Mistakes Salespeople Accidentally Make

Mistakes Salespeople Accidentally Make:

When it comes to generating new business, there are things salespeople know they should do—things they’ve read about and trained for.

And then there are things, because of their personalities or misinformation they’ve heard along the way, that they do badly—or shouldn’t do at all. They’re making mistakes, thinking they’re doing the right thing but all along their sales steadily drop.

For some salespeople, the mistake starts right out of the gate with their initial contact with prospects. They send one email, send a follow-up email, and a follow-up phone call, but the prospect doesn’t respond. Or they call the prospect a couple times and leave voice mail, and then follow up with an email. Again, they get no response from the person.

One’s natural inclination is to think the prospect isn’t interested, but that would be wrong, writes Dan McDade in his article The Costly Assumption Most Salespeople Make. In fact, of all the incorrect assumptions salespeople make, this is the most costly in terms of losing valuable opportunities, he says.

That’s because chances are when you’re reaching out to a prospect, he isn’t yet ready to make a purchase. Analysis shows that it takes 12 touches, using various media spanning multiple buying cycles before a prospect indicates he’s interested, McDade says.

“One of the most important processes is the systematic application of an integrated multi-touch, multimedia, and multi-cycle contact strategy. This type of approach is required to engage today’s buyers given their hectic schedules and multitasking work styles,” he says.

Along those lines, sellers often forget that they can—and should—use holidays as a reason to reach out to prospects and clients. Don’t think that they’re too busy with holiday planning, personal or professional, to respond to you. In actuality, people are more apt to respond to a holiday-related email, writes Kendra Lee in her article Use Holiday Emails to Give Your Prospecting a Boost.

The key is to not push a sale in those emails. You’re simply reaching out to tell them you’re thinking about them on a special day, she says.

“As you put together your holiday emails, you shouldn’t be looking to gather leads or opportunities in a straightforward way. In fact, when you do receive responses from prospective clients, my advice is to keep things light and simply remind them that you’d love to get together to catch up,” Lee says. “When they respond to that, then you can set a time for the appointment.”

Social Media Faux Pas

Social media has been the greatest thing since sliced bread for sales and marketing professionals. When used well, you can develop relationships with buyers, get referrals, and establish yourself as an industry expert. When used badly, you become more chatter in a wall of noise—or worse, blocked by people you want to connect with.

The biggest mistake is doing things that remove the “personal-ness” of the medium and eroding trust people have in you, writes Charles H. Green in his article How Social Media Can Help—or Hurt—Your Reputation.

“Any social media attempt at mass-scale communication, or at mass-produced content, is doomed by its nature to appear impersonal at best and crassly selfish at worst. It cannot create personal trust. And thus it cannot be a good foundation for reputation,” he says.

To have a trust-based reputation, you must provide consistent trustworthy customer experiences, Green says. This is not new; only the medium is different.

“The power of social media, for those willing to see it, lies in making the world more personal, not less so. You do that by simply behaving personally in a trustworthy manner, online as in everywhere else. Your reputation will rise in comparison to those who don’t, he says.

Don’t Disregard Relationship-Based Selling

It’s no secret that people buy from people and organizations that they like. Not only that, but if you and your organization maintain a strong relationship, chances are you’ll get referral business. Relationship-selling works, as evidenced by Simplicity Consulting, which went from generating $300,000 in revenue to $11.5 million in just three years following that model.

CEO Lisa Hufford’s approach is to focus on the deliverable, writes Mary Flaherty in her case study of the firm Relationship-Based Sales Model Grows Consulting Firm from $300K to $11.5M in 3 Years. Projects often change in Hufford’s industry, so she works closely with clients from the beginning to get a good handle on the work required. The quote is based on the deliverable, and then she carefully matches a consultant to the project. The goal is to meet the clients’ unique needs.

“I believe it’s all about quality, not quantity,” Hufford says, “Clients don’t have the time to screen candidates. They just want to go somewhere they trust to find quality resources.”

Hufford’s relationship approach is a large part of her marketing, as well. She spends a lot of time networking, speaking to groups at large corporations, and educating companies on how to reduce costs and leverage resources in a new way.

“In a people business—especially one just starting out—it’s all about relationships, and that takes a lot of face-to-face meetings,” says Hufford.

A Salesperson’s Failing Trait: Arrogance

With success comes confidence and pride. Confidence is a good thing. But when that confidence morphs into arrogance, watch out.

“Attitude is altitude,” says Harvey Mackay, author of The Mackay MBA of Selling in the Real World and Swim with the Sharks without Being Eaten Alive. A positive attitude helps you succeed. Too much attitude, however, can cause a salesperson’s failure, he says.

“I’ve studied companies and why they go under. I’ve studied individuals and why they go down, why they’re not successful. It’s because arrogance sets in,” says Mackay in his podcast interview The Trait that Causes Salespeople to Fail. “People get successful, and they get chapped lips from kissing the mirror too much. Hubris sets in.”

And arrogance isn’t something you can mask, he says. Buyers can see right through a salesperson who is so full of himself that he doesn’t think he has to develop client relationships. Arrogance prevents buyers from trusting you. And “without trust, you have nothing,” Mackay says.

Images by Cecile Graat