3 Mistakes a Sales Person Made (and How to Avoid Them)

The sales department of your organization is one of the front-runners when it comes to driving revenues for your business. Gone are the days when sales were driven based on conventional methods that only focused on hardcore sale of your product rather than focusing on a solution for the customer’s issue.
 

With the change in technology, the market and the mindsets of the customers it is very important that the sales department of your business adapts new ways and change the attitude to handle customers in this competitive market.
 

There are many mistakes that salespersons make on a day to day basis. These can be pushing the sales too hard, not being direct enough to the customer, not actively listening, not following up a customer once the sale is made, going off the topic, talking too much to the customer to a bothering extent or failing to distinguish yourself from the competition around you.
 

Most of the salespeople admit making at least one of these mistakes in their lifetime and luckily many of them have learnt a lot from them effectively.
 

Selling is an art and by polishing your skills, a salesperson can observe a significant increase in the company’s everyday sales. Also, customer visits are expensive, so if you are not able to make a sale in a particular time frame, all your efforts and expenses get wasted.
 

According to Zig Ziglar, “Every sales has five basic obstacles: no need, no money, no hurry, no desire and no trust. ”
 

If you want to make an effective sale every time a customer knocks your door, you need to avoid making some mistakes. Read more to know what are these most common mistakes that salespeople usually make and how they can be effectively avoided
 

It is important to ask questions to your customer, but at the same time, it is important to understand what kind of questions must be asked to the customer. On one hand, you want to gain your customer’s trust but make sure that you do not get so far off topic that you run out of time to make a sale you almost completed.
 

Try to focus on finding a solution for the customer, instead of asking questions about their whole life.
 

If you are a sales person and not asking hard questions to the customer, you are definitely wasting your time as well as theirs. Ask rigid questions that help the customer actually believe in your product. In some cases asking too many questions to the customer can leave them bothered unnecessarily and you might not be able to guess why. You can initially begin by introducing yourself and being friendly.
 

The next step is to find an appropriate time and ask questions like “How do you feel about our price?”, “Are you okay with the terms and conditions of our service”. These questions help you seal the deal with the customer.
 

Active listening constitutes one of the most important tasks for a sales person. If you are keep on talking then it is possible that you might miss out on the important things that the customer has to say. It may be a customer’s true concern or a solution that they are looking for.
 

A good salesman has less to speak because they are busy actively listening to the customer, and speaking only when they are required to, at the correct moment. Be quick to listen as your job is to meet the needs of the customer, not fulfil some vacant position. You can ask questions to your customer to avoid this situation and focus on bringing up a solution for them.
 

Focusing and telling the customer about deals and discounts is a good thing but your foremost priority should be to meet the needs of the customer. Take notes and learn from your previous mistakes so that you do not end up repeating them with the next customer.
 

A good salesperson must know when to close the deal. Many times I have seen sales people presenting too much in front of the customer, when the customer has already witnessed quite a lot of information.
 

Make sure you tell the customer what they want to know about your product. Overfeeding the customer with information might lead to delay in the appropriate time for closing a deal. If your presentation is too long, chances are that the customer might have received the required information long before you actually closed.
 

Bringing up the price early in a presentation makes you feel confident and also shows the customer that you have nothing to hide.
 

Also, it is important that you drop the conventional sales technique of waiting until the end of your presentation to disclose the price. It ultimately leaves the buyer wondering about your price the whole time, no matter how satisfying or intriguing your product is.
 

So, your customers end up being interrupted by the price, instead of evaluating the qualities of your product. Harry F. Banks has correctly quoted that a salesman minus enthusiasm is just another clerk.
 

According to W Clement Stone, “Sales are contingent upon the attitude of the salesman, not the attitude of the prospect”.
 

So if you want to make successful sales and earn profits for your business, you need to listen to your customer’s issue in a positive and assertive way. It all depends on the attitude of the sales person, which is why they are advised to stay positive and be optimistic about what they have to say.
 

The key is to be on time, not act too aggressive or get easily provoked by a customer reaction. Because, ultimately a sale is not something that you pursue but happens automatically and spontaneously when you are fully immersed in satisfying understanding and serving your customer.