The 25 Most Common Sales Mistakes and How to Avoid Them

. . . And How to Avoid Them

Stephan Schiffman

• Publisher: Adams Media
• Year: 2009
• eBook ISBN: 9781440513893
• Topic: Business
• Subtopic: Business General
• Index: Business

" 25 Sales Mistakes is essential for any professional or organization committed to sales excellence. "
--Michael A. Berman, Chief Operating Officer, Outside VenturesIn the newest edition of this valuable manual, Stephan Schiffman offers updated advice to salespeople about getting prospects and making the sale. It's not just what you do--it's what you don't do:

• Don't sell against a competitor
• Don't be satisfied
• Don't stop getting ideas
• Don't use boilerplate proposals
• Don't overuse e-mail

The book also includes a new introduction and updated text. Schiffman offers salespeople the kind of advice--from listening to the client to following up on the sale--that has made him the best corporate sales trainer today. With Schiffman's book in their pocket, salepeople can avoid common blunders and make the sale.

MISTAKE #1

Not Being Obsessed

You must like what you are doing for a living—selling— enough to become obsessed with it. Not fifteen-hours-a-day obsessed, but rather I-have-absolutely-got-to-do-this-right-day-in-and-day-out obsessed.

For my money, the most crucial word in sales today is obsession; close behind it are two supporting ideas, utilization and implementation. Let’s talk a little bit about what these three words really mean for you.

Obsession

Every day, I make twenty cold calls. And by making twenty cold calls, I can get through to maybe seven people. Once I get through to seven people, I’ll usually set up one appointment. I do that five days a week, which, by extension, means that every week, I have, on average, five new sales appointments. I close one out of five, so at the end of the year, I should have fifty new customers.

I mention my daily routine—my obsession, if you will, my repetitive, second-nature approach to sales—so that you’ll know I’m not just talking theory here. Many sales books are written by people who have retired or gotten out of business. I have not retired, I’m too young to retire, and I’m having too much fun to get out of business. I am an active, professional salesperson. I also happen to be president of one of the country’s top sales training firms; part of the reason for our success is that the people we work with know that we practice exactly what we preach, day in and day out.

In order for you to be successful in sales, you must be absolutely, positively obsessed with your work while you’re doing it. You have to be so dedicated to the idea that you can satisfy a customer with your product or service that you move into a whole new work realm: a realm where there is simply no place for watching the clock, wishing it were time for a coffee break, or wondering how the Jets are going to do against the Patriots Sunday. That’s not to say there’s no place for any of these things in your life—just that there’s no place for any of these things while you’re working. Now, this doesn’t mean you must take yourself so seriously that you become a workaholic and have a heart attack at thirty-eight. It means you must make a commitment to yourself, and build up a routine that is success oriented.

Of course, we should note here that obsession without discipline often results in chaos. As obsessive as you want to get about being successful, all that energy must be coupled with discipline or you’re not going to get anywhere.

Utilization

This means utilizing everything at your disposal to increase your success. In a way, it’s being obsessive about getting the most from your environment.

Burrow through company brochures and catalogs to learn everything you can about your product. Have regular meetings with your sales manager to discuss your performance and get new ideas. Use books like this one, or motivational tapes, to put you on the right track. In short, utilize your tools! Such tools needn’t be limited to things you can hold in your hand. Have you shown customers your office or plant? Have you reviewed past company successes with your prospect? Have you invited current and potential clients to company social outings? Be creative. Once you stop to think about it, you’ll be amazed at how many excellent tools go completely ignored by salespeople.

Implementation

Or, if you prefer, just do it; make the effort in the first place. All the sales books in the world won’t help you if you don’t try.

Don’t fall prey to the “paralysis of analysis.” One of the beautiful things about sales is that it’s an extremely binary way to make a living. You’re either making a sale or you’re not. Make every effort to be “on” during every moment you actually communicate with potential customers. Take nothing for granted, and don’t get bogged down with overpreparation. Do it.

I realize, of course, that research has its place. But you should never forget that if you don’t make the calls, your efforts are going to be in vain. Selling is selling: going after people and talking to them. Don’t lose sight of that, and don’t let your obsession be misdirected into something that won’t help you put numbers on the board.

Three crucial ideas—obsession, implementation, and utilization. How do you make sure you’re incorporating them? Here are some tips:

Make a to-do list. I dentify important objectives before you start the day; then work like crazy to attain the objectives on your list.

Keep your motivation up. This book is an excellent start; you might also eventually turn to motivational tapes or seminars. Whatever your approach, make a commitment to find one new idea a month and run with it.

Start early. Try coming into the office forty-five minutes before everyone else does. You’ll be amazed at what you can accomplish, and how big a jump you’ll get on your day. Don’t think of it as an inconvenience—think of it as an advantage. And just do it.

Be obsessive, but disciplined. Utilize everything you have at your fingertips; then implement. It’s a proven recipe for success.

MISTAKE #2

Not Listening to the Prospect

Perhaps the easiest way to distinguish successful salespeople from unsuccessful ones is to watch how they interact with a prospect. Do they do all the talking, never letting the prospect get a word in edgewise? If so, it’s a good bet you’re looking at a failure.

You must let the prospect speak about himself or herself; the information you’ll receive as a result is invaluable. Ramrodding your points through, and merely overpowering the person rather than showing how you can help, is a sure way for you to descend into the stereotypical “hard sell” that no one likes. Such behavior is a great way to lose sales.

To be sure, you and I really believe that our product will help the person we are sitting across the table from. And yet, even though we believe that in our bones, we have to listen—not lecture. Listening is the only way to target the product to the unique set of problems and concerns the prospect presents to us. By staying focused on the objective of helping the prospect (rather than “getting” the prospect), we build trust. And trust is vitally important.

When you get right down to it, a good salesperson doesn’t so much sell as help. You can pass along important information, and ask for the sale after you’ve demonstrated clearly how your product can help achieve an important objective—but ultimately, the prospect has to make the decision, not you. Ideally, you have to know what it will take for the prospect to do the selling himself or herself. In this environment, listening becomes very important.

Listening doesn’t just mean paying attention to the words that come out of the prospect’s mouth. Very little of what we actually communicate is verbal; most is nonverbal. Be sure you’re “listening” in such a way that allows you every opportunity to pick up on nonverbal cues. By doing this—letting the prospect get across what’s important to him or her—you’ll stand out from the vast majority of other salespeople, who simply talk too much.

When your prospect wonders something aloud, give the person enough time to complete the thought. When your prospect asks you a pointed question, do your best to answer succinctly—then listen for the reaction. Allow the speaker to complete sentences—never interrupt. (What’s more, you should let the prospect interrupt you at any time to get more information from you.) Express genuine interest in the things the prospect says. Keep an ear out for subtle messages and hints the prospect may be sending you.

When you do talk or make a presentation, don’t drone on; keep an eye on your prospect to make sure what you’re saying is interesting. If it isn’t, change gears and start asking questions about the problems the prospect faces—you are probably missing something important. Of course, you should never come across as hostile or combative to the prospect.

You probably already know that the first ten or fifteen seconds you spend with a prospect have a major impact on the way the rest of the meeting goes. This is because there is an intangible, feeling-oriented “sizing-up” phenomenon that occurs early on in any new relationship.

Much of who you are and how you are perceived as a communicator—brash or retiring, open or constricted, helpful or manipulative—will be on display in a subtle but crucial manner in the opening moments of your first meeting with someone. Make sure you are sending the messages you want to send. Before the meeting, avoid preoccupations with subjects that have nothing to do with the client; these will carry over even if they never come up in conversation.

How do you improve your listening skills? Here’s one idea. Always take notes during your meetings with prospects. As we’ll see later, this dramatizes your attention and respect for the prospect’s needs. (And if you think it’s impossible to listen and take notes at the same time, you’re wrong—the two actually reinforce each other.)

Once the conversation has begun to pick up some steam, take out a legal pad and write down the most important points the prospect makes during your presentation; read essential details back to him or her before the meeting ends. Where appropriate, ask the prospect to expand on key concerns.

That’s all very well in theory, you may be thinking. But what if the conversation is going nowhere? How do I listen if there’s nothing to listen to? Shouldn’t I make a pitch?

Probably not. The odds are that, early on in the meeting, you simply do not know enough about your prospect yet to go into a long presentation. So avoid doing that. Instead, focus your questions on three simple areas: the past, the present, and the future.

What kind of widget service was used in the past? What are the company’s present widget needs? What does the prospect anticipate doing with regard to widgets in the future?

Add a “how” and a “why” where appropriate, and that’s really all you need. Take notes on the responses you get.

After you resummarize the points the prospect has made, you may be ready to talk in more detail about exactly what you can do to help solve the prospect’s problems. But be sure that you listen first.

M ISTAKE #3

Not Empathizing with the Prospect

Put yourself in the prospect’s shoes—you’ll understand how to sell to the person better.

An empathizing attitude is a far cry from what most salespeople feel about their customers. The typical comment I hear on the matter goes something like this: “Frankly, it doesn’t matter to me why the guy bought what he bought; he bought it. And I got the commission.” Does that sound to you like the way to build repeat sales?

Certainly, it is crucial to put numbers up on the board. But that’s exactly why you must always make sure you’re making every effort to see things from the prospect’s point of view.

Sometimes salespeople forget to take into consideration what is going on in the other person’s head. But think about your own experiences. Did you ever walk into a room where a person was angry, but you didn’t know it? Maybe you wanted a coworker to give you a hand on a project you were having trouble with. So you stepped in and made your request in an offhand way, and before you knew it, the other person was barking out orders, stomping around the room, and generally making your life difficult. You probably could have gotten further with your task if you’d taken a moment to size up how the other person was feeling—and why.

Try to establish what is going on in the prospect’s life on a given day: what feelings are likely to surface? For example, if you are dealing with someone whose company is going through a merger, you can make a guess that the prospect may well be concerned about losing his or her job. Perhaps this is not the person who should be subjected to your most aggressive approach. Perhaps things should go a little more slowly.

Just as important, bear in mind that the prospect you are talking to is going to be doing something that many businesspeople try to avoid: talking to a salesperson. It’s a little naive to assume that your first visit with someone is going to be eagerly anticipated; in all likelihood, the person has probably managed to set aside a few minutes for you out of a very busy day. Treat the prospect with respect, and realize that you are probably not the most important thing that’s going to happen to him or her that day.

How do you find out about the person you are talking to, so you can empathize? The best way, of course, is to ask appropriate questions and carefully monitor what comes back to you in response. More importantly, make an effort to be sincere. Sincerity is often the last thing people expect from a salesperson.

Do you really care about the people that you talk to? If you don’t, this attitude will show through. One salesperson I worked with some years ago simply could not sell to anyone younger than about forty-five. The reason? Deep down, he really didn’t respect his younger prospects. They...

Table of contents

• Cover Page
• Title Page
• Copyright Page
• Dedication
• Contents
• Introduction to the Third Edition
• Introduction
• MISTAKE #1: Not Being Obsessed
• MISTAKE #2: Not Listening to the Prospect
• MISTAKE #3: Not Empathizing with the Prospect
• MISTAKE #4: Seeing the Prospect as an Adversary
• MISTAKE #5: Getting Distracted
• MISTAKE #6: Not Taking Notes
• MISTAKE #7: Failing to Follow Up
• MISTAKE #8: Not Keeping in Contact with Past Clients
• MISTAKE #9: Not Planning the Day Efficiently
• MISTAKE #10: Not Looking Your Best
• MISTAKE #11: Not Keeping Sales Tools Organized
• MISTAKE #12: Not Taking the Prospect’s Point of View
• MISTAKE #13: Not Taking Pride in Your Work
• MISTAKE #14: Trying to Convince, Rather Than Convey
• MISTAKE #15: Underestimating the Prospect’s Intelligence
• MISTAKE #16: Not Keeping Up to Date
• MISTAKE #17: Rushing the Sale
• MISTAKE #18: Not Using People Proof
• MISTAKE #19: Humbling Yourself
• MISTAKE #20: Being Fooled by “Sure Things”
• MISTAKE #21: Taking Rejection Personally
• MISTAKE #22: Not Assuming Responsibility
• MISTAKE #23: Underestimating the Importance of Prospecting
• MISTAKE #24: Focusing on Negatives
• MISTAKE #25: Not Showing Competitive Spirit
• NEW MISTAKE #26: Not Having a Fallback Position
• NEW MISTAKE #27: Not Asking for the Sale
• NEW MISTAKE #28: Not Getting Enough Information
• NEW MISTAKE #29: Not Knowing When to Stop Talking
• NEW MISTAKE #30: Taking a Leisurely Sales Approach
• Quick Reference Summary