Sales Mistakes That Kill Your Deals
If you have been in sales for any length of time, you know how daunting it can be. Maybe you are new to sales and looking to improve. This information is particularly useful for those of you who have been around the game for some time, because you are set in your ways and just need to touch up on the small things you may be overlooking.
The number one mistake that I observe around my sales people is that they don’t AGREE with the customer. You absolutely cannot make the customer, or anyone for that matter, wrong. Now, don’t get this confused; I am sure you have heard the saying, “Customers are always right.” This is actually not true. Customers can be wrong. However, you must still agree with them first, acknowledge what they are saying, and then overcome and continue with your process.
An example I see all the time is this: A customer will say, “Give me a good price now, I won’t buy unless it is cheap. I just want the best price.” The sales person will go on to say, “Sir/Ma’am, I can go ahead and tell you, we won’t be the lowest price” and then go on to explain that their company is the best, blah blah.
Instead of this approach, I highly recommend you agree with the customer, “Yes sir/ma’am, we have the best prices in the entire industry. You won’t be able to get a better deal ANYWHERE else, guaranteed.”
The reason you should be able to say this and it not be a lie, is because if your products and services have value that exceed the price, and all the other competitors in your industry, then you are the best price! When value exceeds price, deals take place. Does this make sense?
Second most common mistake I have observed is that salesmen/women do not ask for the close and then ask again, and persist some more. Basically, sales people get nervous or are scared they will make their customer feel uncomfortable, or worse, feel uncomfortable themselves.
This is the worst mistake you can make due to the fact that closing the sale represents 100% of your income (in commission only sales at least, but you get the point). You must be willing to stick in the deal and apply pressure. Pressure makes diamonds; pressure make the greatest athletes shine.
Listen, this only happens for two reasons:
- The sales person lacks belief in the product, service, company, or self.
- The sales person lacks closing material.
If you only have 3, 4, or 5 closes in your arsenal, you will fail! You must have hundreds of closes you can use to be able to weather the toughest negotiations.
If you would like to learn hundreds of closes, here is the link to the best book out there on the subject CLICK HERE.
Stay in deals by having the fire power necessary so that you can ask for the close, and more importantly, so that you can be persistent and ask again, and again for your customers business, without being repetitive or running out of things to say.
The third most common mistake is spending too much time with your customer. This is particularly important to avoid when you are dealing with the savvier buyers; meaning those with the best credit and who make more money. The qualified buyer typically will be a very busy person and therefore, not willing to waste their valuable time listening to you go on and on.
You should keep it a rule in your mind, especially when warming up and creating rapport with a customer, that they should be doing 90% of the talking. Ask questions, probe, create conversation and get your buyer into communication.
Fourth Mistake: Avoiding price. I see this in several different industries. Sales people will hold on to price until they have created rapport, gone through their entire sales process, given a full presentation, etc. Literally avoiding the customer every time they ask for a price.
Now, I recommend you get this approved with management before trying it, but price should be given up front, regardless how expensive.
Once price is given, “That is too expensive.” The customer already knew it was too much. That is just a complaint. If your buyer is qualified and can afford your product, price is never the issue.
Build value and urgency around the price throughout your presentation/demonstration.
Since price is already known, you can speed up the sales process by asking “Have you seen enough to make a decision” and therefore may not even have to go into detail on the product. With internet, customers generally already know a lot of the product, so they might be ready to buy as soon as you start with them. This also avoids wasting your customers valuable time.
Fifth: Let’s say you do ask “Have you seen enough to make a decision?” and your customer has no idea about your product or service, then you simply proceed with your process.
The fifth most common mistake is skipping steps in the sales process.
Hopefully, your business/company has a step by step process to follow through the sale. If they do, make sure you actually do each step! Skipping the warm up is crucial. Skipping the qualifying steps on your buyer is crucial. Skipping the walk-around is crucial. Skipping the estimate/price is crucial. Skipping the company story and building value in customer service is crucial. Skipping a picture presentation or your product demonstration is crucial. Skipping the trial close/pre-close is crucial. Skipping the close is crucial. And skipping the post-close is crucial.
Do not skip steps. However, you can ask “Have you seen enough to make a decision” to move forward with a ready, willing and able buyer…with managements’ approval, of course.
A sixth mistake I see a lot is when a customer reacts to something and gets upset, maybe over price or something you said or even because of a similar experience they had in the past, the sales rep will become reactive as well.
You will never benefit from becoming reactive with your customer. You must remain cool, calm, and collected, regardless of the buyers’ response.
Mistake #7: I see this mistake in every single industry, across the board. You go through the whole sales process, do everything perfect, and then ask for the close, yet without actually have written anything on a proposal or even presenting the proposal for them to sign!
I just saw one of my guys do this yesterday; he did everything just right, he then wrote out the price of all the materials and the price for the job in itself, but only on a sheet of blank paper and failed to have any contract out when he asked for the business.
Like I said, he did everything to a T, even with asking for the close! He then stayed in this negotiation process for over 30 minutes. Continuing to persist and everything. However, he never even pulled out the contract and asked the customer to sign…it blew my mind! He would have been better off pulling out the contract as soon as he got there and asked them to sign without having known anything about the product, rather than spending all that time and actually not presenting a contract.
Seems like common sense, right? That really happened.
The eighth, and final mistake I will cover in this segment is failing to make the customer take responsibility. Without the customer feeling responsible for their current situation, they will do nothing about it and you will miss out on a sale.
This is why it is a critical step in the process and must not be missed.
I could go on and on with mistakes. Some others I observe are: Assuming and not treating your buyer like a buyer, not asking good fact finding questions to help you to close the sale, ignoring and/or not acknowledging what your customer is saying, sounding too staged or not rehearsed in your presentation, lacking commitment to serving the buyer/not seeing the close as a service to HELP your customer make a decision, not being sold on your product or service yourself, having a bad attitude/not smiling enough/too serious, etc.
