Not Understanding Selling: The purpose of salespeople is to sell a service or a product. One should have knowledge of one’s company’s current style of selling and how it is analyzed so that it can be improved. One should know who the ideal customer is, and what he or she wants. One should know why some people buy his or her product and why they do not. One must gain knowledge of the service provided and the customers’ needs. Selling is not about being pushy and being aggressive, some regard that as “incompetent.” Companies must train their employees to be “professional salespeople or persuaders are low-key, service-oriented, and relationship-builders” (Hopkins, 2001, p. 311).
Expecting Things to Improve by Themselves: If someone is unskilled and incompetent in sales, one cannot expect that he or she will improve by themselves “Sales skills are not a gift of birth.” It is something that can be mastered with study and work. Watching people from personal experience will help you identify what makes people good and bad persuaders. Training salespeople is very important to having the difference between competent and incompetent sales people. For most salespeople sales do not come naturally. “Even though they may be naturally comfortable talking with others, the actual skill of persuading must be learned just as the ins and outs of the product or service must be learned in order to succeed” (p. 312).
Talking too much and Not Listening Enough: A salesperson does not just talk, they listen too. A salesperson should think of himself or herself as a detective. One must ask the right questions, take good notes, and “intently” listen to what the customer says as well as their body language. It is not about the talking, it is about asking the right questions that “lead down the path” and toward a sale (p. 312-313).
Using Words that Kill Sales: One tries to “paint a picture” with words when making a presentation in sales. “A few wrong word pictures can ruin the entire portrait” one is “trying to paint.” Sales people can use specific words that create negative thoughts in customers’ minds, which could mean the difference between a successful sale or an unsuccessful sale. Avoid using negative words. One can rephrase negative words into positive words (p. 313).
Not Knowing When to Close the Sale: Customers who leave a place of business without purchasing something are lost sales. A sales person must look for “buying signs.” These “signs” might be when they say “will” instead of “might.” For example, “Is it in stock?” or “Is there delivery?, are other signs that a customer is going to say yes to a sale. One uses these signs to help understand when to close a sale. Knowing “when to close” is an important element in sales (p. 313).
Not Knowing How to Close the Sale: One must ask “a question that moves the prospect into a position of having to make an ownership decision.” An example would be: “If I have the red one, do you want to take it with you today, or shall I ship it?” (p. 314)
Lack of Sincerity: Be sincere and mean it. Do not let greed get in the way, or you may not get anywhere. Make sure you are selling to benefit the customer and not yourself. A salesperson needs to be selling a product that they believe in and believe that it is good. If one does not believe in one’s product, a customer will “recognize” the insincerity and want nothing to do with the salesperson and the product. They will also tell their friends about it as well. Another effect is that one convincing them of something that one does not believe in, can make one seem like a con artist. As a salesperson, “selling or persuading others must be your sincere desire to serve others and help them get involved in something that is truly beneficial for them. Honesty and integrity are the key elements to every successful selling career” (p. 314)
Not Paying Enough Attention to Details: Not being prepared, by not paying attention to detail, can cause loss in sales. Not paying enough attention to a sales letter when there are grammatical errors, not being prepared for a presentation, or not knowing one’s product can result in a decline in sales. These are all signs of not doing ones best. If one cannot do this someone else will, and get the sale (p. 315).
Letting yourself Slump: Are you a bull sometimes and a bear other times? When being a bear, or in a slump, it takes a lot to get out of it. Try to be consistent with sales, in order to do so be a bull all of the time (p. 315).
Not Keeping in Touch: People do business with people who give them attention. All it takes is a couple of phone calls to keep customers. Call customers every so often to see how the product is doing, and if there is room for improvement. It shows that a company cares about the customer by keeping in touch (p. 315).
Lack of training is a large contributing factor of poor communication in sales; it is hazardous to a company’s “health.” Poor communication can result in a bad relationship between mangers and sales people; manufactures and sales people; or salespeople and customers. In the end it means a lack of sales and profit, which will lead to the inevitable, demise of a company
