- Let me ask you a question.
Do you know exactly what
you're doing correctly in a selling situation?
And at the same time,
do you know some of the mistakes
that you're making right now?
One of the challenges that sales people face
is that prospects don't tell us when we're screwing up
so we don't know what we're doing well
and what we're sometimes doing
that's actually repelling prospects away from us.
It's causing them to end the sale in their head,
but we don't ever know that it's happening.
In this video, I'm going to show you
the nine biggest sales mistakes to avoid at all cost.
Check it out.
(clicking) (whooshes)
Number one, doing what they expect.
Take a second to put yourself in the shoes of your prospect.
How many sales people do you think
they're meeting with on a regular basis?
It's quite a few.
And what's amazing is that most sales people
are doing the same thing that everyone else is doing,
showing up all over them, pitching,
throwing up all of their information,
being really charming and funny and silly.
The problem is is that because everyone's doing this,
it actually makes that behavior appear low value.
What we want to start to do
is avoid doing anything that they expect.
If they are expecting us to do something,
that's a mistake that we're making.
We cannot be doing what they expect.
Number two, pitching.
Most sales people have been taught
that when they get in front of what they believe
is a qualified prospect,
and that's of course a pretty low bar,
but they believe that they need
to be pitching that prospect.
I mean, just think about it.
We hear this all the time, give me your best pitch.
What's your pitch?
And most sales people go into this tap dance mode
where they throw up all of their information
all over the prospect
and prospects are so used to this and at the same time,
we shouldn't be pitching to everyone.
What we should be doing
is engaging prospects in a conversation,
to understand what's really going on
and determine whether there's a fit.
And then ultimately down the road
we would give a presentation that's customized
to the challenges that they have.
But we need to stop that pitch right away.
Number three, being excited.
Hey, let me show you all the reasons
that you absolutely need to business with me
because we have the best service,
we've got the best product,
everything that we do is amazing.
Many of us were taught to show high levels of enthusiasm,
high levels of excitement about our product or our service.
It's supposed to somehow show the prospect
that we really believe in what we're selling.
But again, the problem is that most sales people
are doing some version of the ridiculous thing
that I just showed you.
We need to lower the tempo.
We don't need to be excited about our product
or our service at least openly.
I mean, obviously in the inside hopefully
you like what you're selling.
What we need to do is we need to be focused on the prospect
and what they care about.
Imagine what they care about
with what it is that we have to offer.
Drop that excitement, drop that enthusiasm.
Instead, be a real person.
That's going to connect with prospects so much more
than that high energy salesperson.
Alright, just lower that tempo.
Number four, persuading.
Now if you go onto Amazon right now
and you type in the word persuasion,
there are millions of books
all focused on persuasion techniques, persuasion tactics.
The problem is that sales is not about persuading people.
And I know that goes counter
to what most of us have been taught,
but what we really want to do
is rather than trying to persuade
anyone that's in front of us,
we want to take a step back
and really understand what is most important to them?
Understand what are those biggest challenges
and determine whether their challenges and their needs
align with what it is we have to offer?
So there's no need to be doing persuading.
Instead what we want to be doing actually, up front,
is mostly disqualifying prospects that are not a good fit
so that way by the time we'd get
to that presentation we're only presenting,
we're only giving that proposal
to prospects that really are truly qualified.
Number five, talking for more than 60 seconds straight.
This is one of the most common mistakes
that I see sales people making all the time.
We get excited about what it is we're talking about,
we feel like we're on a roll and we just keep on going,
and going and going and going.
The problem is is that the data shows
that prospects start to tune us out
after close to 60 seconds, it's actually a little bit less.
And in fact, the data is really strong about the fact
that top performing sales people never are going
for more than 72 seconds, ever!
And so, my biggest takeaway from that
is never be talking and talking and talking
for more than 60 seconds straight
without at least engaging them back into the conversation.
Just suck them back in,
even if you have an important point that you need to make
and it takes a little bit more time to say,
break it up with something that sounds a little bit like
hey, so, does that make sense?
Or, do you see exactly what I'm saying here?
Bringing them back into the conversation.
Number six, closing.
Now I know this goes counter to what
so many of us have been taught.
So many of us have been taught
that we need to be closing, closing, closing.
Never take no for an answer, always close that sale!
But that's such an old school mentality.
Modern selling is not about closing,
but it's about taking prospects through a process
that is going to both determine whether they're a fit
and create value in that process so that way at the end,
the only question we ever have to ask is,
well, what would you like to do next?
And if you've done a good job up until then,
they're going to lay out for you exactly
what needs to be done in order to close the sale.
There is no hardcore, arm wrestling closing technique.
It's simply taking them
through a process that is showing value,
and ultimately it's naturally going to close the sale,
the prospect of the closing,
you don't have to be doing the closing.
Number seven, needing the sale.
Now this is such a common mistake
that so many sales people make,
particularly when they're in a slump, or when they're newer.
And, we've all been there at some point, right?
Have you ever been in that position
where you had to close a sale just in order to pay your rent
or to pay your mortgage?
I've been there, and I'm sure you have, too.
The thing is, though, is that when you need a sale,
immediately the prospect can feel it.
It's like it just oozes out of you
and they feel it immediately.
The second you need to close a sale,
they are going to feel guarded.
Never show that you need a sale.
In fact mentally, even if you're saying,
if I don't close this sale, I'm not paying rent,
you've got to mentally take that pressure off of you.
Never need to close the sale
because it is going to immediately make you lower value.
It's going to make you weaker.
You need to be strong and the only way you're strong
is if in your head you're saying to yourself
I am financially independent and I do not need this sale.
Number eight, following up.
Now, I'm sure some people are saying, what?
Following up is a mistake?
Yes, it is a huge mistake and here's why.
So often sales people will be in a selling situation
and then they will let the prospect get away,
however that happens, ends the call, ends the meeting.
And then it's following up
in a week at some nondescript time.
This is such a problem.
Instead what we want to do
is always have clear and scheduled next steps
so that way at the end of every selling interaction
you are always scheduling a next step, always.
I don't care if you're scheduling
a next step for six months down the road,
you never, assuming someone's qualified,
you never just let them go away
and say okay, well I'll check in with you in a week or two.
We always have a scheduled next step.
You should never be following up with a prospect,
always schedule a next step.
And by the way,
if they're unwilling to schedule that next step,
it probably means that you're in trouble.
So never be following up,
always just have that clear and scheduled next step.
Number nine, letting them get back to you.
I feel like number eight, the one right before this,
pretty much laid the groundwork here.
But if you are ever in a situation
where you're waiting for the prospect
to actually get back to you, you're in trouble.
Never, ever, ever let them get back to you.
Always keep control of the selling interaction.
Even if they say, "Oh, yeah, this sounds great.
"How about if get back to you in a week
"and I'll tell you exactly what we're going to do?"
Never accept that.
The response always is something like,
Oh, you know what?
I really appreciate that, but you know what?
Just to avoid the back and forth,
would it make sense to just schedule a call right now
for a week down the road where we can just avoid
that back and forth and you know,
you get busy, I get busy
and then we never get back on the same page?
Nine out of 10 times they're gonna say,
"Oh, yeah, of course."
Never let them get back to you.
Always be in control of the situation
and always have that clear and scheduled next step.
So there are the nine biggest sales mistakes
to avoid at all costs.
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