7 Habits of Less Successful
Salespeople
Appeared October 2002 in
Sales Pro News
What can you learn from
others? Sometimes it's what to avoid doing. These examples are
mistakes that will cost you business.
1. Thinking you can do it all
yourself. Selling used to be a numbers game. In the past you
could spend your time smiling and dialing and that might have
worked. Today too many people are too busy to listen to a pitch.
Cold calls are a low probability and only worth your time if your time
isn't worth very much. The assistance sales people need from others
is good solid leads and referrals to meet new customers.
2. Talking too much. Some
salespeople think that the best salespeople are the best talkers.
That's not true. The best sellers are great listeners and they
use silence well. Silence is really golden in selling.
Use it when you want your customers to talk more. Silence is
appropriate when you are listening so you don't interrupt your
customer. It's appropriate to use when you think about what your
customer is saying. This will enable you to give him a thoughtful
response.
3. Doing the same things in all
situations. One of the predictors of success is
flexibility or the ability to do different things in different
situations. Some salespeople start their sales calls the same way
and act the same way with every type of customer. Customers are
different and the salesperson needs to respond to the type of customer he
is talking to. It is appropriate to get right down to business in a
sales call with an assertive, more emotionally controlled customer.
It is inappropriate to do the same with a customer who is less assertive
and more responsive.
4. Expecting things to happen
now. Patience is a virtue that salespeople especially
need. Some things do take time. If you want a piece of business
badly enough you may have to be persistent and try to make contact over a
period of months. Be patient and don't give up if the account is
worth it. Negotiating may take time and impatience to close a deal
can cost you money. Salespeople have to be able to deal with
ambiguity and the unknown. Your patience is your power when
it's combined with persistence.
5. Not telling the
truth. Salespeople need to be honest not only with
customers, but with themselves as well. Some salespeople fool
themselves that a sale is going to happen when the odds are it's
not. They tell their manager the sale will close soon because they
hope it will. If a customer is still thinking when they could have
said yes, it's time to move on to the next account. Be honest with
yourself. Let go and get going to the next prospect.
6. Not taking good care of
customers. Selling isn’t asking a question to find
objections and then beating your customer into submission for each
objection. If it's not a reasonable fit, forget the sale. Find the
prospects that do need your benefits and value.
7. Thinking it's
easy. People think selling is easy only because the
great salespeople make it look easy. I recently spoke with a sales master
who sold upwards of $50 million worth of construction contract surety
bonds over the years. He said he never prepares for a sales call.
When I asked him what he meant he said that when he makes a sales call he
knows a few things about the prospect's business and general
requirements. Then he asks questions about the areas he thinks might
apply. I replied, "You may think you don't prepare, but you're using
30 years of preparation to sell." Selling is only easy when you
don't know what you're doing.
You can learn from your mistakes. It's even better to learn
from other people's mistakes. Avoid these mistakes and you will make
your selling more successful.
.......................................................................................................
Maura Schreier-Fleming works with business and sales professionals
on skills and strategies so they can sell more and be more productive at
work. She is the author of Real-World Selling for
Out-of-this-World Results which is available at
www.BestatSelling.com. She founded her company Best@Selling in
1997. You can reach her at 972.380.0200 or
info@Bestatsellling.com.
(c) Copyright 2004 Maura
Schreier-Fleming. All rights
reserved. |
