“Closing” refers to the act of signing new customers and upselling existing accounts, which is essential for meeting quota. Representatives typically find this difficult, as they must constantly convince prospects to enter contracts.
There are some common mistakes that people make during their sales career. People tend to exaggerate, overestimate, misinterpret, and otherwise miss the mark when trying to win a sale.
Here is a list of things to avoid doing in order to make your sales process more smooth and successful.
1. Discounting the importance of the discovery call
If you don’t ask the right questions during the discovery call, the deal will fall through.
When you identify a good fit prospect, you want to be very specific on your expertise and experience in order to increase your chances of selling them your product or service. Two great questions to ask are:
- What do you love about your new business development efforts?
- What do you want to improve?
I also like to address the “we have decided not to start” objection — which is universal — right upfront. I like to ask the following questions:
- When do you need the problem solved?
- When do you need to see the cost reduction?
- When do you need to get the customers by?
2. Closing only once
You should consistently “close” throughout the sales process for three main reasons:
- You’ll secure greater and greater buy-in from your prospect.
- You’ll filter out tire kickers.
- You’ll get key information, meetings, introductions, and more.
On your first call with a potential buyer, ask for their cell phone number. This way, you can call or text them directly, instead of going through their assistant or calling their work line.
3. Not asking for what you want
Asking for what you want is something that makes sense, but it’s not something that people do often.
Although it may be the case that they don’t know what they want, this is still a mistake that sales representatives should avoid. Too often, representatives go into a call or meeting without any real clear idea of what they hope to achieve. If you don’t know what you want, it will be difficult to get it from the prospect.
When you are speaking with a potential customer, always go in with a specific goal in mind. Do not try to dance around the topic, be direct in your ask. For example, you might say something like “Will you be signing and sending the proposal today?” This let’s the person know exactly what it is that you want from them without beating around the bush.
4. Using statements instead of questions
You should always phrase your closes as questions instead of statements. Questions will get a direct answer while statements will not.
If a sales representative says to a prospect, “It would be great to meet on Monday afternoon,” the prospect has a lot of possible responses. But if the representative asks, “Can you meet on Monday afternoon?” the prospect can only say “Yes, I can,” or “No, I can’t.”
“I’d like to” and “maybe we can” sentences aren’t closing sentences. Questions that start with “are you”, “can you”, or “will you” are closing sentences.
5. Not getting a personal buy-in from a prospect
Making your prospect feel like they’re personally invested in the sales process will help them see the value in what you’re selling.
To get a good sales close with personal gain, ask:
- How can we make you look good in the process and when can you start?
- How can we make your boss and team look good?
Asking questions that get the prospect to think about how your product will benefit them and their team is a good way to get them interested in moving forward.
6. Not creating a sense of urgency
The two main things that drive sales are need and timing. If a customer has a strong need for a product but other things are more of a priority, they will likely put off buying the product. Similarly, if a customer has a strong need for a product but doesn’t understand why they need to address it immediately, they will also put off buying the product.
To close a deal, you need to do more than just identify the customer’s pain points. You also need to create a sense of urgency by explaining why they should take action now.
7. Not embracing silence
Although it may be awkward, silence is key when trying to close a deal. Many salespeople make the mistake of rushing to comment on their prospect’s responses as soon as they are uttered.
Here’s what this sounds like:
Representative: “Can you meet this afternoon?”
Prospect: “No, I’m busy.”
Representative: “Not a problem — how’s tomorrow?”
However, to fix this sales mistake, you only need to be quiet after the prospect responds. The prospect will often answer your follow-up question before you even ask it.
Here’s the above example, revised to use this approach:
Rep: “Can you meet this afternoon?”
Prospect: “No, I’m busy.”
[silence]
Prospect: ” … But I can meet next Tuesday.”
When you’re waiting for a response from a prospect, try to remain silent instead of speaking first. This will give the prospect a chance to speak up and tell you when they’re ready for a follow-up before you try to continue the conversation.
8. Not knowing the prospect’s decision criteria
Make sure to find out what specific criteria the decision-maker needs at the beginning of every sales process in order to make a purchase. This way, it will be easier to fulfill them methodically and an obvious natural endpoint will become apparent.
9. Not understanding the prospect’s purchasing process
Purchasing power is the ability of an individual to buy goods and services. Understanding how someone goes about buying goods and services is similar to, but slightly different from, understanding their purchasing power. Purchasing power is the ability of an individual to buy goods and services.
If you want to avoid making a sales mistake, you should learn about the purchasing process before beginning formal negotiations. That way, you won’t complete the entire closing sequence only to find out that the deal needs to be reviewed for weeks before it can be signed.
10. Closing before everyone is at the table
If you’re trying to negotiate a sale, it’s a mistake to talk to the wrong people because they won’t be able to give you an accurate decision or outcome. Instead, make sure all the relevant stakeholders are involved in the conversation from the start, so everyone is on the same page before you start discussing pricing and terms. This will help you close the sale with the right people.
11. Closing people who can’t deliver
A perfect example of this would be if you asked for a referral from someone who is unable to provide one. If you are an entry-level engineer, you could ask one of your coworkers or your direct manager for a referral. However, it is unlikely that the CEO would be able to help you. You should never ask someone for something that they are unable to give you.
12. Getting caught up with NINA
NINA is an acronym for “No Influence No Authority.” It refers to someone who makes grandiose promises to salespeople, but is ultimately powerless and ineffectual. This person is easily pressured and has little backbone.
One of the worst things you can do is try to close a NINA for anything. You shouldn’t try to close for the next steps, an introduction, or anything else. If they agree to the next step, then you’ll be wasting time building a relationship with someone who can’t progress the sale in any way.
However, NINA is a great coach once you recognize their limits. The best way to use NINA is to gather information from them to then later craft very personalized emails to key stakeholders. For example, you can ask NINA questions like, ‘What is talked about most frequently in the company meetings?’
13. Attempting to close someone through a third party
If a sales representative cannot get in touch with the CEO, they might ask the CEO’s assistant a question such as, “Who do you think your boss would recommend being there?”
This question puts the assistant in the position of delivering what you want on behalf of their boss, which is not a good idea. It is better to ask the question to the actual decision-maker. With this in mind, the question becomes “Who do you recommend should be there?”
Make sure you are talking to the person you want to talk to, not someone else on their behalf. This will help avoid any confusion.
14. Not listening and talking too much
If you want to better understand your customers and give them more tailored offerings, try listening more and asking targeted questions. This will also help you get to know them as individuals, including their preferences and tastes. Showing that you care about them will go a long way.
You can learn about your potential customer’s pain points and how you can solve them by asking questions and listening. This is especially valuable during the prospecting stage of the sales process.
15. Offering too much for nothing
Avoid becoming an unpaid consultant by not offering too much help for nothing.
Although it can be beneficial, there should be a limit to how helpful you are. Prospects tend to take advantage of sales reps by requesting information and advice, even when they do not plan to make a purchase.
Don’t forget that information is power!
16. Not focusing on the solution
This is the most important tip, even though it may be old.
You might think that, as a salesperson, bragging about all the great features of your product would help make a sale. However, this is not the case.
It is more important to explain how your product can solve the main problems that your prospect is trying to deal with, rather than going into detail about all the features it has.
Features tell, Benefits sell!
17. Focusing on price not value
People buy value, not price.
If you think that lower prices will increase demand for your product, you’re mistaken. It’s time to wake up and face reality.
Remind your prospect that purchasing cheaper items often results in poor quality and higher costs in the long term. Explain that buying more expensive, quality items means more value and lower costs in the future.
18. Making promises you can’t keep
Overpromising and underdelivering is equal to mere lying in business.
But how do you sell then? Here are two suggestions:
- Instead of over-promising, let the prospects sell to themselves. You can do it by asking the right questions that’ll gently push the prospect to the right direction. In the end, they’ll convince themselves that they need your product.
- Another way is particularly suitable for the free trial stage. To make sure your prospects are pleasantly surprised, you can actually under promise and over deliver. If the expectations are low, but the product can actually do more, then prospects will be blown away with the experience they get. This will help you win them over during the next sale stage.
19. Not having an intention to close a sale
Although it may be surprising, there are a lot of salespeople who focus more on making impressive sales pitches and presentations, rather than on actually selling the product.
The ability to deliver speeches and salesmanship is what drives them, not the number of deals closed.
My suggestion is to stop worrying about being impressive and instead focus on making the sale. Be direct and ask the customer to buy early on in the process.
20. Not being ready to overcome objections
Nobody likes to get “No” for an answer.
Although it may not seem beneficial, giving customers the option to say “no” can actually be helpful. This makes the customer more likely to say “yes” when they see something they want. The more times a customer rejects something, the more likely they may be to make a purchase when they finally find something they like.
Sales objections can be difficult to manage, but there are some ways to make it easier. It’s important to stay calm, show that you understand their concerns, and always answer honestly and respectfully. You should also avoid phrases like “As I said before” when dealing with objections, as this can make the situation worse. Instead, try to acknowledge the objection as a valid point and use some humor to diffuse the situation.
21. Arguing with a potential customer
If you argue with a potential customer, you will almost always lose the sale.
If you disagree with what they are saying, it is best to remain silent or to say something like “I can see where you are coming from.” Always ask questions in order to clarify their position, and paraphrase their statements instead of arguing with them.
It is better to walk away from an opportunity that is not going to be successful and focus on other opportunities that will be more successful. You cannot make everyone happy.
22. Not doing your homework
If you don’t plan and prepare for something, you are more likely to fail.
If you prepare for your sales calls, you will be able to communicate better, ask the right questions, tailor your offering, customize your sales pitch, and voice the right benefits for that particular prospect.
To build a good rapport with your prospect, you should look into their professional and personal background. This will help to establish trust, which is important because people are unlikely to buy anything from someone they don’t trust.
There is no excuse for not doing your homework in the Internet age.
23. Not getting access to decision-makers
You can’t just sell to anyone.
If you want to close a deal, you need to talk to the people who are allowed to make purchasing decisions. Otherwise, you will be wasting your time.
The sooner you begin this stage of the process, the better your chance of success.