Are you looking to improve your sales skills, but aren’t quite sure where to start? No matter what type of industry you’re in or what your position is, nearly everyone can benefit from improving their sales skills.
One of the best ways to improve your sales skills is to know what the common sales mistakes are and how to avoid them.
Check out this guide to discover the most common sales mistakes you need to avoid.
1. Talking Too Much
One of the biggest mistakes salespeople make is dominating the conversation too much. While it’s great to be excited about your product and ready to show off its benefits, you want to let your customers do most of the talking
If you’re talking too much during a sales pitch, it means you’re not taking the time to listen to your customer and their concerns. Plus, droning on and on can get rather boring for your customer.
Aim to let your customers do most of the speaking, and you’ll see your sales numbers rise.
2. Ignoring Metrics
To be a great salesperson, you should always be looking for ways to improve your game. Looking at your sales metrics and analyzing your sales performance is one of the best ways to figure out what your weak areas are.
If you’re new to sales analysis, that’s ok. You can check out Salesforce to learn the basics.
The better you understand your weak and strong areas, the easier it will be to adjust your next sales pitch.
You shouldn’t ignore the metrics.
3. Talking About Pricing Too Soon
If you’re making a sales call or pitching your product in person, be careful with talking about pricing too soon.
Yes, pricing is one of the main concerns for every single customer. But, if you talk about it too soon, your customers will be more concerned about the price tag and they’ll have trouble focusing on all of the awesome benefits your product has to offer.
It’s best to wait until the end of the conversation to talk about pricing, as this will allow you to shine a better spotlight on your product, rather than the price tag that’s attached to it.
4. Falling Short on Product Knowledge
Before pitching to a customer, you need to make sure you know your product inside and out. If you keep having to say, “I’ll need to get back to you on that”, then it might indicate to your customers that you’re not as dedicated to and passionate about your product as you’re presenting.
Plus, most customers don’t like to wait around for answers. If you can’t tell your customer-specific details about your product, they’ll likely move onto competitors who can tell them this information.
5. Offering Too Much Information
While you certainly want to show off the benefits of your product, offering too much information can actually hinder the sale. This is because the more information you offer people, the more likely they’ll get confused.
When customers are confused about your product, they’re not going to want to do business with you. To make things easy to understand, you need to learn how to get your message across in a quick and concise manner.
In addition to being concise, make sure you’re using simple language to explain your product. Sophisticated language and technical jargon will only bore your customers.
When speaking with customers, focus on only telling them what they need to know. People have short attention spans, so if you keep dragging things on, then you’re likely going to lose the sale.
If a customer wants you to expand on the information you’ve given, they’ll ask.
6. Overselling
Overselling is another major error that many salespeople fall victim to. Being too pushy about your product will just make you come across as desperate, which will drive customers away.
At the same time, you shouldn’t be acting so laidback that it seems like you don’t care at all about making the sale. The key is finding the balance, so customers feel like they’re privileged to be able to buy your product.
If you want to push your product a little more without coming across as desperate, then the best thing to do is to create a sense of urgency. Offering premium upgrades, time-sensitive deals, or creating a product scarcity are all great ways to create a sense of urgency and gently push your customers to buy your products.
7. Arguing With the Customer
When a customer points out something they don’t like about your product, your first instinct may be to prove them wrong and jump in with a counterargument.
However, it’s important to remember that most people don’t like being told their wrong. So, instead of immediately becoming defensive about your product, ask your customer why it is they hold that opinion, then listen carefully to their response.
Chances are, you’ll learn something about customer pain points you didn’t know before. Once they’ve had a chance to explain their opinion, then you can jump in and talk about what they may be missing.
8. Talking Past the Sale
You’ve had a great conversation with a customer about your product, and they tell you that they’re ready to buy.
This is great news! Unfortunately, this is also the point where many salespeople make the mistake of talking past the sale. Once you’ve closed the deal, it’s time to stop talking and get the transaction rolling.
You don’t need to continue trying to convince your customer to buy your product – you’ve already succeeded at doing that! The more you keep talking and talking, the greater the chance that you’re going to talk the customer out of the sale.
Once you start making the transaction, you can engage in idle chitchat instead, just make sure to avoid topics related to religion or politics.
By avoiding these common mistakes, you’ll be well on your way to improving your sales skills. Comment below if you have any questions or comments.
