Skill means being able to do the work
Knowing a definition is not the same as performing a task. Someone may explain conversion rate but still calculate it using incompatible time periods. Someone may know how to use a CRM but record guesses as customer-confirmed facts.
Assess skills through outputs. Can the person produce an accurate opportunity record, a relevant scope, a sound calculation and a clear handover? The test should resemble the work, not reward familiarity with jargon.
Seven practical hard skills
For this lesson, use customer research, CRM record management, pipeline analysis, commercial arithmetic, scope and proposal writing, negotiation preparation, and sales-to-delivery handover. This is a role-based selection, not a universal official list.
Each has a quality standard. Research distinguishes facts from assumptions. CRM work records status and next action consistently. Pipeline analysis uses comparable cohorts. Arithmetic distinguishes markup, margin and contribution. Proposals explain scope and exclusions. Negotiation preparation identifies limits. Handover preserves the agreement.
Worked example (illustrative): a discount calculation
A service sells for $1,000 and has $600 in variable delivery costs. Its contribution is $400 before fixed overhead and other costs. A $100 discount reduces contribution to $300, a 25% reduction in contribution, not merely a 10% commercial effect.
That calculation does not prove the discount is wrong. A different scope, spare capacity or a justified strategic reason may matter. But the seller should understand the consequence and the approval boundary before offering it. Do not call contribution net profit.
Turn knowledge into a task
Give the learner a fictional enquiry, a service description, capacity limits and pricing information. Ask for a CRM entry, a scope summary, a contribution calculation and a handover note. Include one missing fact and one request the business cannot safely promise.
A good response asks for clarification rather than inventing the missing fact. It also explains what must be escalated. This makes judgement visible alongside technical execution.
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Use a simple assessment rubric
Check accuracy, completeness, traceability and usability. Accuracy concerns whether the facts and calculations are right. Completeness concerns the information needed for the next decision. Traceability identifies the source of claims. Usability asks whether another person can act on the output.
Do not award points for decorative formatting that hides a missing scope or unsupported assumption. Equally, do not punish a learner for identifying a real uncertainty instead of filling every box.
Practise with feedback and transfer
After the exercise, compare the output with the standard and explain the consequences of errors. Repeat a similar task with different details so the person must apply the method rather than remember the answer. Then review a small sample of real work with appropriate supervision.
Use the government cash-flow guide as background when teaching the difference between revenue and cash timing. Keep accounting and legal decisions within the appropriate professional and organisational boundaries.
A useful development plan names the task, the standard, the practice opportunity and the review date. "Improve sales skills" is too broad to execute. "Prepare three accurate scopes with a checked contribution calculation" is specific enough to coach.
Check the contribution, not just the sales figure
Change the fictional example to compare current pricing with a proposed discount. Keep all amounts on the same GST basis.
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Your next action
Create a fictional sales case and ask someone to produce a CRM record, proposal summary and handover. Include a missing fact and a discount request. Review accuracy, completeness, traceability and usability. Choose one skill for a second practice round.
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Two questions before you move on
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Lesson: What are sales hard skills, and how can you practise them?. Please do not include confidential client, financial, health or staff information.
Questions this lesson answers
What are the 7 hard skills?
There is no universal seven-hard-skills list. This lesson uses seven practical sales tasks: research, CRM, pipeline analysis, commercial arithmetic, proposals, negotiation preparation and handover.
Work out where your business is getting stuck
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