This is an extract from The Secrets of Success in Selling by Nicola Cook, published by Pearson.
A wise man once said “Why would you want to go through life and have to learn from all your own mistakes, learn from and avoid making the mistakes everyone else has!” Wise words indeed. By reading this book thus far you have discovered new ways to improve your own sales ability, learn some new sales skills and uncover new ways of applying them that will increase your sales results; so in this last chapter I will briefly outline the most common mistakes that I come across in my sales consultancy and coaching practice. Although all the answers have already been covered as I said right in the introduction, knowledge without action is worthless. So as you read this list take a final look below and make sure you avoid repeating the most common mistakes that will erode your sales success. Your sales ability 1. Low self-belief and poor confidence levels 2. Taking rejection personally which, again erodes confidence 3. Inability to immediately bounce back after a rejection which affects your next sales presentation 4. Don’t want to be labelled as a ‘salesperson’, therefore avoid generating sales opportunities 5. Not understanding the real reasons why people buy your product or service and therefore targeting the wrong ideal customer
Your sales skills 8. Low empathy skills which leads to poor rapport 9. Failing to effectively qualify opportunities and wasting time chasing ‘dead’ opportunities 10. Presenting the opportunity before qualifying the Hot Button simply because the client shows an initial interest 11. Closing meetings or telephone phones on sending the client a proposal or brochure 12. Not gaining commitment by using Tie-Downs or Test Closes before moving the conversation on 13. Presenting Features and missing Benefits altogether, or presenting benefits that do not match clients needs. 14. Not asking for the business!! Strategy
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