Now there may be more… many more… but i’m trying to keep this list to just 10!  Not an easy task

These are the biggest and most common mistakes a sales person can make:

1. Not being prepared before the presentation. Now don’t get me wrong, I’ve had to “wing it” a couple of times and had it work out well, but the professionals know what they’re doing and that’s why they do it so well.  So get prepared before the call/meeting/presentation, and you’ll consistantly do well.

2. Presentation.  Seriously, presentation makes up so much of your communication. Look the part.  If you’re selling to tradies, it’s worth dressing like a tradie so you look like you know what you’re talking about.  People can relate to you that way.  If you’re selling to people who wear suits, then wear a suit.  Go out and get the same brand too!  At the very least, keep yourself looking neat and tidy, and also the place where you work and present to your clients.  Presentation is everything and can make or break the deal even before you’ve considered the products.

3. Knowing your products/services. This is something that’s a big issue for sales people these days.  Product development and technical specifications are hard to keep up with but it’ll make or break you.  Specialise if you need to, but if you don’t know what you’re selling, you’ll lose the deal.

4. Asking the wrong questions. Communication is what selling’s all about.  And selling’s all about finding out what your customer needs.  Ask the right (and sometimes the tough) questions, and you’ll get the answers you need to move forward.

5. Not Listening.  Similar to not asking the right questions. Make sure when the customer’s talking, you shut up.  Don’t think about what you’re going to say next.  Pay attention to what’s being said, verbally, and with their body language.  You’ll learn what you need to know in order to make the deal.  You’ll find what really drives the decisions in your client.  And you’ll know what sales techniques to use to get the best results in each situation.

6. Not keeping your promises. If you make an arrangement to contact a client on a particular day, then do it.  If you promise delivery on a particular day, then deliver.  If you promised to take your clients kids to the park once a week for a month so your client can go to the football with his mates if you get the deal… then do it! You’ll keep your clients for longer, and you’ll be known as the guy who comes through when you need him.  A worthy reputation.

7. Not having any sales goals. Goals are like directions.  How will you know where to go if you don’t know where you’re heading?  It’s simple: People who set goals tend to achieve them.  Those who don’t, don’t.  Set some goals today, and track your progress.  Even if you don’t achieve them the first time, at least you’ll know where you’re going!

8. Not paying attention to the customer. Like listening, it’s important to notice the little things.  Become sensory aware and use all the info you’ve got to figure out exactly what makes this client tick.  Look for reactions, and emotions etc.  Until you start paying attention you’ll be missing what’s really going on around you.

9. Lack of congruence. If you don’t believe what you’re saying, and show that you mean it… neither will your client.  You’ve got to mean it. Sales people have a reputation for being dishonest already.  Become an example of someone who really means what they say and do in all areas of your life.  You’ll earn respect, and become trustworthy.  People will buy from you.

10.  Just not giving a damn. If you get paid by the hour, and you’re going to be paid anyway, there’s a good chance you’ve done this before.  It’s easy to say “Well, I’m getting paid if this joker buys this or not.”  But you’re selling yourself (and your company) short.  Go the extra mile and do your best to look after the people you meet.  If you really don’t like your job, then get into something else.  Seriously, you’re wasting everyone’s time and money.

That’s it.  That’s what not to do when selling. Now, do the opposite. 

As a sales professional, time is your only inventory. You need to be 100 percent absolutely positive that you’re doing the right thing at the right time for the right reasons.

There is a myriad of things that can waste a sales professional’s time, but if you have solid goals and attempt to achieve them, you should be able to weed out the time wasters and continue to ad value to your life.

Here’s an example of wasted time you don’t even think twice about because it’s time, your time. Say a co-worker stops you in the hall and demands $150. Of course you say no because you know the value of $150 and you won’t just give them that kind of money; however, you allow this same co-worker to hijack your time by dragging you into a meeting that has nothing to do with you or your sales process for hours on end. Where is the value in that? Time is money.

One of the main keys to successfully managing your time is to take back control of it. Take charge of your own time and attention. Don’t be to quick to give other people power to boss you around or delegate their work to you, unless that is your job, to help others and only if you have the time and it is a learning experience or can ad some other type of value to your life or goals. Also, don’t get caught up in reading countless articles or data on the Internet or magazines, a few will keep you up to date, so will watching the evening news. Time wasters don’t get home in time to watch the news, but professional salespeople do.

One of the major time wasters of culture today is e-mail. It can take up to a day to catch up and most of it isn’t as important as the subject line indicates. Use the folders feature in your e-mail program. Make a folder for anything addressed to multiple recipients, another for ‘press releases’ and another folder for ‘urgent.’ This way, you will not be checking your e-mail every few minutes of the day. Set aside a certain time, once in the morning and once in the afternoon, perhaps before you go out on a sales call or take a break, to check and respond to an e-mail.

If you work with a team, get them together and discuss a mutual subject line for e-mails and tell them of your plan with the e-mail folders. Hopefully, this will catch on with the rest of the team and time wasting will be cut down. Another thing you might want to discuss with your team while you have them all gathered together is questions and answer time in addition to quiet work time. If you have a conference room, you could all set up in there, say, every other day, and work independently of one another, but if questions arise or if someone needs help, you are all right there. No hunting for someone who may be busy doing other work.

The same goes for quiet time. Designate a period of time, everyday or every other day, which ever works best for you and your team, so that no one interrupts each other. Everyone remains quiet and to themselves for the duration of the quiet time. Of course if there is an emergency, a client or customer on the phone, that is different. I am talking about your co-workers and time wasting with constant questions or interruptions of other kinds.

I’ve mentioned this before, but it bears repeating; learn to say “no.” If it’s hard for you to say “no” try using words like “kinda interested” or “maybe later” or “I’ll need a little more information,” then make your decision to help this person based on the information and the amount of valuable time you have to spare.

“My interest is in the future; as I’m going to be spending the rest of my life there.” Charles Kettering