Overcome Common Sales Blunders In Business

Making a mistake is not the actual mistake. The actual mistake is not learning from your mistakes. I have to admit I have made many mistakes, even though I have been teaching this stuff for almost a decade. We all make mistakes when selling our product or service.

Here are the most common sales mistakes people make:

Closing

This should be the last point, but it is so important, I had to bring it up first!

Closing is the part of a sale in which you ask the prospect to “buy”. One of the biggest mistakes salespeople make is they don’t ask their prospect to buy. As a salesperson, it is your job to help the prospect make a purchasing decision now, and that means you need to ask them to buy. Don’t just hope the prospect will magically tell you they are ready to buy. This rarely happens. T make a sale, you must ask your prospects to buy at least a couple of times during your sales interaction with them.

If asking your prospects to make a purchasing decision makes you nervous or uncomfortable, or you are just too scared to do it, find online tutorials to learn step by step exactly how to ask your prospects to buy, and how to do it in a way that feels natural and helps you complete a very high percentage of sales.

Use sentences like, “it sounds like this XYZ 2000 widget is exactly what you have been looking as it can do everything you said you want it to do. Let’s have you sign a couple of papers so we can deliver it to your home/business tomorrow.”

Leading

Don’t aloe the prospect to lead the sales process. The best way to control the sales interaction is to ask questions. Quality questions that uncover specific issues, problems or corporate objectives are essential in helping you establish yourself as an expert. This is also the best way to learn whether or not your product or service meets the needs of your prospect.

Irrelevance of Information

We’ve all been in that situation with a salesperson who won’t stop talking and is boring us to death, and we want to say “I want to buy the product now, and I don’t need to hear this other stuff!” So, as a salesperson, if you ever hear, “why are you telling me this?” or you see it communicated in their eyes or body language that your prospect is getting bored and/or irritated, stop your sales presentation and ask them if they are ready to purchase now and complete the sale.

Lack of Research

Being lazy and not researching your prospect’s business and their professional and personal background prior to meeting with your prospect is a common trait of unsuccessful salespeople. With research tools like a company’s website and LinkedIn.com you have no excuse for not researching your prospect’s professional and personal background as well as the company they work for prior to meeting with them. It’s a cliché, but like many clichés, it holds truth that if you fail to prepare you prepare to fail. In sales that’s exactly the case because inadequate preparation and research is one of the leading causes of why salespeople lose sales.

Lack of Preparation

When you make a cold call or attend a meeting with a prospect it is critical that you are prepared. This means having all relevant information at your fingertips including; pricing, testimonials, samples, and a list of questions you need to ask. I remember calling a prospect expecting to receive his voice mail. That meant I was completely unprepared when he answered the call himself. Instead of asking him a series of qualifying questions I simply responded to his questions, allowing him to control the sale. Unfortunately, I didn’t progress any further than that initial call.

I suggest creating a checklist of the vital information you will need and reviewing this list before you make your call. You have exactly one opportunity to make a great first impression and you will not make it if you are not prepared.

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