Business
What is sales sabotage and why does it matter
These are things that are your fault and not under the control of the buyer. Sales sabotage is all of the things you do to break sales. All too often salespeople want to blame all loses on the prospect and never own up to the lost deals. You can sabotage your sales process an so many different ways. There are a list of ways that can be moved to the top of the list.
The longer you wait to own up to your mistakes the longer it takes for you to be a closer in sales. When you own up to your sales process it is the time where magic happens with your skills.
The top 12 reasons you commit sales sabotage
One of the greatest ways to grow your sales skills is to practice as much as you can. Not preparing or practicing through the use of roll play is a huge mistake. You may have to pay for your own coaching but you will increase your sales skills. The faster you can learn the more income you will make. If you run the same amount of sales calls as a year previous but increase the close rate your time is used more effectively.
Be prepared for the appointment
Not being prepared for the call with the right tools will cost you. The tool bag for salespeople can include:
- Paperwork
- Display
- Presentation
- Questionnaire
You know what you need to take on a sales presentation in order to close the sale. There is a minimum amount of information that you know needs to be brought with you. When you take the time to prepare early, you have all of the time you need to close the sale when you are with the buyer.
Being on time matters
Not being on time to a sales appointment is irresponsible. Your buyer is going to judge how serious you are about the deal from you being on time. How you start a relationship is how you treat the relationship. Your buyer or prospect is freaking out internally when you are late to an appointment. It does not take much effort to be on time. If you are late it is easy for your competition to talk trash on you.
Enthusiasm is contagious
No energy or enthusiasm can hurt your presentation. Its not a sales call, it’s a performance. This means each interaction is supposed to have a certain amount of energy to get engagement. If you want to be consistent in your sales presentation you will need to give the prospect good reason to pay attention.
A consistent sales presentation is important
If you fly by the seat of your pants through your presentation you will lose plenty of deals you could have closed. Not using a set sales process will lead to lost deals over and over again. If you are working with a coach or mentor it will be impossible for them to pinpoint why you are struggling if you don’t use a set process.
Bad rapport in sales
Most sales training focuses on building rapport with prospects. There are problems with rapport in sales presentations and there is a happy medium.
- Too much rapport and it will be used against you
- Not enough rapport and the conversation does not feel real.
- Fake rapport feels disingenuous to the buyer
Some salespeople will drag on the rapport process so that they don’t have to get to the closing process. When salespeople struggle they either pull away from the sale or spend too much time trying to fake rapport.
The I’m not a sales guy ploy
Pulling back from the sale in a way to prove you are not a salesperson is a rough way to try and prove worthiness to close deals. One of the reasons why salespeople fail is they cant admit they are a salesperson. When you stop using a sales process, add too much rapport and forget to close you will lose deals.
Negativity about the sales process is poisonous
Talking bad about your product or company may be one of the ways you get set up from a buyer. There are times where buyers get you to take small or large concessions by talking trash on the competition and you agree without knowing it. People who make purchases consistently are taught how to play games. Some manipulative people know these gambits from the beginning. You may not like where you work or your product line and complaining about it will cause you problems.
Have a set discount process
The use of automatic discounts that are steep do not allow the buyer to go through the process of making a purchase. Salespeople who are struggling will shoot for a large discount quickly in the hopes of a quick take down. This is a quick downward spiral and a huge loss of control. If you shoot for the quick process of concessions your price will not be seen as real and this removes large sections of trust.
Begging for a sale is a weak way to close
One of the weakest forms of salesmanship is begging for a deal. If you are struggling the last place to talk about it is in a sales presentation. When you beg for a sale you give all of the power you have to a buyer. Some buyers will be genuine and work with you, the majority of buyers will take advantage of you or see you as desperate. Another form of this is camping out and never asking for the sale.
You must learn negotiation skills
Weak negotiation skills are a problem for most of the sales world. There are a few places to learn how to negotiate better. Jim Camp and Chris Voss have some of the best negotiation courses available.
The fortune is in the follow up
No follow up is a problem in almost every industry. If you want to fix a hole in your sales process you will want to follow up and have a strong game plan. Not following up will lead to a loss of easy income. The best salespeople have a consistent follow up game plan.
You can beat sales sabotage when you pay attention to these 12 common mistakes salespeople make
Scott Sylvan Bell
@Scottsbell
#sales #closer #success #podcast #howtosellshow #Sacramento
This episode was recorded in Sacramento California
If you want to learn how to follow up check out this episode
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