8 Most Common Sales Mistakes

Making mistakes is a daily occurrence regardless of your occupation, in sales, it is usually more costly because it can mean the difference between making a sale and walking away empty handed. Below you’ll find 8 of the most common sales mistakes that have come between closing a sale and losing a prospect:

Allowing a prospect to lead the sales process: Asking questions is the simplest way of taking control the sales interaction process. This is also one of the most effective ways to see how compatible your product or service is with your prospect. Asking the right questions that help uncover specific issues, objectives, or problems are the key to maintaining control and establish your expertise.

Not being prepared: Being prepared is probably one of the hardest things to be when you go out making calls or have a first meeting, but it’s extremely important. This means having all the facts about your prospect’s business, your competitor’s facts, samples, testimonials, and an excavating list of questions. Not only are questions good for fact finding, but they help in handling objections. First impressions are a one time event, don’t go unprepared.

Talking too much: Saying too much is something alot of salespeople tend to do when going through the sales process. I can’t even begin to tell you how many prospects I’ve lost because something stupid slipped out of my mouth, don’t rant about how amazing your service is, your features, and so on. Concise points about your product are the only thing you need, then let the client explain why you are right or wrong. Ask questions and shut your mouth!

Irrelevant information: Your client has enough information from your key points, they don’t need useless facts about anything else. Make every word that comes out of your mouth about them, and how they will benefit from working with you. Illuminate their minds with facts and they will see how much value your product or service brings to the table.

Lacking a focused sales structure: Although you probably don’t have control over this aspect of the sales department, it’s imperative that you identify the lack of structure as a problem. If your company lacks specific information such as the way sales territories are defined, the way markets and customers are targeted, the training and development system of the company, and the sales tools that are used. Without structure, there can be no building up. Present ideas to your sales manager or whomever has the power to make something happen.

Neglecting to ask for the sale: Commitments are a must when you are dealing with a new customer, just don’t put it that way. It is your obligation to ask the customer for one, especially if you’ve invested time and money in finding a solution for their problem and assessing their needs. You’re probably asking yourself “what if I come across as pushy?”, as long as you ask for the sale in a non-threatening, confident manner, people usually respond favorably. The key here is to know when to ask for the sale, and this happens once the customer sees why they need your product and that you are the right guy/girl to provide it.

Failing to prospect: When you’re making lots of sales and business is good, you probably stop prospecting for new clients for a period of time. Forgetting how long your sales cycle is and assuming more prospects will come from the ether. The key is to prospect all the time, regardless of how good or bad business is.

Not knowing your perfect customer: Outselling your competition will only happen when you acquire the invaluable skill of being able to get to know your customer better and deeper. Having this invaluable skill will allow you to have an open door to their business and their referrals. You have to be able to understand your customer’s needs, therefore you need to know who they are and what they need.

Top 5 Reasons You Lose Sales

Being in sales requires you to stay on top of your game at all times, this includes figuring out why you’re losing sales to competitors and other businesses. You need to understand several factors of the decision making process in order to keep your customers happy. The Small Business Administration (SBA) held a study where it looked at all types of businesses and determined there are six major reasons why you lose sales or customers:

1. Perception: Clients and customers have feelings, and sometimes those feelings can be misguided when they perceive you don’t care about them or their business. You need to let your customer know how important the are to you and your business, because what binds relationship buyers to your company is the totality of the relationship which includes recognition, service, information, helpfulness, and overall friendly employees. Your clients buy relationships and are the number one priority to your business succeeding.
2. Dissatisfaction: Whether you are selling a product or service, there will always be dissatisfied clients. The key to combating this issue is to provide the customer or client with quality, brand identity, and a product or service that meets their needs and beyond. Offering something good enough to be confident about it.
3. Price: Incorrect product/service pricing will drive sales downward, whether that means your product is too expensive or too cheap in comparison to your competitor’s prices for the same offering. Pricing something too expensive will guarantee customers to go to your competitors, pricing something too cheaply will make customers think your product is of bad quality. If a client knows and believes in the advantages, they will be willing to pay more for your product or service.
4. Recommendations: Friends and family have a big impact in your client’s purchasing decisions, never underestimate their power. Customers tend to agree and trust someone whom they have a personal relationship with rather than an intrusive TV ad. The best way to battle this issue is to have a personal relationship with your client, or find things in common with them in order to close this gap.
5. Moving: Relocation is another factor you cannot control, your customer might unexpectedly move to another city or state and no longer require your product or service. Business to business clients can stop carrying a line of product and no longer require your type of shelving to hang that product, thus moving buyer categories.

There are other relevant reasons why your customers or clients will stop paying you. Finding these reasons to your specific situation is imperative to enforce customer retention. Marketing is expensive, losing clients can be costlier if you ignore it. Apply the knowledge shown here to find unique reasons why your customers leave.

Time Management Advice For Sales People

Back in the 1920s there was a survey conducted by the Sales and Marketing Management, it surveyed american businesses to find out exactly how efficient sales people were handing their time.

After the survey was completed, they uncovered that the average sales person was only putting in a total of 20 percent of their time. If you consider a normal eight hour day, they were only working around 1.5hrs per day. This survey caused a ripple effect throughout the sales industry due to the enormity of the problem. It caused companies to keep better track of what their sales people were doing, an improvement in time management skills and an overall increase of supervision from managers.

Double Your Sales

By simply calculating the amount of time you actually spend speaking with new customers now, you can figure out exactly how much time more you need to spend in order to double your sales. Although it will require you to be 100% honest with yourself, this technique will help you see what it is you’re doing on a daily basis. The amount of money you are making will also double, assuming you get the exact time correctly. Which is why honesty is a very important part of this fact finding process. As long as you know how many hours or minutes more you need to spend doing sales producing activities, the amount of sales will increase.

In essence, you must double the amount of time you spend in front of qualified prospects in order to double the amount of sales you’re making. Even if you fail to improve in the other aspects of the sales process, getting in front of more people who can buy will increase the number of sales. Simple.

The Job of the Salesperson

What exactly is the description of what a sales person should be doing? Alot of the time we get lost in the many jobs we have to fill when we are in sales, but essentially our job as sales people is to generate and maintain customers. The way we measure the success of a sales person is by the number of new customers generated and the retention rate of the previously acquired customers. Which means that the only time we are doing our jobs, as sales people, is when we put our faces in front of potential customers. Delivering whatever message we have to deliver in order to achieve the most amount of sales.

Begin with Clear Income and Sales Goals

One of the most important factors for achieving the highest rank of success as a sales person is having a clear goal for income and sales. The amount of focus you can give to that goal will help you manage your time much better, simply because you know exactly where you are headed and you know how to get there. My personal practice begins on Monday mornings, when I sit down at my desk with a hot cup of coffee and I choose to write down my goals for this week. I determine those goals by looking at my last week’s achievements and appointments. Meaning, if I only sold $15,000 in medical supplies last week, but my goal was double that, I need to make $45k this week. Simply because of a choice, I can do whatever it needs to be done to achieve that goal.

Determine What You Will Have to Do

One the fist step of figuring out what your goals are is completed, you need to figure out how you’re going to achieve them. One of the most important pieces of information I own is to break down your goals into activities to do. Meaning you need to transform that $45k goal into how many clients/hours/days/calls you need to make.

The key to this process is to control your activities, although you can’t control your results, the amount of activity you produce is key. Engaging in the activities necessary to get to your goals will only increase your chances at succeeding.

Get Better at What You Do

Once the first step is 100% clear to you, figured out exactly what you need to do on a daily basis, and determined how you’re going to get there, you need to work on your individual sales skills. Being in sales requires you to constantly improve your overall business skills, speech, looks, and etc.

Sales Objection Tips for the Bad Economy

When we started the downhill trip to the bottom of the economic charts, I was already preparing for what business owners and clients were going to say to me. I can’t stand people who let the news tell them how their business is going to do this month. I’m sorry, but I’m in control of my business! If I want to make more sales, I work harder and find more clients. I will get more “No, thanks” but there are always people who need your product or service.

Now, overcoming the usual objection that they’ll wait until the economy gets back to normal is not easy. As any other objection, the “bad economy” objection has it’s weaknesses. After reading this article, you’ll be able to eliminate this objection forever. That’ll make you a sales veteran!

First the ground rules, as with any other objection, you need to get it out of the way in the OPENING call. What does this mean? You need to make sure you’ve answered their concern before you get to the closing of the sale. Don’t wait to tackle all their objections until the close, or the sale might be lost. It is your responsibility to qualify your prospects and take them through the process of objections.

- Remember – Just because they don’t want to buy now, doesn’t mean they won’t want to buy tomorrow or a month from now.

Weeding through the prospects that will use the ” we are going to wait until the economy gets better” objection is key. Here are some qualifying questions to help you find those.

During the initial qualifying call, you can say ” Alot of companies are taking advantage of this “product or service” now that the economy is slow. Do you think the time is right for you, too?”

“Given what’s happening in the economy right now, do you still see yourself (or your company) moving forward with this now?”

If they say they don’t know, then layer it with:

“When do you think would be a more appropriate time for you?”

Also, ask:

“How are you doing in this economy?”

Layer:

“Are you still going to be able to participate in this if we can get you the (price, rate, deal) we’re talking about here?”

Ask:

“__________, many of our clients find that this (your product or service) is still important regardless of what is happening in the economy – is it
something that you still have in your budget?”

The idea here is to make sure you mention the fact that the economy is in the toilet before they bring it up. It’ll create rapport because it’s on their minds constantly. Especially if you target business owners! They are having a tough time with purchasing decision since their future is so uncertain. Don’t let all this negative talk bring you down though, you’re in control.

8 Most Popular Sales Objections

Having objections simply means you’re not answering the “why” of a sale, meaning “why should I buy this product?” Objections are GREAT door openers because most people fail to answer them correctly or simply give up after the second try. Customers want to know why your product or service is good for their business or personal life. Objections allow you to explore your customer’s fears and dig deep into their train of thought.

Although objections might seem like a “no, thanks”, most objections are diversion techniques people have adapted from being bombarded by cheap sales people with no knowledge of how to properly approach a customer. The key to answering objections is making sure you are targeting the right customer, marketing research isn’t easy. Hence our common problem of not having enough sales! We fail to recognize who needs our service and we become lazy by saying “everyone needs my accounting services.” Not true at all, focus on a niche market and expand from it.

Below we’ll explore each objection:

1. Lack of perceived value in the product or service: Your customer simply doesn’t understand or doesn’t want to know why your product or service ads value to their lives. This is when a clear and concise explanation of what you’re selling comes in. One sentence where you explain your customer why! Some people like calling this their elevator pitch.

2. Lack of perceived urgency in purchasing the offering: Why should I buy now? I have the rest of the year to think about it. Right, you have to pay your bills tomorrow and you need this sale! Another reason why you need to have conviction in your words, making sure you portray why buying your product or service is important NOW. Like a poet, you need to paint a picture in your customer’s mind, one of the items you CANNOT forget is why it needs to be right now. Time savings, money savings, comfort, piece of mind, security, etc.
3. Perception of inferiority to a competitor or in-house offering: When you target a large or established companies you’ll run into this objection. They think they have it all figured out and already know who can beat your prices or quality. Know your competition and how they differ from you. Never ever ever bash a competitor, EVER. You don’t know if they are a personal friend or family member. Simply make distinctions from what you offer and what they offer, know them like you know your own name!

4. Internal political issue between parties/ departments: This one is a tough objection to get through, because you don’t know if they are BSing you. Using your gut and what you found out about the issue will help you make a decision. Remember that some people will say anything to get off the phone, even BS you into something that doesn’t exist. Try asking questions in hopes of thoroughly understanding the issue.

5. Lack of funds to purchase the offering: When your client tell you they simply can’t afford it, it’s okay! He didn’t say he didn’t want it. Keep them in your monthly call list. I have had sales closed after six months when they said they couldn’t afford it. Make sure you never give up on them though, keep calling until they become your friends or they tell you to stop!

6. Personal issue with the decision maker(s): Why are you not talking to the decision maker? Stop wasting your time with people who don’t have the power to say yes to you! We all forget this at some point, but keep in mind that the person could be basing their opinion on something that they over heard or maybe made up to get off the phone. Talk to the decision maker, nobody else.

7. Initiative with an external party: Previous engagements or arrangements to deliver the product or service, not much you can do there. Remember to always dig in and ask questions. Who are they? What’s their price? When are they delivering? How long have you been doing business with them? Are you happy with their service?

8. Perception that “it’s safer to do nothing”: This one is the single hardest objection because people don’t like change. The only thing you can do is understand you client’s fears and what they hate. You know doing nothing is not okay, the conviction in your voice need to break through the barrier and deliver the message you know is important. Convince them, why? Because it’s a matter of life or death!

Study these convictions daily, you’ll encounter them with almost every new client. Make sure you are prepared to deliver your rebuttal immediately, you only have a few seconds of their attention so don’t waste them.

Go out and sell hard!

The Sale is in Your Head: Think! Part 1

The frame of mind by which you approach a sales situation will always determine its outcome more than any other element of the selling process. The mindset, friendy, smiley, enthusiastic, positive, confident, self-assured, likeable, and prepared beyond nervous. You have to visualize the sale in your head before you can count on that money to spend.

Whenever you walk into a sales appointment and you think to yourself, “This is not a great appointment. I’ll probably make a mistake and the sale won’t happen.” I think every sales person on the face of this planet has done that 100 times, maybe on a daily basis. 

In contrast, you’ve had that perfect mindset where you think of everything as going great. You think to yourself, “This prospect is fantastic. They really need my insurance policies and they are willing to listen to what I have to say. I think the sale is in the bag!”

Remember that whichever way you walked into the call, YOU are the one setting the tone for the meeting and the outcome. Also setting the TONE for your attitude, the level of enthusiasm, and putting your belief system into motion.

In reality, there is not one salesperson on the planet that will make every sale. But it doesn’t mean you can’t increase your chances at making more sales by changing the way you approach a prospect in the beginning. If you walk into a sales presentation with anything other than a feeling of certainty that you will make the sale because the customer needs you, and that you are the best, you wont make the sale. Not the lowest price, but the best value.

Certain individuals have different ways of creating his or her own mindset prior to a sales presentation. Personally, I try to make myself as ready as possible. Study the individual, their business, their competitors, their customers, etc. Also try listening to fast paced music prior to meeting with the prospect, it will increase your positive energy and “pump you up”. 

Please come back for part two!

11 Rules Of Sales Success – Part 1

Sales success sounds simple, but in reality there are alot of aspects that require focus and understanding. During the next eleven days, we are going to explore one rule per day. Each day there will be one new rule added to our magazine that will cover in depth information on the subject. Below are the 11 rules briefly explained so you can catch a glimpse of much effort will go into this!

Rule No. 1 – Think! The sales will be 100% dependent on whether you believe it will happen or not. Thinking positively is something you must do with every prospect regardless of your “gut feeling” at the moment,

Rule No. 2 – Believe! Develop an impenetrable  sales belief system, you must believe in your company, your product, and yourself. Otherwise the sale will not happen regardless of how interested they are. You must show conviction towards the product you represent.

Rule No. 3 – Engage! People hate sales, they can’t stand being sold to. Instead you need to develop and engage the client/customer on a personal level that will create rapport and trust.

Rule No. 4 – Discover! You have alot of reasons to try to make this sale, but your customer could care less! The key with this rule is to discover what their reason is for talking to you and buying your service. Do they have a story? A simple need?  A desire to own? Passion? Fear? All these questions must be answered when talking to a new client.

Rule No. 5 – Ask! Asking the wrong questions will bring you the wrong answers, which means you wont make the sale. Questions are the soul of the sale, questions transform a sales process into a buying process, questions uncover the real reasons and motives for buying, and questions can break the sale.

Rule No. 6 – Observe! Your ability to observe has to be as good as your selling and listening abilities. Every time you meet a client or customer to lunch or go to their office watch for subtle details like trophies or menu preferences. People like detailed focused business partners.

Rule No. 7 – Dare! In simple words, have the guts to do something out of the ordinary to get your prospect’s attention. Leaving a funny or intriguing voice mail that will most likely get the prospect to return your call is a perfect example.

Rule No. 8 – Earn! In sales it’s important to always make a friend, and never just make a sale. Because when you make a sale, you earn a commission. But when you gain a friend, that commission is unlimited. Building rapport is a crucial step towards becoming a Sales Veteran!

Rule No. 9 – Own! Knowing the exact reason why you failed at making a sale is another very important part of information in the sales field. Owning up to your mistakes, knowing you have failed to master a certain aspect of your business will force you into action.

Rule No. 10 – Prove! Testimonials… some say they are worth 1,000 sales pitches, and I believe it. When you have a third party who has nothing to gain from a sale talk about how wonderful your service was, it can turn a pitch into a sale.

Rule No. 11 – Become! Don’t chase the dollar, but focus on complete mastery of your mind. Only when you feel competent enough to tackle a real prospect and make a sale, you will never be able to become a Sales Veteran!

During the next 11 days, we will explore each of these 11 crucial sales rules in depth. Please subscribe or comment!