Sales is a rewarding profession if you can adopt the right habits. Sales careers are most often fast-paced, offer continual challenges and gratification, and provide the opportunity to impact individual income directly. It is an exciting profession for people who have the right skill sets and can handle a variety of situations. A few turn out to be super salespersons, while many often fail. Below is the list of mistakes salespeople commit and the ways to rectify them.
Mistake #1: Rationalization of sales failures
An amateur salesperson calls the prospects, sets an appointment, and presents a general elevator pitch to entice a sale. Everyone is happy if the attempt is successful, but if it’s a failure, often the company is blamed for failing to provide the salesperson the needed support.
Instead, he or she should be more introspective and investigate and understand the reasons for failure.
Mistake #2: Repeating the same old sales pitch
Your prospective customers may not like the same thing being repeated by the salesperson using a similar set of arguments. Some sales representatives try to push-sell using the same methods and fail to close the deal.
The focus should be making your sales pitch sound more alluring by citing data, statistics, case studies, and new information that will ultimately interest your prospects.
Mistake #3: Giving up too easily and quickly
Most sales are made after several contacts with the prospect. A mere 2% of conversions happen at first contact, 3% at second, 5% at third, and nearly 10% at fourth contact. Subsequently, as much as 80% of sales are accomplished on the fifth to twelfth contact with the customer. Astonishingly, 20% of the salespeople attempt five contacts or more and are the ones who ultimately win 80% of the business. Statistics and common practice clearly show that persistence is the key to success in sales. There is no harm in persistent prospecting, and success will only be achieved through perseverance.
Mistake #4: Not knowing the customer well
One of the primary determinants of success in sales is knowing about customers’ likes, dislikes, and preferences. Building a rapport with the customer and continually using probing questions to find out more about them can help you find a common chord. Striking a meaningful conversation based on common likes can be the foundation of building a great relationship, which can ultimately help you close the sale.
Mistake #5: Not investing on skill enhancement
Very few sales professionals invest in themselves for their self-development through books, articles, videos, podcasts, or attending professional sales training. In reality, a mere 5% of the salespeople invest in their self-growth.
Successful sales professionals attend sales seminars and workshops and make it a habit to read about sales practices regularly. Reading newsletters and visiting websites that help in improving the selling skills is also a healthy practice to follow.
Sales is a rewarding profession, and the better you get, the more rewards, such as growth in individual earnings, job satisfaction, and career advancement, you will reap. Avoiding these common mistakes will most certainly help you to remain ahead in your profession.