Three of Three--How Salespeople BLOW IT!

This is part three of three bolg posts on the top 10 ways that sales professionals blow it every day! Blow what? Opportunity, sales, margins, growth, sales, customer relationships, etc. Read this post along with the last few and decide if you are guilty and if you can afford to continue to be.

7. They are unaware of who (or what) they are up against.
The competition for a prospect or customer’s time, attention, and money is greater now than it ever has been. We not only are up against competing companies and vendors in the marketplace, we are also up against things like internal competition, the current vendor, internal pressure to fund something else (another project), and indifference (no action). When we are up against others, we need to be aware of who they are, how they sell, what they say, what they offer, and what it costs. We need to do SWOT analyses (Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, and Threats) of the products and services offered by our competition so that we can professionally create and discuss our differentiators. When faced with internal competition, we must understand what it is and do our best to navigate the political and economic environment with our customer to best help them understand the value of choosing our offering.
Getting blindsided by any competition is a direct result of lack of preparation (you need to know what your going to run into) and a failure to listen to the things both said and un-said by our prospects and customers.

8. They lead with price and cry when price resistance comes up.
This is a big one. I have hundreds of salespeople every year complain about customers getting more price sensitive and cheap. They say that every time, without fail, their customers try to beat them up on price. After many ride-alongs with salespeople this year, I have discovered that it is the salesperson, more often than not, that actually brings up price very early in the conversation. They say things like, “Mr. Customer, we want to make sure that we get you the very best price that we can” or “I promise that we will definitely figure out the best way to save you money on this purchase” or “We have the best price in the industry.” These are the same people who get mad when the prospect or customer brings up the fact that they need a lower price! Well who do you think planted that seed??
We must be prepared for price concerns, but we cannot lead with our wallets! Again, the customer gets something out of the ownership of your product or service. Speak to that! The less you focus on the cost or the price, the less they will. The more you focus on the benefits of ownership, the more they will. And the more they focus on that, the more they will be willing to pay.

9. They don’t have enough opportunity in the pipeline.
It has been said that the best sales strategy is a full pipeline of business. What does this mean? When salespeople have a lot of prospects that are in their pipeline of business, they intuitively make moves that position themselves and their companies in more of a positive, confident light. They do not waver or buckle to terms or pricing demands of customers. They have a greater tendency towards action. In contrast, a salesperson who has very little in his or her pipeline tends to come across desperate. We watch these salespeople bow to the pressure and buckle to the demands of prospective customers. Instead of working from a position of strength, these salespeople work from weakness and hope!

10. They are simply not the right person for the job!
The profession of selling is for sales professionals. Sales pros have certain characteristics and traits that are necessary for sustained sales success. Too often we have people in the position of salesperson by default! Not only do they not possess the things needed for the Smart Selling approach (empathy, listening ability, curiosity, persistence, tenacity, assertiveness, self-belief, a bias for growth, etc.), but they also have very little, if any, training.
The position of sales professional for any company must be one that is filled with great attention to detail. Too often we find companies hiring QUICKLY to fill a spot on their sales team roster. On top of that, the subsequent training that goes into that new hire is typically centered on product training and not enough around the customer and/or the sales process. The result: Too many BLOWN sales or lost opportunities.

Take a look at the performance of your sales team over the past year. How many of your salespeople are going to reach their goal this year? How many of them are heading out into this competitive market half-cocked? How many are “winging it” every day in hopes of divine intervention? How much value do they add? How well do they differentiate themselves and thus your company from the competition? How often do they run up against the “wall” of price resistance?

Do your best to identify and isolate these areas and move towards elimination of them. Don't SUCK!!