits, strategic thinking, and long-term sales productivity.
If you’d like to explore things further, this breakdown of SDR sales competencies has exactly what you need.
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Get the interactive SDR Competency Framework – a practical tool for assessing, developing, and coaching your reps. Track skills, set goals, and boost performance.
TAKE ME THERE!Account Executive (AE)
Account Executives turn interest into revenue. Whether managing high-velocity deals or navigating longer, multi-stakeholder cycles, they play a central role in moving opportunities forward.
Great AEs combine commercial instinct with strategic awareness, combining their sales skills with marketing and industry insight, just to name a few. They know when to move fast and when to pause, aligning with buyer priorities, managing internal expectations, and keeping momentum alive.
Their success lies in striking the right balance: driving deals with purpose while building trust that lasts beyond the close.
Core AE competencies
The following competencies make for exquisite account executives:
Prospecting and lead engagement
The best AEs I’ve seen never rely solely on SDRs to generate pipeline.
They know that interest can stall and pipeline can dry up, so they treat prospecting as a strategic, ongoing habit.
They identify the right people to engage within an account, whether that means a single decision-maker or a broader group of stakeholders.
Before reaching out, they map the context, do the research, and understand what matters to that business.
Outreach is thoughtful, relevant, and designed to start meaningful conversations – not just book a meeting. They mix channels intentionally, from email to LinkedIn to industry events, focusing on credibility and connection from the very first touch.
And whether they’re working one-call closes or multi-month cycles, their communication is timely, deliberate, and always aimed at progressing real opportunities.
MEDDPICC qualification
Top-performing AEs bring structure and discipline to every deal, especially when navigating more complex sales cycles.
They apply robust qualification frameworks to maintain control and clarity, with MEDDPICC often serving as the gold standard for managing multi-threaded, high-stakes opportunities.
Each element: Metrics, Economic buyer, Decision criteria, Decision process, Paper process, Implicate the pain, Champion, and Competition gets appropriate attention throughout the sales cycle.
Even if they use another qualifying framework (and many do), the purpose is the same – to keep deals on track, expose gaps early, and create a shared language with both the buying team and internal stakeholders.
Discovery
Great discovery is the foundation of every deal.
The best AEs I’ve worked with treat every interaction with a potential customer as a part of a continuous discovery mode of work and not just a phase or even a process.
They are always prepared, having researched the prospect’s business, industry, recent activity, and any other relevant information (today, AI tools can play a valuable role in supporting this prep work).
Early in the conversation, they set a clear agenda and build rapport, making it easy for prospects to share what matters most and stay focused.
Their questions always go beyond the surface, uncovering challenges, frustrations, ambitions, and the real drivers of change.
They listen closely, pick up even on unsaid insights, and connect the prospect’s needs to practical solutions.
Throughout the sales journey, they continue to refine their understanding of the prospect’s priorities, decision criteria, and urgency – moving from transactional to consultative selling and keeping the process aligned and momentum high.
Tailored demoing
AEs who stand out treat every demo as a unique, personalised experience.
They use insights from discovery and further research to focus on what truly matters to the prospect – not just product features, but how those features help address key priorities, solve real problems, and drive meaningful outcomes.
Before the meeting, they align with sales engineers or other relevant team members to ensure a seamless presentation.
During the demo, they recap the prospect’s pain points, encourage participation, and adapt in real time to address what’s important.
Objections are handled thoughtfully, with relevant stories or data to support their responses.
Each demo ends with clear next steps, keeping the momentum strong and the solution front and centre.
Closing
The most successful account executives bring together decision-makers, address final concerns, and build business cases that speak directly to each stakeholder’s priorities.
They verify budget and procurement details early, handle objections with evidence, and tailor proposals to the prospect’s unique goals.
Negotiations are approached with preparation and flexibility, always aiming for mutual agreement without compromising on value.
Once terms are set, they secure commitment, coordinate a smooth handoff to delivery teams, and keep communication open to ensure a seamless transition from prospect to customer.
Opportunity and process management
AEs know that their pipeline is their lifeline, and they bring structure to a crowded pipeline by consistently prioritising high-potential deals.
They assess opportunities, segment accounts by value, and allocate their time and energy where it matters most.
Momentum is maintained through regular planning, clear next steps, and proactive follow-ups.
As new information emerges, they adapt their approach and update forecasts, ensuring focus stays on deals with the greatest impact.
Account management
Not all AEs are responsible for managing accounts after the sale.
Those who are (including those who take it upon themselves to stay in the loop) build partnerships.
Top performers map key stakeholders, keep communication active, and stay alert to changes in the customer’s business. Regular check-ins and thoughtful follow-up help them spot new opportunities for expansion or cross-selling.
They update account plans as customer needs evolve and work with internal teams to deliver tailored solutions.
Internal team collaboration and cross-functional communication
Great AEs know when to pull in product, marketing, legal, leadership, or any other team to keep a deal moving. They coordinate that support with intent – bringing the right people in at the right time to solve problems, address concerns, and build trust.
They keep internal stakeholders aligned by proactively sharing context, goals, and next steps — reducing friction and driving clarity across the board.
Just as importantly, they act as a bridge between the customer and the company, turning buyer feedback into actionable insights that shape future solutions, messaging, and sales strategy.
Customer-centric business acumen
Top-performing AEs make a habit of seeing the world through the buyer’s eyes. They dig into business models, financials, and operational realities to understand what drives each prospect’s decisions.
This outside-in mindset helps them speak the customer’s language, build credible business cases, and tie solutions directly to the buyer’s business goals.
It is an essential skill for staying on top of a prospect’s mind.
Their recommendations reflect a real grasp of how the customer’s organisation works, making every conversation more relevant and impactful.
Industry and competitive expertise
Strong account executives stay current on market and industry trends and challenges, as well as the competitive landscape.
They track emerging technologies, regulatory shifts, and competitor moves that could influence their prospects’ priorities and views.
This knowledge lets them position solutions credibly, tailoring their messaging to highlight unique value and differentiation.
Product expertise
Account executives develop a working knowledge of their company’s offerings that goes deeper than what’s expected of SDRs, but not to the technical depth required in customer success roles.
AEs understand how each feature addresses real customer problems and can confidently handle detailed questions or objections in the sales process.
Their expertise allows them to translate product capabilities into clear business value, using relevant stories and examples to make the solution tangible for every prospect.
Time management and goal setting
One huge difference I’ve noticed between top AEs and the rest is how deliberately they take control of their time–setting and tracking goals that align with both their personal targets and the timelines of complex deals.
They understand sales strategy and prioritise high-impact activities and block time for deep work on active opportunities while delegating or deferring lower-value tasks.
To stay focused and on track, they build in regular checkpoints – using forecasting, pipeline reviews, and progress check-ins to reflect, recalibrate, and maintain momentum in a high-pressure environment.
When priorities shift or new demands arise, they adapt quickly, without losing sight of their main objectives.
Adaptability and resilience
Account executives are no strangers to pressure, to say the least. It’s part of the package deal that comes with the opportunity to make serious money.
Quotas are ambitious, deals can be complex, and income can swing dramatically from one quarter to the next.
In this kind of environment, adaptability is essential.
Great AEs adjust quickly when priorities shift or deals stall, finding new angles and solutions without losing momentum.
Setbacks and rejection are part of the territory. Instead of letting them linger, strong AEs treat each as a learning moment – seeking feedback, refining their approach, and moving forward with focus.
They build routines that help manage stress and keep their energy steady, even when the stakes are high.
Sales process and CRM proficiency
A disciplined sales process is essential for driving deals forward and making smart decisions at every stage.
Great AEs take ownership of the sales process.
They understand each sales stage, know the exit criteria, and can align those steps with the buyer’s journey, adjusting when needed based on deal dynamics.
CRM hygiene isn’t a box to tick; it’s how they stay in control.
They keep records clear, complete, and current throughout the entire sales cycle. That includes updating opportunity stages, logging key milestones, and documenting buying signals, blockers, and stakeholder insights (even as AI tools increasingly automate parts of this, it’s the AE’s judgement and consistency that make the sales data truly useful).
Whether the deal is short or complex, these habits support accurate forecasting, strong pipeline reviews, and seamless cross-functional collaboration.
Done well, this level of precision builds trust across the business. It enables coaching, supports strategic planning, and gives the AE full visibility to drive deals with confidence and momentum.
If you’d like to explore things further, this breakdown of AE sales competencies has exactly what you need.
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🔑 Ready to Elevate Your AE Team?
Get the Interactive AE Competency Framework – a practical tool for assessing, developing, and coaching your reps. Track skills, set goals, and boost performance.
TAKE ME THERE!Account Manager (AM)
The role of an AM varies by company, often blending elements of sales, customer success, and strategic partnership. But at its core, it’s about driving growth through lasting relationships.
AMs are committed to expanding value over time – uncovering new opportunities, earning deeper trust, and helping customers achieve outcomes they may not have anticipated at the start.
The best AMs balance commercial acumen with empathy and adaptability.
They adjust as customer needs evolve, internal priorities shift, and market conditions change. They coordinate resources, influence stakeholders across departments, and keep one eye on current impact, the other on future potential.
Core AM Competencies
The following competencies set account managers apart:
Account expansion and growth prospecting
Top AMs grow their accounts by staying close to what’s changing – in the customer’s business, priorities, and internal structure.
They spot new opportunities by building strong relationships across teams, understanding where gaps exist, and tracking shifts that could open the door for expansion.
Their outreach is thoughtful and relevant, connecting new solutions to real business goals.
They stay present and visible, nurturing multiple relationships within the account and following up strategically to keep conversations moving and surface new needs before anyone else does.
MEDDPICC qualification (expansion context)
Adapting MEDDPICC to the realities of renewals and expansions can significantly boost an account manager’s performance; something I’ve seen play out time and again.
In this context, MEDDPICC helps AMs quantify the value already delivered, surface new metrics tied to growth, and stay aligned with shifting key stakeholders, decision criteria, and approval processes. It also keeps them alert to both internal and external competitive threats.
As customer priorities evolve, AMs revisit and expand the decision criteria, updating mutual action plans to reflect new stakeholders, workflows, and sign-off paths.
They anticipate paperwork hurdles early, involving legal or procurement before blockers arise, and re-implicate pain points, not just for existing users, but for new departments or teams. The cost of inaction becomes clear across the organisation.
Champions are equipped with tailored proof points to advocate for growth internally, while competitive threats are monitored and addressed before they take root.
Discovery and account deepening
For standout AMs, discovery never stops. They treat every conversation, report, and touchpoint as a chance to uncover new needs, risks, and opportunities.
Ongoing curiosity drives them to dig into account intelligence, revisit priorities, and keep relationships fresh as customers’ stakeholder change.
They practice active listening, ask thoughtful questions, and spot changes in strategy or sentiment promptly.
This continuous approach helps them surface growth paths, address risks early, and build trust that lasts well beyond a single renewal.
Executing expansion conversations and renewal cycles
Account managers who excel in renewals and expansions keep every interaction tightly aligned to the customer’s current business priorities.
Agendas, demos, and follow-ups are tailored and relevant.
They handle objections with a blend of empathy and data, and always close meetings with specific next steps.
When cycles slow down or new stakeholders appear, they adapt quickly to keep progress steady.
Closing (renewals, upsells, cross-sells)
Closing with an existing account is rarely a single event like it is in sales. Instead, it is (in best-case scenarios), a natural step in a mutually respectful and value-building relationship.
To make the renewal/upsell/cross-sell closing smooth, the best AMs make sure every key stakeholder is included, approval steps are mapped, and proposals are anchored in the value already delivered.
They negotiate with confidence, address last-minute concerns without drama, and move from verbal agreement to signed contract with reduced friction.
Opportunity and account management
Managing a book of business is equal parts strategy and discipline.
Standout AMs segment accounts by growth potential, map relationships across business units, and regularly multithread to avoid single points of failure.
CRM updates aren’t an afterthought but a habit. Risks are flagged early, and opportunities are tracked with the same rigour as new business.
Internal collaboration & cross-functional communication
In complex accounts, no account manager wins alone.
The smartest account managers build a network of internal allies – CSMs, product managers, customer support, sales engineers, and even legal or exec sponsors.
They’re proactive about bringing in the right expertise at the right moment, not just when things go wrong.
When a customer voices frustration about a product gap, these AMs don’t make promises they can’t keep; instead, they surface the feedback with product and push for a realistic roadmap update.
They know when to escalate, when to loop in leadership, and how to keep everyone aligned on what matters to the customer.
Customer-centric business acumen
Great AMs understand the customer’s business model, financial drivers, and what success looks like from the other side of the table.
They tie every renewal or expansion to the customer’s strategic priorities, using the customer’s own language and metrics.
This means when they present a business case, it resonates with both day-to-day users and the C-level executives.
Industry and competitive expertise
The best AMs are students of their customers’ industries. They keep up with regulatory changes, market trends, and competitor moves that could affect the account.
When a rival launches a new feature or there’s a shift in the market, these AMs already have a plan to defend their footprint and reposition their solution.
Moreover, they’re quick to share relevant insights with customers, helping them see around corners and stay ahead of the curve.
Product expertise
For AMs, product expertise sits between the surface-level fluency expected of SDRs and the deep, technical mastery often found in Customer Success.
AMs need to know the product well enough to translate new features and updates into business value for their existing customers, often tying those capabilities directly to expansion or renewal opportunities.
AMs should always strive to become trusted advisors post-sale, which means they’re expected to connect ongoing product evolution to the customer’s changing needs, spot where new modules or integrations could unlock value, and know when to bring in a specialist for technical depth.
Time management and goal setting
Managing a portfolio of accounts means juggling competing demands and shifting priorities. For this reason, the best AMs are ruthless about where they spend their time.
They segment accounts by growth potential, set clear goals for each, and block out time for proactive work, like prepping for QBRs or mapping new stakeholders, rather than just reacting to issues.
Their calendars reflect intention, not chaos, and they regularly review progress to stay ahead of renewals and expansion windows.
Adaptability and resilience
Account management is rarely linear and never predictable. A champion leaves, a budget gets slashed, or a competitor swoops in with a tempting offer.
Resilient AMs don’t panic; they regroup, seek new angles, and find ways to keep the relationship moving forward.
They treat setbacks as signals to learn, problem-solve, and adapt, not as reasons to give up.
Sales process and CRM proficiency
The best AMs I’ve seen treat the CRM as a living record.
They document every touchpoint, update renewal and expansion cycles in real time, and use the system to spot risks before they become problems.
Mastery of the renewal and expansion process means nothing falls through the cracks, and every account gets the attention it deserves.
If you’d like to explore things further, this breakdown of AM sales competencies has exactly what you need.
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Customer Success Manager (CSM)
CSMs are the steady hand guiding customers from onboarding to long-term value.
Their work stretches far beyond support tickets or shooting off a renewal email cadence when the time comes.
They’re part consultant, part project manager, and part advocate, building trust over months and even years.
The best CSMs keep close to their customers’ evolving goals, anticipate risks before they arise, and never lose sight of the bigger picture.
Their impact is measured not just by retention, but by the depth of partnership and the value they help unlock at every phase of the customer journey.
Core CSM competencies
The following competencies highlight what sets standout CSMs apart:
Customer onboarding and implementation support
The first steps after a deal closes set the tone for everything that follows.
Great CSMs treat onboarding as a very critical process; they step in as project leads, owning the handover and making sure everyone’s on the same page.
They run structured kick-off calls, introduce both internal and external teams, and clarify what success looks like from day one.
Their onboarding plans are detailed but personal, with clear milestones, contingency plans, and communication routines.
When issues crop up, they’re proactive: communicating openly, managing expectations, and always focusing on helping the customer reach that all-important “first value moment” as early as possible.
Customer value realisation and adoption
After onboarding, the strongest CSMs keep a close eye on usage patterns and engagement signals, stepping in before problems have a chance to escalate.
They build adoption plans tailored to each customer’s goals and maturity, deliver ongoing enablement through live sessions and curated resources, and celebrate wins to reinforce ROI.
Rather than waiting for questions, they offer strategic advice and best practices that help customers weave the product into their day-to-day operations.
Relationship management and stakeholder engagement
Trust isn’t built on friendly check-ins alone, and outstanding customer success people map every layer of the customer’s organisation, from daily users to executive sponsors, and tailor their communication to fit each audience.
They multithread relationships to keep engagement resilient to change, ensuring potential blockers are identified early and no key stakeholder is left out of the loop.
Regular check-ins and executive business reviews aren’t viewed as stuff to get through and, instead, they are treated as opportunities to highlight value, spot risks, identify opportunities, and co-create future plans.
Internally, these CSMs act as true customer advocates, making sure feedback and needs are championed across product, support, and leadership teams.
Renewal support and expansion identification
Renewals and expansions are the engine of sustainable growth for most customer success teams.
The best customer success professionals keep a constant pulse on renewal signals and do continuous customer data analysis: product usage, customer satisfaction scores, executive engagement, and progress against success metrics.
They work closely with Account Managers to flag expansion opportunities early, whether it’s a new initiative on the customer side or a spike in product adoption.
When renewal time approaches, they’re already prepared – armed with customer health data, success stories, and a unified strategy for upsell, cross-sell, or negotiation.
Risk management and churn mitigation
Every CSM gets blindsided eventually in one way or another: a champion leaves, usage drops, or sentiment shifts.
What sets the best apart is how quickly they spot trouble and rally the right resources. They treat declining engagement or missed check-ins as early warning signals, not afterthoughts.
When risks appear, they build tailored recovery plans, escalate internally with clear action steps, and coordinate across functions to remove obstacles.
Of course, they keep all of the documentation meticulous, so nothing falls through the cracks.
Voice of customer and internal collaboration
Customer feedback is only valuable when it’s acted on in a timely and meaningful way.
Standout customer success managers become translators and advocates, turning what they hear from users into clear, actionable insights for product, support, and leadership.
They gather and prioritise feedback such as feature requests, usability pain points, competitive intel, and work cross-functionally to influence roadmaps and strategic decisions.
These CSMs build business cases in collaboration with AMs, participate in advisory boards, and close the loop with customers to show their voice matters.
Inside their own company, they secure the customers’ place at the centre of every conversation.
Customer-centric business acumen
Great customer success people quickly learn to speak the customer’s language.
They develop a deep understanding of each customer’s business model, operational realities, and what drives their success.
This includes knowing how the customer generates revenue, their operational structure, and the challenges unique to their sector.
They are able to discuss industry trends, regulatory shifts, and emerging technologies with ease, always linking these insights to what it means to work together in the partnership.
As a result, every recommendation is grounded in the customer’s strategic goals and KPIs, with clear articulation of how the product impacts growth, efficiency, or satisfaction.
Product expertise and enablement
Customer Success professionals develop the most comprehensive product expertise out of the entire customer-facing organisation.
Building on the foundational knowledge expected of SDRs and the practical, deal-focused understanding required of AEs and AMs, CSMs go further, mastering every feature, integration, and workflow to support customers at every stage of their journey.
They treat enablement as one of their core responsibilities; they proactively communicate product updates, create and adapt educational resources, and coach users through adoption challenges, sequencing, integration, and best practices.
Time management and goal setting
Calendars fill up quickly in customer success.
Every self-respecting customer success professional reviews their portfolio at the start of each week, highlights accounts that need extra attention, and blocks time for strategic planning.
High-risk customers get early check-ins; new implementations get dedicated prep.
Rather than letting urgent requests dictate every hour, they use dashboards and KPIs such as adoption rates and NPS to set priorities.
Playbooks, templates, and routines help with efficiency as the book of business grows.
Adaptability and resilience
Customer priorities shift. A champion leaves, a new executive arrives, or a product issue surfaces unexpectedly.
CSMs have no choice but to adapt, updating engagement plans, and keeping communication steady.
When a setback hits (a missed milestone or a consistent drop in usage), they document what happened, gather the team, and map out a recovery plan.
By sharing lessons they’ve learned, they also help colleagues avoid similar pitfalls in the future.
Through it all, they keep the focus on solutions and maintain a steady presence for customers, even when workloads spike or plans change overnight.
CRM and customer health management
For customer success managers, the CRM is the day-to-day source of truth.
Great CSMs document every meaningful touchpoint, update, and signal. They capture customer milestones, feedback, sentiment changes, and potential risks – not for reporting’s sake, but to stay ahead of issues and spot growth opportunities early.
They keep records clean and current, so nothing gets lost as accounts evolve or team members change. Product adoption, satisfaction scores, and renewal status are tracked regularly, layered with context that dashboards alone can’t provide.
This discipline allows them to prioritise the right accounts, guide proactive follow-ups, and give colleagues a clear, accurate view of what’s happening and what needs to happen next.
For a more in-depth examination, check out this article on customer success competencies.
Turn sales call insights into revenue-driving action
Unifying themes and contrasts
Step into any commercial team and you’ll find shared qualities and foundational sales knowledge across roles – from the SDR making first contact, to the AE closing deals, to the CSM supporting long-term success.
What sets strong performers apart is surprisingly consistent: they’re commercially curious, they listen deeply, they work with focus, and they communicate clearly.
But while these strengths are shared, how they’re applied varies depending on the role.
Each position has a different focus – whether it’s generating pipeline, advancing deals, or growing existing accounts – and those differences shape the skills that matter most day to day:
- SDRs focus on starting conversations. They reach out, adapt quickly, and look for signs of interest – often in fast-moving, high-volume environments. Their strengths lie in curiosity, resilience, and the ability to spot patterns in how buyers respond.
- AEs take qualified interest and turn it into revenue. They manage deals of different shapes and sizes, balancing the need to move fast with the discipline to stay strategic. They bring structure to the sales process, navigate multiple stakeholders, and stay focused on value.
- AMs are focused on long-term growth. They build trust across different teams within the account, identify new opportunities, and keep relationships strong even when customer priorities or contacts change. Their success shows up in renewals, expansions, and steady account performance.
- CSMs work across the full customer lifecycle – from onboarding through renewal and beyond. They guide users, solve problems, and focus on driving value at every step. Their role is to help customers succeed and stay successful, turning positive outcomes into long-term loyalty and advocacy.
Of course, in practice, the boundaries blur.
The best SDRs nurture as well as prospect. AEs often support long after the contract is signed. AMs close, CSMs spot expansion, and everyone flexes when the team needs it.
This cross-pollination is what keeps high-performing commercial teams resilient and responsive.
If there’s a single lesson from mapping these competencies across roles, it’s that sales effectiveness in modern sales isn’t about fitting a mould.
It’s about mastering the shared DNA (commercial awareness, empathy, communication, process discipline, and adaptability) and then leaning into the unique characteristics of a particular role.
The essential sales competencies matrix
For those of you who don’t wish to go into details or read more than 5,000 words (regardless of how useful), I wanted to create a visual summary of everything from the previous sections.
A single, scannable snapshot, if you wish.
A sales competencies matrix.
It shows all of the high-level competency categories I’ve examined, both role-specific and those that span across roles.
Each competency category is further identified as either foundational, proficient, or expert, so you can instantly see where the bar stands for every role.
I can see this sales competencies matrix – especially when combined with my SDR, AE, AM, CSM sales competency frameworks – being useful in more than a few ways, depending on who the reader is.
- For individuals: Quickly spot which skills are essential for your current seat, or map out what’s needed to step into a new one.
- For managers: Identify strengths and gaps across your team, and focus your coaching or development efforts where they’ll have the most impact.
- For HR and enablement: Align hiring, onboarding, and promotion criteria with what actually drives success in each role.
Turn sales call insights into revenue-driving action
Conclusion
This article on sales core competencies is the culmination of everything I’ve been building towards in my deep dives on individual sales roles.
After breaking down what “good” looks like for SDRs, AEs, AMs, and CSMs, I wanted to bring it all together to give both sales professionals and organisations a single, practical resource for understanding what drives success across the sales landscape.
Sales teams thrive when there’s clarity – when everyone, from new reps to sales leadership, shares a common language for what matters most for sales performance.
Competencies aren’t just theoretical; they can shape hiring, onboarding, development, and progression.
They can help teams align around shared standards and give managers a framework for coaching and development.
But it’s not just about frameworks and matrices.
Behind every role sits a person: someone building a career, learning new sales skills, or doing everything they can for their professional growth. The most effective organisations never lose sight of this human element.
Investing in competencies means investing in confidence, trust, and long-term success for the business and for every individual within it.
If this guide helps you see your own path more clearly, supports your team’s development, or simply brings a bit more structure to the chaos of sales, then it’s done its job.
Here’s to building teams (and careers) where everyone knows what “good” really means, and has the tools and support to get there!
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