It won’t be a lie to say that sales are all about interpersonal communication and relationships, because such things as trust and rapport building are the key factors of closing a deal successfully and building long-lasting relationships with a customer - it is more relatable for B2B sector, nonetheless, it does relate to all segments of sales, more or less for each case.
Thus, how to make the sales performance more effective, if putting aside qualifications and training process of your sales reps? Eliminate mistakes from time to time. Even one wrongly chosen word can destroy the entire work spent on those qualified leads, which means avoiding making common sales mistakes is the best way to improve your sales effectiveness here and now. There are many common pitfalls to take into consideration, including wrong sales approach, too aggressive sales pitches, poor follow-up questions, wrong closing questions, etc.
But what are those common sales mistakes? What are the dos and donts in sales? What are common mistakes salespeople often forget about? That’s the point we are going to talk about here.
What is a common mistake in sales?
Sales presentation is a process where even a small mistake can destroy all the deal - and one the of the biggest mistakes salespeople make is that they think they can make no mistake. It can be not asking quality questions, wasting precious time, not offering personalized solutions, not listening to potential client, or reaching out to people who don't make buying decisions - whatsoever. Also, a bad habit is to think that you can rely only on oratory skills and personal background - even common objections can sometimes cause too many issues, and the key takeaway is that everyone can make a mistake. B2B sales strategy has to focus on each crucial touchpoint to catch the attention of the customer - it is about common sense, but the secret sauce in B2B sales strategy is to adapt to every customer individually, create signature sales pitches, and let a sales leader to use his best skills to get the deal done.
Nevertheless, there are some mistakes you can keep in mind to make your sales performance more effective without launching any huge training programs or hiring new employees.
Top 18 common sales mistakes to get rid of
1. Not researching your target audience
First and foremost, sales are about using all you know about the prospect to find the most effective way to get the deal closed. In other words, the more you know about the prospect, the higher is the chance for you to convert this prospect into customer. Thus, it is a generally accepted process to research the needs and expectations of the target audience by using specific buyer persona, or to even research each single prospect, which is especially important and popular in B2B sales, where one single LinkedIn account can give you enough information to find connection points for further communication with a prospect. Nonetheless, one of the most common sales mistakes is to ignore the importance of the research stage - and if in B2C sales it can be advocated in some cases, in B2B industry this alone can make your entire sales strategy useless - it just won’t work.
2. Talking too much
Have you even heard that one of the most important skills for the sales professional is active listening? If not, here is why - the goal is not to try to convince a prospect with an endless monologue about how fascinating your product is, but to start a dialogue, during which customer can give you information about his or her pain points, issues to resolve, business challenges or even personal preferences which can make the difference. Thus, experienced sales professionals prefer more to listen than to talk - this is why open-ended questions are so popular in sales conversations. Let prospect talk about their issues, and this is the way to build trust - you can’t find a tailored approach to a person if you don’t let this person talk enough - that’s one of the common sales mistakes.
3. Making false promises
One of the things that all people hate is when someone promises to do something he won’t do, or even can’t do - and this relates to common sales mistakes.This can be interpreted either as a sign that you are not serious or that you are manipulating the facts - neither of these two conclusions is good for you. This can not even relate to the product itself, but more importantly, it can be mentioned in smaller details - for instance, you promised to provide real cases of implementation of your solution with statistics which prove its effectiveness, while you can’t provide such cases, or that you offered no hidden fees for your product, but they are charged. Thus, think twice before making a promise - do it only when you are 100% confident you are ready to keep it.
4. Not being ready for sales objections
If you ask any of the sales professionals with deep experience in this industry about what do they hear the most often, it will be “No” or “Not interested”. How do they sell if that’s what they hear on a daily basis? Well, they are ready for overcoming these objections, because when the objections are said, it is the real start of the sales conversation. Many salesmen are just focusing on the most positive way for the sales conversation to go on - they believe that every single prospect will say “Yes”, or at least won’t try to object very much. Nonetheless, that’s not how it is going - at least 50% of your sales calls have just no chance to be closed, while other 50% can become a long story with 10 or more follow-up calls just to get communication running, without even coming to the object of the sales pipeline. The best way to deal with objections is to write them out - let your salesmen see what they have to deal with the most often and find the best ways to deal with them - write out some best responses for these objections, for instance. Remember - there are thousands of sales objections to deal with, but only a few that can’t be overcame, and not understanding it is one of common sales mistakes.
5. Not getting your sales pitches tested
Sales pitch is the most important part of your entire sales process - this is the thing customer has to accept. Good sales pitches are sharp, short and comprehensive, but not of them work even if they fit these three parameters. Why? Well, because there is no other way to research the effectiveness of your sales pitch is to test it in a real sales conversation, and not even in one or in a few. You also have to understand that designing one or two sales pitches is not enough - you have to get more of them to compare the outcomes of their use, so don’t make this one of common sales mistakes.
6. Not working on buyer persona
Well, we could have named this paragraph as “don’t try to sell wrong goods to wrong people”, but that’s how it is called more precisely - businesses that don’t understand their ideal customer persona (ideal customer profile) are trying to sell anything to anyone with obvious consequences. First of all, it is not that difficult to create a customer profile - you do know who purchase your goods, and you do know their key characteristics that differentiate them from other people. This is how business can find out what is its target market and target audience - nonetheless, not all use this. Before you will deal with low-performing sales strategy, deal with your buyer persona - perhaps you are just trying to sell ice to the Eskimo, which is a classic example of common sales mistakes.
7. Talking to wrong people
What is one of the biggest sales mistakes to avoid ever done? Talking to people who are not in power to make the decision about your offer. This is not a rare occasion in B2B sales - salesmen reach out to who they can, and start selling. They can even do everything right, the issue is that it doesn’t matter whether you convince this person or no - the decision won’t be made without other people involved, and the case is that you don’t even know them. Thus, try to always find out whether the man you are talking to is the decision-maker or no - if not, then find a way to have a talk with the one who makes such purchasing decisions.
8. Don’t analyzing the work done
Salesmen always come back to their previous sales conversations - this is how they evolve and find areas of improvement. Nonetheless, there are always people who don’t want to do their homework - either they think that they do everything right, or they are not interested in self-development. Every sales call is the best way to learn how sales work and what sales mistakes are done during such conversations - therefore, ignoring the importance of self-learning on your personal experience on on the experience of more trained specialists is the way to stagnation.
9. Not showing value
What makes people purchase products? Well, while in B2C sector the factor of impulsivity makes the difference, in B2B you have to provide the exact value for the customer which will make your product needed. Some salespeople prefer to focus on some other details which seem to be essential, but they don’t really matter - and most often it is about price. Price doesn’t sell goods, the value does. Thus, we repeat it once again in case of this one of common sales mistakes - research your prospect and listen to them carefully to find out their pain points and issues you can resolve with your offer, and this will be the best way to add value for your potential customers.
10. Going too far when trying to convince a prospect
What is this point about regarding common sales mistakes? Well, we all have met salespeople who talk too much about their solution, and when they don’t have anything to say, they try to keep conversation going with exceeding the limits of what the sales conversation is. Some people even abuse this to drain information from the salesmen - they ask them about some precise tips on the subject, where salesmen are experts, and salesmen provid this information as they think it is the only way to stop customer from hanging the call up. Nonetheless, this will not make you a deal - a prospect will just use this information for free, instead of accepting your offer. Thus, know the limits - it is okay to explain some things, but writing a turnkey business plan or something like that is too much as for a sales conversation.
11. Debating with a prospect
It is one of the most common sales mistakes - when prospect says something incorrect or just something controversial, and the sales representative is starting the debate in order to change customer’s mind. First and foremost, there is a little chance you will change someone’s deep beliefs. Secondly, arguing with a customer is a sign that a sales manager can’t control the conversation flow - and thus he can’t control the sales process at all. You have to stay calm and use real arguments with social proofs to overcome objections and to win the conversation - otherwise, you will get nothing but a headache.
12. Not asking tough questions
We did mention the importance of open-ended questions in the case of common sales mistakes, but open-ended questions can be different. This means that open-ended question can be as comfortable as possible for your prospect, for instance, “Tell me about your busines goals?”, which is the way for prospect to give himself a moment of self-advertising, while they can also be tough - and many salesmen fear it. Thus, they avoid to ask such key questions - even though they can be a key to closing a deal. For example, it can be “Why have you ended the relationships with our competitor after 2 years of partnership?”, or “Are you comfortable with our pricing policy?”.
13. Agreeing on everything
One of the most common sales mistakes some salespeople think that the best way to win a customer is to become as soft as possible, including agreeing with everything they say. First of all, this is a way to nowhere - in B2B, such behavior will be considered at least strange. Secondly, agreeing on everything means you have no opinion on the subject, which means you can’t make any valuable statements - and thus you can’t guarantee the product you sell meets your description of it. By the way, people love to communicate with personalities, and every personality is formed with its genuine opinions, so customer experience isn't universal, as isn't any sales opportunity.
14. Turning sales conversation into a small talk
When we say that controlling the flow of the sales conversation is vital, we do mean it is one of the most important parts of sales at all. There are too many cases wehn the sales conversation starts good, it is related to the subject, but customer starts telling some small story that has a little in common with the topic - and thus the sales conversation loses its purpose. Keep the communication close to the topic to reach the sales goals - you can’t sell when you don’t talk about the sale itself, and it is one of the most common sales mistakes ever made.
15. Not having follow-up strategy
You do know that sales conversations don’t end with the sale in 99% of cases, while sales process can take dozens of touchpoints before the deal will be closed, but one of the common sales mistakes to make is that young and inexperienced salespeople prepare only for the first call. When it ends, they feel that this is it and they can keep pushing - but there is no plan for follow-up. When to call? What to say? Will it be appropriate? Too many uncertainties in one situation, don’t you agree?
16. Bashing competitors
Some salespeople do use this trick, but there is one vital thing to keep in mind - you can agree with a customer who says something bad about a competitor - even though it will be more galant to step over it, but you should never ever start this topic on your own. First of all, it is the issue of professional ethics. Secondly, no one will value the person who uses any chance to insult competitors - that’s not the good way to impress your potential buyers, but one of common sales mistakes.
17. Not talking as professional does
There are too many cases when a salesman, who is meant to be a professional and a person of good personal qualities, talks inappropriately in terms of etiquette and filler words - and this is also an example of common sales mistakes. Even using too much of “kinda” or something like that can kill the entire conversation - you have to make an impression not only as a professional, but as a person also to convince prospects that you deserve their trust. This also relates to body language and clothing during live meetings - salesmen have to radiate self-confidence and energy.
18. Not being flexible in terms of communication
One of the main sales mistakes is creating problems for the customer when it comes to communication - some salespeople do sell only through phone calls, while others prefer live meetings only. We do live in 21st century, which means that if customer prefer texting, you have to adapt to it. The same is with calls - you can use video calls to create more personal communication environment if the customer isn’t ready for one-to-one meeting in office. By the way, location also matters - some people just don’t want to meet with you in the office, so provid them with options your customer base wants.
Conclusion
Sometimes sales go wrong, and it’s okay. Nevertheless, it is not great idea to avoid analyzing the issue and finding the root cause of the problem - in most cases, it will turn out you have done one of selling mistakes. Mistake salesman can do isn’t a sign of low professionalism, but an area for improvement - and this guide is not here to help you do no sales mistakes, but to help you avoid sales failures that are the most common - for individual cases you will have to sit down and analyze everything until you won’t find the cause.
Get your sales teams trained, and provide each sales person an opportunity to train and evolve. This relates to gaining new sales skills, learning sales techniques, handling objections in sales, and other aspects of improving the sales craftsmanship. In other words, work more on improving your sales teams - a successful sales rep is a person who is interested in successful sales career and who is ready to deal with every sales interaction or sales meeting as it is the only chance remains.
