Major mistakes salespeople make

Asignificant issue facing companies of all shapes, sizes, and turnovers is that – in terms of revenue – a fraction of the salesforce ends up doing most of the heavy lifting. In fact, 67% of the average sales team will fail to meet their quota, while 8% will be responsible for 80% of the company’s sales.

What makes that 8% so successful? It’s not that they’re born superstars and it can’t be ascribed to any innate quality; certainly, you need a way with people to make any headway in this profession, but charisma and interpersonal skills serve more as entry criteria than any real assurance of success.

The truth is that many salespeople lack purpose: unmoored from any discernible strategy, their approach is often to fumble around calls and meetings without the information they need to close that all-important deal.

That said, in most cases, an underperforming salesperson is not irredeemable – which is fortunate. When you consider that it costs around £75,000 to find a replacement, it’s always worth looking into what they are doing wrong first and attempting to find a solution. You’ll have a stronger team than you would if you immediately replaced the 67% of your staff who are not bringing in enough business – and it’s obviously significantly cheaper. But finding a solution is often easier said than done. We’ve identified five major mistakes that salespeople make when selling that cause business owners to despair. MISTAKE 1 PHONING WITHOUT PURPOSE Too often, salespeople make calls just for 8% the sake of it. They might be chasing a daily call quota, or have a list of names to work through, and end up simply focusing on completing the OF SALESPEOPLE DELIVER 80% task rather than doing it well. Cold calling may be a traditional

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approach to sales, but if giving your staff a phone book and a list of names and telling them to get going was ever effective, it isn’t anymore – and often ends up wasting both time and company resources. You’ve probably received unsolicited, irrelevant sales calls yourself – how much did you enjoy those conversations?

For this reason, before picking up the phone, the salesperson should know exactly why they are calling the particular client or potential customer – and what the ideal outcome of the call would be. A targeted approach, focusing on those calls that have a realistic chance of ending with a sale, is the key to success. MISTAKE 2 FAILING TO UNDERSTAND THE PROSPECT’S PROBLEM On average, only 13% of customers believe that a salesperson can truly understand their needs. The rest perceive the salesperson as trying to push their idea or product without taking the customer’s point of view into account. Often, this leaves customers feeling that, instead of listening, the salesperson is coming up with what they perceive as “solutions” without really attempting to grasp the problem.

This usually results in the customer feeling frustrated and the salesperson missing yet another target. Being able to talk may be important – but being able to listen is essential. MISTAKE 3 DOING TOO LITTLE HOMEWORK Too often, salespeople don’t take the time to understand their customers before making a call. It’s crucial to know what that client is struggling with if your product is to improve their business – and that means you’ll need to tailor your approach to their situation.

Generic sales patter isn’t acceptable anymore. Customers want to feel like you know and understand their business – and in order to provide this personalised service, salespeople need to conduct adequate research before picking up the phone. Nobody you call wants to feel like one of several hundred or thousand leads. If you simply phone without having done your homework, you’re hurting your chances. In contrast, if you make them feel that one of your priorities is understanding their business, you’re much more likely to make the sale. MISTAKE 4 WAITING FOR ORDERS TO COME IN Another trap that salespeople tend to fall into is that of becoming order takers. Instead of being proactive with their selling, they wait for customers to contact them with an order request.

PAUL BLACK is co-founder and CEO of sales-i, a specialist in business and customer intelligence software for salespeople. Visit: www.sales-i.com While they do get some business from the customers they are calling, these are products the customers would probably have bought anyway – so, no new business is created. If the competition starts offering a better service at a lower price, customers might be tempted to leave, especially if they are not aware of the potential upside they could enjoy by staying with their current provider.

To be proactive, rather than reactive, salespeople should be offering existing customers goods and services they want and need, before the customer is even aware that they need them.

“Generic sales patter isn’t acceptable anymore. Customers want to feel like you know and understand their business”

It’s dangerous to become too dependent on brand loyalty, so the emphasis should not only be on maintaining repeat orders of the same products month after month, but also selling additional products. MISTAKE 5 UNDERUTILISING RESOURCES Most companies have vast amounts of data available on their products and clients, comprising everything from product factsheets to feedback from former customers. Salespeople should use this information when targeting new business to ensure that the best aspects of their products are highlighted.

But it doesn’t stop there. People increasingly live their lives online, which means that a significant amount of free information about their activities is available. A company will typically have a website, social media profiles and a blog, while individuals usually have LinkedIn profiles and accounts on various other social media platforms.

A quick Google search could give a salesperson insight into the challenges a company is facing, and information they can use to emphasise how their solution addresses those challenges. They can also research the price their competitors are asking for a specific product and then offer it to its customers at a discount.

All of this information is of great value to salespeople – but it’s often underutilised.

In summary, overall we’ve found that many salespeople should think differently about the way they sell, putting an end to junk calls and aiming to call the right customers, at the right time, for the right reasons – and with the necessary background information to hand.