11 Common Sales & Selling Mistakes

The full title should be "Eleven Common Sales & Selling Mistakes That Will Waste Your Investment In Lead Generation And Cost You A Fortune In Lost Sales, Profits & Future Opportunities" but it didn't fit into the header.

These aren't theoretical. If you make these mistakes, they will be costing you money NOW and because of the lifetime value of the customer and the power of referrals, this loss will extend well into the future.

So are you ready to take the test?

Is there potential for improvement in your business? Are your sales staff making some of these common mistakes that mean that you miss out on opportunities for extra sales and profit?

Work through the questions and it's best to do it in writing and to make it easier for you and your staff to make the assessment, I have produced the form below that you can download.

Download 11_common_sales_mistakes_form.pdf

Ask yourself whether you are making these mistakes. Please be honest with yourself and it may help to grade your answer - Never, Sometimes, Always.

The issues are listed below and then repeated with my comments.

1. Trying too hard to sell.
    
2. Talking more than listening.
    
3. Not listening to what the customers say.
    
4. Failing to get in front of the real decision maker.
    
5. Not following up on leads.
    
6. Poor product knowledge.
    
7. Thinking the customer knows what they want.
    
8. Not asking for the order.
    
9. Allowing customers to destroy your pricing policy.
    
10. Failing to qualify prospects and confirm call appointments.
     
11. Not measuring conversion rates.

Here's the detail and an explanation of why each issue is so important.

1 - Trying Too Hard To Sell

Think of a typical salesman (but obviously not you) and a particular image pops into your mind and it's probably not a particularly pleasant.

It's too easy to confuse salesmanship with glib manipulation for self interest or is that too harsh?

When you are talking to the best sales people you don't realise their skills because they are very subtle.

But they do use the gentle art of persuasion to help you move towards a solution that is best for you. Your uncertainties disappear and you feel good when, with their guidance you have finally made your decision and your problem is going to be fixed.

I much prefer the concept of "helping a customer to buy" to "selling" because I believe that people love to buy (but may need to be led and guided) but hate to be sold.

Does your approach try to beat the customer into submission or do you help your buyer to buy?

2 - Talking More Than Listening

I've always been amazed when I've met a sales person and they've gone straight into their pitch.

Of course that's the stereotype image of a sales person. A fast talker who will persuade you by the power of the sales presentation. But there's a problem.

No questions about what I want or what my special needs are.

Just their product, why it's the best thing since sliced bread and why I'd be crazy to consider anything else.

That may be true but until they've listened to me and my own unique situation they have little or no credibility.

You see I'm special and different.

I want a sales person to listen to me and consider whether they really do have a solution that's right for me and not just right for their monthly bonus.

If you know that it's not right, be honest and admit it. Save us both time and trouble. Anything else will lead to dissatisfaction after purchase, possible complaints to the company and certainly to people I know and NO repeat business.

I sometimes think the "present first" salespeople know that they don't have a good product so their only chance is to dominate the conversation. But that puts me on my guard and that means trouble. I start off as a sceptic and it will take the force of a ten ton truck to shift me.

Do you or your sales people rush into a presentation before you've asked enough questions to understand your customers needs?

Have you taken the trouble to find out how serious the problem is that the customer is trying to solve or how much they want any gain?

Have you found their hot buttons that will help you close the deal by tailoring your pitch to their exact needs?

The selling systems cover questioning techniques but it may helpful to read my recent article on sales questions & SPIN Selling.

3 - Not Listening To What The Customers Say

Asking questions is one thing.

Listening to the answers is another but without really listening, the whole process is subverted. You're not getting as many benefits out of your questioning as you could.

It is very easy to hear your customer say something and immediately start composing an answer in your mind and miss the other points they make.

To show how common it is, listen to interviews on the radio and television and you'll hear how often the interviewer ask a question that has just been answered. Unfortunately the interviewer wasn't listening.

When it happens with a sales person and a buyer it's no surprise that the buyer gets frustrated. They realise they are wasting their time and downgrade the salesperson in their mind.

So listen. You don't want a frustrated buyer.

4 - Failing To Get In Front Of The Real Decision Maker

There are people who can say "Yes and No" and there are people who can say "No or Maybe".

It's a tough sale if you have to go through gatekeepers who are likely to (accidentally) misinform you of the real criteria for buying.

Wherever possible try to see the person who can actually make the buying decision. If you've got the confidence insist on it. Your time is valuable.

If you are not sure just ask "Are you authorised to buy our product if I convince you that it is a good deal or will you need to refer to somebody else?"

5 - Not Following Up On Leads

This is difficult to believe but please take a good hard look at your business.

Do you track incoming leads and make sure that somebody makes contact?

Surveys have shown that many leads are never followed up and most are not responded to quickly enough to impress a prospective customer.

Do you track the contacts made?

Sometimes people are not available immediately or it's not convenient to talk.

Do your sales people leave the onus on the buyer to make contact again?

If you do, the buyer is probably thinking "They are not interested but Jones & Co are. I'm going to buy from Jones."

6 - Poor Product Knowledge

There's little excuse for poor product knowledge.

Your sales person has to appear to be a trusted adviser so if they are new, don't send them out until they are familiar with the product.

And don't let any of your sales staff make up an answer that sounds good. Sometimes buyers know more than you expect. Just admit what you don't know and promise that you'll get back to them. Then do it.

7 - Thinking The Customer Knows What They Want

This is not encouragement to ignore market research but more a warning about assuming that the prospective customer knows far more than they really do.

Customers have needs and wants but you're the expert in your products and by careful questioning you should check that the product they say they want will really meet their needs.

A doctor wouldn't give you a prescription for penicillin because you say you need it. He'd want to make his own investigation of your symptoms before prescribing a powerful antibiotic.

Peter Thomson has a great session in his Accelerated Business Growth System called "The Real Question" that really brought this point to my attention.

8 - Not Asking For The Order

I take a professional interest in sales techniques that are used on me and the "closing phase" is particularly fascinating.

Some of the closing techniques are cheesy but they usually make me smile - "Is Tuesday better for you to take delivery than Wednesday?"

But there are worse things to do than being cheesy.

The worse sin is not even asking for the order or advancing to the next clear step in the selling process (perhaps delivery of a trial unit or attending a demonstration).

Your job in the sales process is to move the process along, and preferably get the prospective buyer's commitment to taking action.

Tiny steps may be but I think it's a great tip to ask them to do something. If they won't, it's a sign that they are not very interested and the lead is likely to stick in your sales pipeline until the business has gone to someone else.

9 - Allowing Customers To Destroy Your Pricing Policy

Let me tell you a secret.

"Buyers like discounts."

OK. It's not much of a secret but too many businesses aren't properly prepared to handle price challenges.

The simple fact is that no matter how good your product is, no matter how good your offer and service, it's even better if there is another 20% discount.

A good buyer will challenge you on price and poor sales technique can even invites price challenges.

Let me take you through an example.

Buyer "What's the price of this widget?"

Salesman "Our normal price is £25"

Buyer "Well if your normal price is £25 that means you've got some flexibility. What discount will you give me?"

Salesman "I can let you have them for £20."

Buyer "And what's the price if I order 500?"

Salesman "Crikey I'll need to check that out with my sales director. We've never had an order for 500 before"

One phone call later, the price has been slashed to £15.

Buyer "Here is the order for 500 at £15. I'd like you to deliver 5 of them per month. It's been a pleasure doing business with you."

Does this sound familiar? Can you see how the salesperson got sucked in to price negotiations by saying "our normal price is..."

Then once the price is moving and the salesperson has shown poor technique, it's like pushing on an open door.

10 - Failing To Qualify Prospects And Confirm Call Appointments

Face-to-face sales calls are expensive but how often does it become clear in five minutes that the visit has been a waste of time?

Perhaps the buyer forgot to put the appointment in their diary or wrote it on the wrong date or time and they can't see you - that's why it is important to confirm the appointment and even perhaps re-confirm the day before.

Your time is valuable and that message needs to go out to the buyer.

Perhaps it's obvious that your product is unsuitable or not what they thought. Perhaps they don't have the money to buy it. That's why it's important to qualify your leads upfront.

A poor quality lead where the buyer does not have an interest, a problem to solve or a much wanted gain will cost you and your business money and waste your time.

Perhaps your buyer is just price checking and fishing for information to make sure that their much preferred supplier is being fair.

Again a few questions may alert you to the possibility that while the buyer will buy the generic product or service, the order is unlikely to be coming your way.

Once alerted you can then move into seeking some form of commitment or action from the buyer as a genuine sign of interest before wasting too much time.

11 - Not Measuring Conversion Rates

Do you measure the rate your sales people convert leads into sales?

It's an essential measure because if it is too low it tells you that at least one of these two issues is a big problem:

• Your lead generation activities are creating poor quality leads. That's down to poor communication of your advertising promise.
   
• Your sales technique is poor but at least you can start doing something about it through the sales training and coaching options.

Strangely I believe that conversion rates can be too high.

It's a classic symptom that your prices are too low for the quality of your products and services. Your prospective customers can't believe how good your offer is because you're leaving money on the table. They would have been prepared to pay more.

If you have several sales people, do you analyse their leads to conversion sales rates and compare against targets?

Salespeople are generally competitive and a little incentive may produce some great results. Just make sure that your incentive scheme is fair and that everyone has a chance of winning.

Design the scheme so that it can't be "gamed" by holding back orders from one month into the next. That may be good for the salesperson but bad for the business and customer.

Results

How did you get on?

Admitting to one or two of the failings isn't too bad especially if you answered "sometimes" rather than "never".

You'll know from your experiences of the other factors that what I've written works so I've given you something to think about which is great. Just stop and consider how you can change.

More than two indicates that there is scope in your sales processes that could lead to a significant improvement in turnover and profit.

How much do you think these mistakes are costing you per year in lost sales and profit? £10,000? £25,000? Maybe £100,000 per year or even more?

And how long have you been making them? One year, two, five? That adds up to a lot of money that you and your business should have in your bank accounts.

If you don't do anything about them for a few more years, it means that even more money is lost.

Hopefully it makes sense that it's now time to take action.

What Action To Take

Do you want to do it yourself or bring somebody in to help?

I wrote an article several months ago about selling systems and why there is no one best selling system but there is a best selling system for you.

If you'd rather bring somebody in to help, do you need a specialist sales trainer or a business coach?

If low sales and lead conversion in particular is the dominant problem (and you have a competitive, good quality product) then you should give serious consideration to contacting a sales training consultant.

You'll find it an education in itself and I've certainly found it interesting to see the different selling approaches taken and practised on me.

But if there are issues in the other areas of your business as well that you need to deal with, can you manage and coordinate different functional specialists?

If not then a business coach or general business adviser is your best option (depending of course on who) and especially one who can bring you top quality sales training material.

If you want to do it yourself (and taking into account the comments I made in my article about the best selling system for you), I like Peter Thomson's Accelerated Business Growth System very much.

It is the one that I know best having bought and used the full program and I will admit that it is an affiliate link. I earn a fee from you buying.

I will write a full review of the Accelerated Business Growth System sometime soon but it is a comprehensive system that looks at the selling process, the marketing element of sales, negotiation skills and the art of persuasion. But it also includes personal skill issues like time management, goal setting, active listening and body language.

As an introduction to Peter, you may want to download his 7 Big Mistakes report. It covers different points to this article and gives you an idea of Peter's unique style.

If you are based in the UK, I can also tell you that the Accelerated Business Growth System has been white-labelled as the PROBIZ Edge system and is available through the PROBIZ network of accountants and business advisers as a sales training/coaching service. Just search Google for your local PROBIZ member.

But remember there are many sales systems so do read my article The Best Sales System. The article covers some of the best known sales systems but there are many more.

Comments

[Chris]

You should proof-read your article before you publish it. How can you expect people to follow your sales advice if you cannot sell your "product" properly? I think a high schooler has better grammar and less spelling mistakes than this article.

[Chris]

You should also cut all the crap and ads from the PDF so I don't waste 5 pages of paper on the printout.

[Paul Simister]

Chris

I do apologise for problems that you have with my article although I can't find the spelling mistakes that you refer to. I have even copied the document and loaded it into Word to have the automatic check without success.

Unfortunately I find that when I proof read a long article, my mind sees the words that it thinks I have written and not the words recorded in black and white.

In terms of grammar, again I am sorry. I try to write conversationally and many people tell me that this makes my articles easier to read. However I do accept that I take some liberties with grammar.

The good news is that I now have a clean copy for anyone to download.

Thanks again. I appreciation constructive criticism as much as praise.

Regards
Paul