The 3 Biggest Sales Mistakes – Why Your Business Bleeds Profit

Selling is easy isn’t it? After all, you just need the gift of the gab coupled with a winning smile and you’re on the road to sales glory.

Obviously the answer is no, it’s not that easy at all. Selling is a skill which needs development and practice before you can become truly great at it.

I used to work for a company which placed its sales teams into two categories. Sales Makers or Sales Takers. The latter were the people who waited for a customer to ask for the order. They lacked sales skills and techniques, and beyond waiting for a customer to walk directly up to them and ask for a product would have had no idea how to sell. Ironically if you’d asked them to rate themselves as a sales person then they would probably have said they were great.

Sadly the Sales Takers not only cost the company a vast fortune in lost profit, (This company eventually folded) but they also robbed the customer of an opportunity to buy. Ultimately that’s what it’s all about. Giving the customer a chance to say yes or no.

After all, a customer isn’t going to come into your store or invite you into their home or office to view your product if they weren’t interested in buying it. Give them a chance to say YES!

The late great Zig Ziglar famously made the following statement which sums up that last point perfectly:

“You can get everything in life you want if you will just help enough other people get what they want.”

So here are the 3 biggest sales mistakes that cost your business profit.

1. NOT ASKING FOR THE SALE

This is a cardinal sin in sales and yet I’ve seen it committed innumerable times. So many times sales people get to the end of the transaction and don’t ask “Would you like to buy one?” or “Which colour would you prefer?” or even “Shall we do the paperwork now?”

By not asking for the sale you have done both yourself and your customer a disservice.

This isn’t about knowing an endless list of closing techniques. It’s about knowing just one. ASK FOR THE SALE

2. NOT BUILDING RAPPORT

Your customers’ are not robots and nor are you. If you don’t build rapport with your customer then they are far less likely to buy.

It’s often said that “People buy from people like them” and it’s true. I’d rather buy from the friendly happy sales person in one store than the grumpy one in the store next door, even if it’s going to cost me more money.

So don’t just fly headlong into a sales pitch. Take time to chat to your customer and find out about them and their interests. Very often you’ll find that you have something in common and it will make the whole sale far nicer for your customer, and also for you.

It’s important that you are genuine when you build rapport. If you’re not interested in golf and your customer is, don’t feign interest as you will come across as insincere.

Show interest in your customer – Be genuine – BUILD RAPPORT

3. NOT HANDLING OBJECTIONS

Objections are wonderful things. If a customer keeps throwing objections at you during a sale they must be interested in buying your product. After all, if they weren’t interested why would they want to keep on talking to you about it? Think about it, are you really going to keep asking the car salesman about a Volvo when you’ve got your eye on a Ford?

When a customer is giving you an objection they expect you to answer it for them. If your answer satisfies them they can mentally tick off that concern and move on to the next question.

As in our example with the Ford above.” I like the Ford, but not in that colour” I tell the salesman.” Not a problem, we have other colours too, which would you like?” My first objection is sorted out and I’m happier as a customer knowing that I can have the colour I want.

So how do you handle objections? Well on the whole it’s really easy. Just answer your customers questions honestly and offer alternatives if appropriate.

Most importantly, don’t view a customer’s objections as disinterest, they are exactly the opposite.

If a customer start putting up objections don’t switch off – Answer all of their questions honestly  -OBJECTIONS ARE BUYING SIGNALS.

Do you want your business to stop bleeding profit? Then get your team back to basics with their sales skills and watch profits grow.

Related articles

• 10 Steps to Building Rapport With Job Candidates (employeeinsightsllc.com)
• Top Sales Tips to Close a Deal (marketing.answers.com)

Learning to sell by watching Chuggers at work

We’ve all seen them.

Those over friendly and extremely happy charity workers who try their best to part us from our hard earned cash to support their cause. They converge upon an unsuspecting high street flitting amongst the crowds of shoppers. Many of us will do all that we can to avoid them. I know that I do.

Over the years they’ve become known Charity Muggers, or Chuggers, which is a pretty derogatory name. So why, with so many of us trying to avoid them, is this method of fund raising effective? The sheer number of Chuggers you see on some high streets would imply that it works.

The anomaly is that while some pedestrians weave a merry dance  across a street desperately trying to avoid their grasp, others willingly engage in conversation with them and sign up to their charity. Is it magic or hypnotism?

No, there isn’t a magic formula in what they do. In fact just the opposite applies. If you watch them in action you’ll see that they simply use good old-fashioned sales techniques. Tried and tested techniques that have withstood the test of time.

Let’s take a look at those techniques.

A.I.D.A.

To begin with they are using the A.I.D.A. sales model.

This sales model may be as old as the hills but it still works as follows:

ATTENTION. Grab your customer’s attention and do it well.
INTEREST. Get them interested in what you’ve got to say.
DESIRE. Make your customer want what you’re selling.
ACTION. Close the sale, sign them up, and seal the deal.

The hardest bit for the Chugger has to be grabbing your attention. If you’ve already seen them ahead of you then you may well be doing your best to avoid them. And they know it. But they still flash a winning smile at you coupled with a really engaging greeting. If you respond positively in any way you’ll soon be chatting away as they very quickly build rapport with you. I’d go as far as to say that if they’ve got you talking within 10 seconds the chances are that they’ll sign you up.

What else do they do? 

They persevere. They try and try and try. In fact they’re pretty relentless in their attempts to engage people.

They stay positive. I’ve never seen a miserable looking Chugger, have you?

They trigger emotional responses to make you want to help the charity they represent.

They ask for the sale.

It’s that simple.

A.I.D.A. – Rapport – Perseverance – Positivity – Emotion – Closing.

Hats off to the Chuggers. They show what perseverance, hard work, and a dose of good old-fashioned sales techniques will do.

Related articles

• Untitled – Response From A Chugger (greatthinkingmd.wordpress.com)