Do you or your sales team repeatedly run up against the same obstacles when trying to make the sale? You may be sabotaging yourself. In today’s guest post, sales expert Darryl Rosen reveals the seven behaviors that could be shutting down your sales.
After hundreds of coaching sessions with sales professionals all over the country, I’ve identified behaviors that continually drive sales performance down. The good news is that a smart and motivated salesperson can easily reverse selling mistakes by making small changes in his or her behavior.
Here are seven behaviors to avoid or change.
1. Appearing “ho-hum” about your products. Selling is the transference of your feelings for your products to your customers. To be effective, your enthusiasm has to be both genuine and infectious. You don’t have to love what you’re selling. But you do have to honestly believe it will benefit your customers. Your expression and words should convey this. Enthusiasm sells.
2. Giving up on a difficult customer. Do you dread allocating precious time to accounts owned by your competition? Sure, it’s simpler to go where it’s more comfortable—to fish where the fish are biting. But giving up on a difficult customer sends the wrong message. Instead, creatively assess what you offer that’s better and different from everyone else. Keep cultivating new and challenging relationships.
3. Thinking all customers are the same. In theory, all customers should be treated with the same level of importance. However, this isn’t realistic given the increasing amount of time needed to manage accounts properly. That’s why the most effective sales professionals endlessly communicate, confirm, check, and recheck high-volume accounts or businesses with the most visibility. A mistake here matters most.
4. Winging sales calls. All salespeople succumb to the curse of complacency now and then. Preparation yields results. Be prepared for every single sales call by: articulating the call’s objectives; reviewing relevant product knowledge; anticipating roadblocks; refamiliarizing yourself with the customer’s needs; revisiting past calls; bringing the proper tools; and reviewing your competition.
5. Signaling that your prices are too high. Some sales professionals inadvertently signal their personal thoughts on their company’s pricing structure with their demeanor. Don’t use language suggesting bad news is coming: “You’re not going to like this…” Don’t look down, break eye contact, or mumble when saying the price. And don’t make guesses about what you think the customer is willing to pay.
6. Not giving customers your undivided attention. If you’re talking to a customer or she’s asked you a question, do you allow yourself to be distracted by a vibrating cell phone or the ding of your email alert? There’s nothing as disheartening to a customer than to be slighted by a sales professional. Pay attention to the person you’re meeting with and not to anyone or anything else. They’ll feel it and respond.
7. Selling with no imagination. Do you look for opportunities around the edges? Especially in a challenging selling environment, like the one we’re in right now, if you veer away from using the same strategies over and over, and try to look at situations a little differently, the results can be excellent. Take time to brainstorm new and different ways to get customers interested in your products.
Darryl Rosen has many years of experience running an internationally renowned company and is now a leading performance coach for managers and sales professionals. His newest book is Table for Three? Bringing Your Smart Phone to Lunch and 50 Dumb Mistakes Smart Managers Don’t Make! Learn more at www.tableforthreethebook.com.
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