By Simon Hazeldine
Have you ever dug a big, deep hole and then been stupid enough to fall into it? Countless people unwittingly dig fatal sales traps for themselves that kill off any chance of a sale being made. Five of the most common traps that you must avoid are detailed below….
1) Thinking about the sale too much
When you are in the selling process you must stop thinking about the sale. Once you have set your sales objective for your call put it out of your mind and concentrate on the customer and what they want. Get the dollar signs out of your eyes, forget your objective and focus on the most important person – the customer. Help them to get what they need and the sale will take care of itself.
2) Failing to probe
If you truly want to help the customer then you must probe their needs thoroughly. Failing to ask enough questions and failing to clarify customer’s requirements leads to sales proposals that are off target. If your proposal doesn’t meet the customer’s specific needs, your chances of success are slim.
3) Negotiating too early
Selling is convincing someone to purchase your product or service. Negotiation is agreeing on what terms the purchase will take place. If you start negotiating before you have followed the correct selling process then you are, quite literally, selling yourself short. If the customer does not fully appreciate how much you can help them then they are unlikely to be prepared to pay what you ask. Sell first, negotiate second. If you sell very well and convince the customer of the full value they are going to get then you may not need to negotiate at all.
4) Price dropping
Many customers, particularly trained buyers, will always tell you that your price is “too expensive”. Many salespeople immediately drop their price (and cut their profits) in an attempt to close the sale. This only encourages the customer to ask for further price cuts. One of the many counters to “It’s too expensive” is, “you are absolutely right, it’s not cheap. Would you like to know why?” And then re-commence selling the benefits of your product or service to justify your price. Discounting should be the last thing you do, not the first thing you do.
5) Failing to follow up
A sale isn’t a sale until the money is in the bank. Failure to do what you say you are going to do will lose you more sales than anything else. Always do what you promised to do, make sure the customer gets what they want, and make sure they pay you for it. The selling process is far from over when the customer says ‘Yes’. Follow through and make sure you don’t lose the sale through poor customer service.
About the author
Simon Hazeldine works internationally as a revenue growth and sales performance conference speaker, coach, seminar leader and trainer. He provides his speeches, consultancy, training and coaching in person and remotely.
His focus is on helping his clients to grow their revenue and empowering and enabling them to win more sales, more often, with more margin.
Simon’s client list includes some of the world’s largest and most successful companies and as a highly experienced and in-demand international speaker he has spoken in over 30 countries.
He combines over 35 years of commercial experience with in-depth research into performance psychology and applied neuroscience. Simon is the creator of the “Brain Friendly Selling”® methodology.
He has a master’s degree in the psychology of performance, is the bestselling author of ten books that have been endorsed by a host of business leaders including multi-billionaire business legend Michael Dell and is co-founder and host of the leading sales podcast “The Sales Chat Show”.
