Why should you care about sales mistakes if you are not a sales person? Let’s look at a generic definition Sales is the act of meeting prospective buyers and providing them with a product or service in turn of money or other required compensation. Now if you take one step back and look at the bigger picture, here is what comes to mind: Everyone of us is selling products or services.

When we talk about a sales person, some people think strictly about the person that is walking from door to door selling insurance or newspaper subscriptions. Yet this view is too narrow. When you are giving a presentation to your boss about your latest project or a new business idea and trying to get funding and additional support - this is just as much a selling process as selling life insurance is. And even convincing your girl- or boyfriend to go on a certain weekend trip is a selling process .
This list is based on the book with the same title, which can be bought online here. In the following article I want to give you a quick overview of the mistakes and how to avoid them:

No. 1: Not being obsessed

The solution: Forget about input and how much time you have invested. Focus on the output of your work and maintain a commitment to results all the time.

Mistake 2: Not Listening to the Prospect

The solution: Never interrupt your business partner. Try to identify the key facts, isolate the underlying problem and ensure that you are sending the right message. The message is that you are there help.

Mistake 3: Not Empathizing with the Prospect

The solution: Realize that you are not the most important item on your prospects agenda and try to see the whole situation with the eyes of the other person.

Mistake 4: Seeing the Prospect as an Adversary

The solution: Do not approach the sale with a confrontational attitude but rather try to get the other person to work with you on finding a solution.

Mistake 5: Getting Distracted

The solution: When you feel you are drifting away focus again on finding a solution to your prospects problems. Do not become disoriented by negative comments or remarks from the prospect.

Mistake 6: Not Taking Notes

The solution: Write down everything the prospect says. This way you not only ensure that nothing get’s lost what is being said. And I also shows the prospect that you are serious about what he is saying.

Mistake 7: Failing to Follow Up

The solution: Ensure that you send professional looking thank you notes in key points of the sales cycle.

Mistake 8: Not Keeping in Contact with Past Clients

The solution: Get in touch with your past clients again and remember that they already know the way you work and what you can offer. This significantly reduces the acquisition efforts next time they are in need of your products or services.

Mistake 9: Not Planning the Day Efficiently

The solution: Ensure that you are planning your days and measure your actual performance against it.

Mistake 10: Not Looking Your Best

The solution: Ensure that your image reflects the one of a sharp, well-groomed, successful person when dealing with prospects. Forget everything you have heard about “decision are made rationally”.

Mistake 11: Not Keeping Sales Tools Organized

The solution: Keep your sales tools (i.e. briefcase, sample cases and other material) organized since they need to reflect you professional image.

Mistake 12: Not Taking the Prospect’s Point of View

The solution: Understand the challenges your prospect is facing, then isolate product benefits and highlight these for the prospect.

Mistake 13: Not Taking Pride in your Work

The solution: Stand behind the product and your company with pride. Even if there might be things you don’t like with your product or company, focus on the positives and talk with others about what you do for a living.

Mistake 14: Trying to Convince, rather than convey

The solution: Forget about making the sale using high pressure sales tactics. Demonstrate how your product or service addresses the prospect’s relevant concerns.

Mistake 15: Underestimating the Prospect’s Intelligence

The solution: Try to be a information broker and work with the prospect to identify problems and find workable solutions.

Mistake 16: Not Keeping Up to Date

The solution: Once the sale has been closed ensure that you keep up with customer, monitor relevant publications to detect key trends and share this information with your customer.

Mistake 17: Rushing the Sale

The solution: Don’t try to speed up the sales cycle but try to find the pace that’s most appropriate for your prospect. Speed is not important, but the right timing.

Mistake 18: Not Using People Proof

The solution: Increase your credibility by highlighting previous success stories and encourage your prospect to talk with current customers.

Mistake 19: Humbling Yourself

The solution: You bring a certain set of skills and knowledge that the other person can benefit from. Therefore work with the prospect as a partner, not a supplicant.

Mistake 20: Being Fooled by Sure Things

The solution: Forget about potential sales in the future, but focus on building your customer base today.

Mistake 21: Taking Rejection Personally

The solution: Develop resilience and self-assurance when confronting rejection.

Mistake 22: Not Assuming Responsibility

The solution: When faced with no as an answer ensure that you fully understand where you have gone wrong or what mistakes you have made in the presentation.

Mistake 23: Underestimating the Importance of Prospecting

The solution: Improve your prospecting skills and work everyday to find new customers.

Mistake 24: Concentrating on Negatives

The solution: If obstacles arise approach them with a positive frame of mind and avoid negative habits such as complaining and gossiping.

Mistake 25: Not Showing Competitive Spirit

The solution: Your sales presentation should not be a battle, but ensure that you are fighting as much as you can for each and every new prospect.

Update:

While reading my RSS feeds I stumbled upon an article at the Business Opportunities Weblog titled “The key to trade shows is follow-up”. This corresponds with Mistake #7 in this blog post. Here is the full post.

If you are interested in finding more about improving your sales techniques I recommend reading the following books (click on them for more information):

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