This month, we’ll continue where we left off with The 20 Biggest Mistakes Salespeople Make.  Remember, we’re not harping on these errors to bash salespeople.  Instead, the idea is to spare you the pain of learning these lessons the hard way. 

First, let’s briefly review the common sales mistakes that we covered last month:

1. They don’t become a student of their craft
2. They don’t “narrowcast” their offering
3. They fail to position themselves correctly
4. They fail to prospect
5. They get in front of the wrong people
6. They listen to their peers
7. They don’t understand the economics of their product
8. They mentally spend their income – before they earn it
9. They fail to ask the *right* questions
10. They are either digitally compulsive or digitally impaired

11. They fail to manage their time well

The more time you’re able to spend directly involved in selling, the more successful you’re going to be.  But selling is more than just sitting in front of as many people as you can and “pitching” your product.  Successful selling requires that you spend a great deal of time doing research and planning so you can get in front of the right person with the right message at the right time. 

Often, a salesperson’s success is largely determined by how much quality time they invest in prospecting and pre-call planning.  You can use prospecting as your most valuable time management tool.  Always ask yourself, “What is the best use of my time right now? What activities have the most potential to pay off in the future?”  

Remember, your company may have a whole warehouse full of the product that you sell, but as a salesperson, your personal inventory is time.  In order to sell that product, you’ll need to put your time against the task very wisely.

12. They’re either too timid or too aggressive

Many people assume that selling is all about being aggressive, but salespeople need to have self awareness and enough insight to pick up on the signals prospects are sending.   Sometimes you’ve got to be aggressive, and sometimes being overly aggressive will get the door slammed in your face. 

Now, the good news for all those overly-aggressive go-getters out there is that it’s far easier for you to back off a little than it is for someone who’s timid to suddenly become assertive.

13. They fail to match their product and price offering to the prospect’s needs and financial appetite

It may sound absurd, but some salespeople don’t realize that this is their own personal thought process as it relates to selling:

“I know I can sell these three things, so I’m always going to make sure I try to sell each and every prospect these three things regardless of what my prospect says is important.” 

In other words, they simply don’t apply the right solution.

Or, in other cases, they fail to discover ahead of time how much the prospect is willing and able to spend so the price for the solution they recommend is far outside of the range the prospect has in mind.  Always remember this: application-based selling requires that you apply the right solution for each and every prospect’s situation.  Part of recommending the right solution is also finding out how much your prospect can and will spend. 

Another common mistake in this area is that salespeople often don’t do enough research to find out about the budgeting and spending cycles of the client.  It’s up to you to make sure you’re going in before the budget for what you’re selling has already been spent.  And it’s also up to you to help clients come up with creative solutions in situations where they don’t necessarily have money set aside for what you offer.

14. They can’t deal with change or they change too much

You probably know salespeople who fall at each of these two extremes:  those who stubbornly stick with what’s worked for them in the past and those who jump into every fad that comes along.

There’s always a balance that you’ll need to attain in terms of staying current and relevant, especially in terms of changing technology and marketplace shifts.  But don’t abandon the fundamentals and the proven formulas for success in the rush to adopt new methods.

You’ll also need to come up with a consistent system for setting and tracking your goals and priorities and a method of organizing the nitty-gritty tasks and details…and then stick with it.  But it’s important to remain flexible.  Always be willing to admit when something isn’t working so that you can find a better solution.  Just make sure you evaluate all the merits and potential pitfalls of new ideas before you run with them. You can stay informed about the major trends in your industry without adopting every new method before there’s supportive evidence that shows improved productivity. 

15. They place themselves into a situation in their personal life that fails to deliver an adequate support system

No one in this world can make it alone – you need a support system.  But your support system has to be exactly that – supportive.  Your personal life will always have an effect on your professional life, and it can either be positive or it can be negative.  And if it’s negative, that has to be addressed. 

Certain people and activities can help you build confidence and relieve stress while others will only create additional pressure in your life.  If you’re involved in professional selling, you’ve chosen a path that’s probably going to mean facing a lot of rejection, not to mention the pressure that’s inherent in commission-based pay plans.  Unlike other professions, you may not be able to look to your work for security and constant affirmation, which makes it all the more important that you have access to supportive and positive people and influences outside of work.

You have to be able to truly rely on other people and positive outlets to make it through difficult situations.  So be very careful who you pick and what activities you pursue in building that internal support system.  And make sure you put enough time and attention into building the right relationships so that you have a support system available when you need it.

16. They fail to pre-call plan and organize for their calls

Far too many salespeople think they can “wing it.”  But the truth is in today’s marketplace you’ve probably got only one shot at each particular piece of business.  Even the best salespeople – the ones who have been successfully selling for many – need to spend a huge amount of time preparing for the call.

So what does planning mean?  It means understanding your competition, positioning yourself correctly, understanding the formal and the informal structure of the organization, having a professional appearance, having the appropriate sales material, having a sales process that you follow, and preparing your problem-agitation-solution questions, just to name a few things.  And all of this has to be done ahead of time. 

17. They never learn how to ask the right questions

When you have the opportunity to be in front of a prospect, you’ve got to actually sit down and design and craft those questions ahead of time.  But just running down a list of canned questions will likely get you nowhere.  You’ve also got to be ready to blend your prepared questions with careful listening and additional questions that follow naturally from each response. 

The idea is to keep “drilling down” to uncover the information that you need to recommend the right solution.  One great way to learn this skill is to watch and listen to experienced journalists interviewing celebrities, authors and politicians.  You’ll notice that they have prepared questions, but each prepared question often leads to a response that the journalist picks up on to ask more questions that uncover additional information.

“Practice makes perfect” applies when it comes to learning effective questioning techniques.  Role play with your sales manager and other salespeople on your team until you’ve polished this skill.  Once you’re prepared, confident and relaxed, you’ll be much better at thinking on your feet.

18. They don’t understand that providing service IS part of sales

If you truly understand the lifetime value of your customers, in terms of repeat business and add-on business – not to mention referrals – you’ll also understand that servicing existing accounts could actually be defined as selling to your best prospects. 

What does that mean?  Well, consider these statistics from Peter Drucker’s research: Your chances of selling more to an existing customer are seven times greater than your chances of selling to someone with whom you’ve never done business before.  And then ask yourself, “What’s the best way to sell more to an existing customer?”  The obvious answer is to make sure they get the absolute most out of what they’ve already bought from you.  This way of looking at it makes it perfectly clear that the time you invest in servicing your existing customers is actually MORE likely to pay off than the time you spend with new prospects. 

But be careful here.  You still need to keep your pipeline full of new prospects.  And remember, there’s more to servicing accounts than chatting with your customers.  You need to be able to provide additional value that goes beyond your initial claims so that you exceed your customer’s expectations.  Two good ways to add value are through solving your customer’s problems and educating them about how they can get more use out of your product.

19. They fail to provide value-added solutions

It’s not enough to simply provide a solution.  Instead, you’ve got to be able to show your prospects why your solution doesn’t even compare to what any of your competitors are offering.  That will probably mean bundling your services, adding on extras and offering a level of service that’s unheard of in your industry.  This strategy will protect you from price-based comparisons that reduce your product or service to the level of a commodity. 

Bundling and adding on features and services also gives you a ready option for customers who argue they just can’t pay the price you’re asking.  You can simply tell them that you can accommodate their budget, but you’ll have to remove some of the extras.  Then let them prioritize what they’re willing to pay for.

20. They fail to ask for the order

In the final analysis, if you fail to ask someone to buy, what good are you as a salesperson?  What have you done?  You’ve spent a lot of time and resources pursuing a prospect, but what do you have to show for it?

You’ve got to be very good at saying to someone, “What are the next steps? Where do we go from here?  What do you want me to do?”  Many salespeople we work with tell us they use the Action Close a lot.  The Action Close is simply this: “Okay, let me go ahead and write this down, so we can get started.”  So there’s something, some kind of action that happens.  The process doesn’t just keep floating along because the salesperson fails to ask for the order.

These are the top twenty reasons why we’ve seen salespeople fail.  So what does that mean?  It’s pretty simple.  Don’t do these things!  There’s no way to guarantee success 100% of the time, but you can put yourself on the right path just by simply making a conscious effort to avoid these 20 mistakes. 

Click here for a quick reference list of these 20 sales mistakes.  You may want to print this list out and keep it in a convenient place.  Your career is too important to take these mistakes lightly.  So check yourself every so often and make sure you’re on track to NOT repeat these 20 mistakes.