Selling is a process that will generate revenue. No business can survive without their sales team performing. . But sometimes you’ll find that it’s really hard to sell something because of mistakes that you’ve made over and over again. You’ve worked hard, you’ve tried different things, but you can’t seem to close a deal. Maybe there’s something wrong—prospect not returning your call, prospect not buying your product, prospect giving you a hard time, and many more! Here are 5 ways to avoid basic mistakes in selling:
Sometimes you’ve contacted a lot of prospects but you don’t end up with any customers. Why do these things happen?
It’s probably because you didn’t know much about your potential customers. You didn’t know their needs and they feel like they don’t need you. So, you should learn to qualify your potential customer before selling something to them. For example, these are the questions you need to find out:
- What is their business?
- How big is their firm?
- What is their budget?
- How urgent is the need for your product?
When having or meeting with a prospect, or even when you are making a cold call, these are the things that you need to find out. This will save you time by quickly getting rid of prospects that probably can’t afford your product or just don’t have the need.
Every customer has different needs and you should tailor your needs to your customers. But know where the limit is. If there are things your customers ask that is too much, do not be afraid to say no.
We all know the phrase “customer is king”. When you’re selling to them, they will ask you to customize or modify your product as you are selling to them, to fit their need. Each of these requests will cost you money and maximum effort. If you say, “yes” to every request, it will not only cost you money but it also lets the customer know that they can demand anything from you. Some might even take advantage of you.
If a customer wants something good and profitable, say yes. Otherwise, if a customer request for something unreasonable or something that is so hard to deliver, be brave to say no. Most likely you won’t lose them; even if you lose them, it just shows that your prospect is not serious about closing a deal. Never promise more than you can deliver.
3. Fix Your Elevator Pitch
When you meet with your potential customer to introduce your product, you will want to explain all the features, benefits and the other aspects of your product. Restrain yourself from doing this. They don’t care about all the features or benefits—they only care about how your product can help their business. Too much explanation will only confuse them.
In other words, explain your product in a brief sentence, let them know the benefits that related to their business and how it will help them. This is what people called an “elevator speech”. Finding the right way to explain about how your products will help your customer in less than 2 minutes is the key.
When doing a sales call, try to talk to your potential customer face-to-face so that they can tell you what they need. You will face the temptation to sell different things. Fight this urge. Focus your product pitch (see the point #3). “Selling” things that people don’t need will only lengthen the amount of time you close the deal that could potentially also increase chances to lose the deal.
If you have plenty of products, sell it to them one by one and don’t do it in a rush. Don’t be greedy. They can find you for different opportunity if they are satisfied with your product.
Imagine that you have countless prospects, numerous meetings and opportunities to close the deal. You should track all of the customer details, the deal progress and the scheduled meetings. You will not pitch effectively in front of the customer when you lose the details. You will confuse when you forget the progress of the deal. Or even worse, you forget the meeting schedule. You’ll definitely increase the probability to lose the deal.
This is avoidable by using some sort of sales management tool such as a CRM that will help you keep track of your prospect and leads.
Wrapping things up
At the end of the day, mistakes are unavoidable. You’re still going to make them—and they make the best teachers (and stories too!). But there are always ways to avoid simple ones to rid you of unnecessary hassles. Let us know what you think. Have you done these things and are still not seeing results? Do you want to know more about sales and marketing? Email us at hi@sales1crm.com.
