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The 12 Dumbest Things Salespeople Do
We all make mistakes and some salespeople seem to make a lot ofthem. What scares the vinegar out of me is that most salespeople keep making the same mistakes over and over again. Now in my book - that's just plain STUPID!
Maybe this list will serve as a helpful reminder. Maybe it won't. But at least you're curious to learn what these blunders are or why would you keep reading this?
In any case here's my list of the 12 Dumbest Things Salespeople Do:
1. Relying on one relationship to protect your account. Why in theworld would you put all your eggs in one basket? Excuse me - with one person. It doesn't make any sense and the bigger the account is the more vulnerable you become. There are five reasons why you should develop more than one relationship in all your accounts, especially the major ones:
First retirement - people do retire. Second is death - yep some people actually die at their desk. Sure it's not common, but it does happen. Third is resignation - people do leave for better opportunities and that happens more than you might imagine. Fourth is termination - some people actually get fired. Finally - and sure this is a long shot -some people win the Lottery.
Action-step. Build and cultivate a network within every major account you have. The biggest Rolodex usually WINS! This is a rock-solid sales tip.
2. Putting your fate with mid-level managers instead of starting with the top gun. The worst thing you can do is to follow your instincts on this one. Your instincts tell you to start at the easiest point of entry in any organization. Why - because it's easy! Once you gain access at this point your instincts continue to give you bad advice. Soon you'll be thinking you can't go over the head of the person youcurrently have the relationship with.
Here's my advice and it works. Your first call should be to the CEO or president of the organization. Simply ask them, or their assistants, for their help in directing you to the right person. If you're doing this over the phone you should also ask them to transfer you to this key decision maker.
Action-step. Make your first call to the CEO. It's easier to let him you down the organizational chart then to have some mid-level manager try to take you up the same organizational chart. This is more than a sales technique - it's an idea that really works.
3. Telling prospects/customers that you're NEW. I know this is a big one because I hear it all the time. Sad to say many years ago I even used this same mindless introduction. Imagine walking into an account and telling your prospect/customer that you are the new sales REP for your company. For a moment let's switch gears.
Imagine boarding an airplane scheduled to fly from Chicago to San Francisco. Imagine also hearing the pilot welcome everybody on board and announcing that he is new at flying the 757 you are seated on. Also imagine your dentist refers you to a specialist for your very first root canal. And imagine that the specialist lets you know he's a recent Dental School graduate and you're his first patient. Now, how does that make you feel? That's how everyone feels when they're working with somebody who announces they are "NEW."
Action-step. If you're new to sales or are an experienced sales REP just getting started with a NEW company give some thought how you will introduce yourself. Just don't say that you're "NEW."
4. Doing price-driven quotes instead of value-structured proposals. If you're in sales you're likely to get requests on a daily basis for product quotes. Somebody wants you to quote on a particular product or a particular service. So, like someone following the Pied Piper you do exactly what they ask, namely you send them a quotation. Then you go ballistic when you lose the deal because you did not have the lowest price.
Look Bubba - when you send somebody your quote all you are really doing is sending them a price to look at. If you don't like that approach get out of the quotation business. Do sales proposals. Load them with value. Make your sales proposal scream value and always include a benefits page. Your benefits page should be positioned ahead of your pricing page.
Action-step. If you don't know anything about sales proposals Istrongly suggest you do a search on Google.com and Amazon.com using the keywords "sales proposals." This is too important to be flying by the seat-of-your-ants!
5. Making sales calls like a tourist. Anytime you show up on aprospect's/customer's doorstep without written sales call objectives you are nothing more than a well paid tourist. I think you'll agree most people most of the time are too busy to waste their valuable time. When you show up planning to touch base, catch up, check up, and see what's going on - that's called "Wasting time." To get you started in the right direction, here's an example of a written sales call objective for an account you're calling on for the very first time. Simply stated your sales call objective could be written asfollows:
We all make mistakes and some salespeople seem to make a lot ofthem. What scares the vinegar out of me is that most salespeople keep making the same mistakes over and over again. Now in my book - that's just plain STUPID!
Maybe this list will serve as a helpful reminder. Maybe it won't. But at least you're curious to learn what these blunders are or why would you keep reading this?
In any case here's my list of the 12 Dumbest Things Salespeople Do:
1. Relying on one relationship to protect your account. Why in theworld would you put all your eggs in one basket? Excuse me - with one person. It doesn't make any sense and the bigger the account is the more vulnerable you become. There are five reasons why you should develop more than one relationship in all your accounts, especially the major ones:
First retirement - people do retire. Second is death - yep some people actually die at their desk. Sure it's not common, but it does happen. Third is resignation - people do leave for better opportunities and that happens more than you might imagine. Fourth is termination - some people actually get fired. Finally - and sure this is a long shot -some people win the Lottery.
Action-step. Build and cultivate a network within every major account you have. The biggest Rolodex usually WINS! This is a rock-solid sales tip.
2. Putting your fate with mid-level managers instead of starting with the top gun. The worst thing you can do is to follow your instincts on this one. Your instincts tell you to start at the easiest point of entry in any organization. Why - because it's easy! Once you gain access at this point your instincts continue to give you bad advice. Soon you'll be thinking you can't go over the head of the person youcurrently have the relationship with.
Here's my advice and it works. Your first call should be to the CEO or president of the organization. Simply ask them, or their assistants, for their help in directing you to the right person. If you're doing this over the phone you should also ask them to transfer you to this key decision maker.
Action-step. Make your first call to the CEO. It's easier to let him you down the organizational chart then to have some mid-level manager try to take you up the same organizational chart. This is more than a sales technique - it's an idea that really works.
3. Telling prospects/customers that you're NEW. I know this is a big one because I hear it all the time. Sad to say many years ago I even used this same mindless introduction. Imagine walking into an account and telling your prospect/customer that you are the new sales REP for your company. For a moment let's switch gears.
Imagine boarding an airplane scheduled to fly from Chicago to San Francisco. Imagine also hearing the pilot welcome everybody on board and announcing that he is new at flying the 757 you are seated on. Also imagine your dentist refers you to a specialist for your very first root canal. And imagine that the specialist lets you know he's a recent Dental School graduate and you're his first patient. Now, how does that make you feel? That's how everyone feels when they're working with somebody who announces they are "NEW."
Action-step. If you're new to sales or are an experienced sales REP just getting started with a NEW company give some thought how you will introduce yourself. Just don't say that you're "NEW."
4. Doing price-driven quotes instead of value-structured proposals. If you're in sales you're likely to get requests on a daily basis for product quotes. Somebody wants you to quote on a particular product or a particular service. So, like someone following the Pied Piper you do exactly what they ask, namely you send them a quotation. Then you go ballistic when you lose the deal because you did not have the lowest price.
Look Bubba - when you send somebody your quote all you are really doing is sending them a price to look at. If you don't like that approach get out of the quotation business. Do sales proposals. Load them with value. Make your sales proposal scream value and always include a benefits page. Your benefits page should be positioned ahead of your pricing page.
Action-step. If you don't know anything about sales proposals Istrongly suggest you do a search on Google.com and Amazon.com using the keywords "sales proposals." This is too important to be flying by the seat-of-your-ants!
5. Making sales calls like a tourist. Anytime you show up on aprospect's/customer's doorstep without written sales call objectives you are nothing more than a well paid tourist. I think you'll agree most people most of the time are too busy to waste their valuable time. When you show up planning to touch base, catch up, check up, and see what's going on - that's called "Wasting time." To get you started in the right direction, here's an example of a written sales call objective for an account you're calling on for the very first time. Simply stated your sales call objective could be written asfollows:
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