What is one of the best ways to learn? I would say it would be from your mistakes (or from other peoples mistakes). Sales people, sales organizations and sales teams have to change the way they are handling customers today in this very competitive world. The old ways of selling are changing and require all sales people, sales managers and sales organizations to think differently. So what are some of the biggest mistakes that people make in the field of sales? Thanks to Entrepreneur.com, I have a list of five common mistakes that sales men (or women) make:
- Not selling the solution
- People and companies buy things only in an attempt to solve a problem. Sales people spend too much time on the offer rather than assuring the buyer that the product, company and individual will solve the problem. This typically results in presentations that are too long and prices that are too low. Focus on how your product and the company can solve the three most critical problems your client is trying to solve.
- Being too dependent on the “sales presentation”
- sales people spend hours creating presentations and then become so dependent upon the slideshow and every detail that they are no longer aware of vital buying signals. You being present is more important than the presentation.
- Waiting until the very end to share the price
- Most sales people make this mistake because most of are taught to build value, then show the price. This results in a buyer that, no matter how intrigued they might be by your presentation, is wondering the entire presentation what the cost is. This results in your presentation being interrupted over price rather than the customer being able to evaluate what your product or service will do and how that relates to the price.
- Using a free trial to close a deal
- Free trials without some timeline and commitment to invest money and energy almost never work and become cash flow problems for the company that offers them.
- Not practicing urgency
- Too many sales organizations never insist on closing a deal for fear of appearing to be a nuisance. If you truly believe in your company, product and service, you must learn how to insist on closing the transaction now. Your sales team should train and drill on how to press without being unprofessional or appearing to pressure.
BoweryJE22
This is such an interesting list. It seems like the first four boil down to caring about the customer and truly trying to find a solution that benefits both you and the customer, while the fifth one reminds you not to forget about yourself. In classes and discussions such as these it is easy to think that a good salesperson would do whatever it takes to solve a pain and make the customer’s life as easy as possible, but that is a recipe for hurting oneself, I think, if it’s taken too far. It would seem that it is important to find a healthy balance to helping a customer as well as helping yourself.