Deadly sales sins to avoid

Every salesperson, regardless of the industry, product, or skill level, makes mistakes. Sales require a lot more than mere training, it’s more about skills and your intellect. Even a well-trained salesperson can hinder a closing. Most of us are oblivious of the bad sales habit we have inculcated and perpetuated over time without making any course correction. The way we sell is changing and requires all sales people, sales managers and sales organizations to think differently to avoid committing deadly Sales Sins.

Here I outline top 5 sales mistakes that many sales experts commit.

Not knowing your Value Proposition

To me, the gravest of all Sale Sin is to give in to the temptation of persuasion and selling without even knowing what product’s value offering is? What does a product has that stands it apart from competition? What distinctly different activities do companies do that makes their product command a relatively premium price or to incur a relatively lower cost to produce?

If you have answers to the above, you have a killer Value Proposition that is hard for competitor to beat. If we don’t have this arrow up our repertoire, you would have everyone chasing after the same customer, there will be a contest over every sale. This, says Michael E. Porter, is competitive convergence a scenario where there is little or no differentiation left on the basis of which a buyer may choose a seller over the other and all end up in zero-sum game (your loss- my gain).

Sales and marketing is not about trouncing rivals; it is about creating and conveying a superior value for customers.

Not qualifying sales prospects

Sales is not a “convincing people” process, as most new salespeople are accustomed to think. Rather, disqualification is the name of the game, and the quicker you can eliminate the customers with weak interest, the faster you can sell to those who are willing to buy. We must learn to Make Intelligent Sales Using Disqualification by stepping past the sick and the lame early in the game, and deal only with the healthy ones left standing

Selling yourself short!

Many salespeople are afraid to stand by their price structure because of a single mistaken assumption: “If I refuse to negotiate my price, I’ll lose all my customers.” The reality is just the opposite. If you aren’t prepared to defend your price, your customers will lose respect for you. Idea is not to cave but carve the sales opportunity. How?.. By focusing on the value of your product or service, not on price. Buyers will pay for value. Sell features and benefits.

Do you believe that what you are selling is worth the price? If the answer is yes, and I certainly hope it is, then you should expect to receive a worthy price. Just as your doctor, your accountant, and your plumber are entitled to a reasonable compensation for their services, you are entitled to a reasonable compensation for your product or service. What is reasonable? Whatever you can convince your buyer that your product or service is worth. The operative principle here is again- your product’s perceived Value.

Not move off the solution

In recent decades sales reps have become adept at discovering customers’ needs and selling them “solutions”—generally, retrofitting their offerings to customer’s demands based on the RFQs (Request for Quotes). Most of us are inclined to follow the flow and try closing the sale without gaining insights on what hidden need of customers are. We should apply concept of peeling-back-the-onion during sales pitches.

The intent of moving off the solution is to better understand the issues that the solution must address. If you cannot find important problems or desired results, you probably have low client motivation and a low-probability Opportunity. The formula for moving off the solution is: listen, soften, move. Listen how the client describes the requested solution; begin your response with a softening statement and then ask question; and finally make a move by asking question that invites the client to describe the underlying problems or desired results that the solution is intended to address.

Not Follow Up

Oftentimes, people may need a few days to think things over before committing to your product or service. That’s OK, as not all sales are made that day. But do we check on them again if they are ready to bite the bait? Plainly speaking… do we persistently follow up? Let’s admit most of us falter here miserably. To avoid the mistake, follow some simple tools like excel sheet trackers or set reminders in your outlook calendar to set an alert to call your customer within certain days of meeting with them.

There is a caveat to this though… Too much of anything is bad! Stop pestering the buyers when they have made it evident that engagement is virtually dead. Learn to accept ‘No’ as answer from a buyer and it is good to hear it early in sales prospecting process than later to save energy on a dead deal.

As business professionals, we know that sales is important to the success of business. But we can’t make common sales mistakes and expect to sell anything. We must learn to approach sales in a scientific and process-oriented way if we want to be perceived, first, as professional business leader and, second, as someone who has a great product or service to offer.

The key is to do enough of the right things, enough of the time. Let us sell intelligently!

Hey, Thanks for making it this far! You know what, I would love to hear from you. If you’ve got a question or an opinion on this post, please leave your comments. I promise to read and respond back.