It’s no secret that sales is a tough job. You have to be able to sell yourself, your product, and your company in order to win sales. However, many salespeople make mistakes that cost them deals. In this blog post, we will discuss 12 of the most common reasons why salespeople lose sales. We will also provide tips on how you can avoid these mistakes and win more business!
#12: Not Personalizing the Pitch
One of the biggest mistakes that salespeople make is not personalizing their pitch. You need to show your potential customer that you understand their needs and desires. If you can do this, you will be much more likely to win the sale.
Tip: Take the time to learn about your potential customer before you pitch them. What are their biggest pain points? What do they expect your solution to solve? This will help you personalize your pitch and win their business.
#11: Not Having a Clear Goal
If you don’t have a clear goal, it’s going to be tough to win sales. You need to know what you’re trying to achieve and put together a strategy that will help you reach your goal.
Tip: Sit down and figure out what your goals are for the next quarter, year, or even longer. Once you have a clear goal in mind, put together a strategy that will help you achieve it.
Far too often, salespeople get ahead of the prospect. They predict a close date based on their quota instead of on the prospect’s needs. The only way to know when a deal will close is to ask the customer.
Alice Heiman
#10: Not Asking for the Sale
Many salespeople are afraid of rejection so they don’t ask for the sale. This is a big mistake! You need to be proactive and ask your potential customers if they want to buy or not. If you are looking for great closing phrases to help seal your deals, we recommend checking out this great blog by Hubspot.
Customers don’t care at all whether you close the deal or not. They care about improving their business. It’s easy to forget this in the heat of a sales cycle.”
Aaron Ross
#9: Not Knowing Your Product inside Out
If you don’t know your product inside out, you’re going to have a tough time selling it. You need to be able to answer any question that your potential customer might ask about the product.
#8: Not Listening to Your Customer’s Needs and Desires
If you don’t listen to what your customers want, you’re never going to win any deals. You need to take the time to understand their needs and desires so that you can pitch them something they actually want!
Every sale has five basic obstacles: no need, no money, no hurry, no desire, no trust.
Zig Ziglar
#7: Not Offering a Solution to Their Problem or Need
If you don’t offer your potential customers a solution to their problem, they’re not going to buy anything from you! You need to show them how your product/service solves whatever issue it is that brought them into contact with you in the first place.
Tip: Take notes while listening to your potential customers talk about what they want or need from a product/service like yours – then use those notes when it comes time for you to pitch them to better personalize your sales demos.
#6: Not Having Any Questions Prepared For When They Say “No”
When a potential customer says “no”, many salespeople don’t have any questions prepared to ask them. This is a mistake because it means you’ll never find out why they said no, or what you could do to win their business in the future. Make a list of ways to handle objections before your sales call to be better prepared!
Treat objections as requests for further information.
Brian Tracy
#5: Pitching the Wrong Product or Service
Many salespeople try to sell products or services that their potential customers don’t actually need. Instead, focus on solving the customers existing problems by personalizing your sales pitch & demo to their current needs. It’s a lot easier to land & expand in an account then to not land at all!
#4: Not Having a Customized Sales Demo for Each Customer
If you don’t have a customized demo for each customer, you’re going to lose a lot of deals. You need to take the time and research your potential customers’ needs so that you can win their business. Saleo offers a quick way to personalize your SaaS demos at scale, that will work with any solution.
#3: Not Asking for Referrals
Many salespeople never ask their existingcustomers for referrals. This is a big mistake because it means you’re going to lose out on potential business from people who know and trust your product/service. If they like what you have, then they might tell someone else about it!
#2: Pitching to the Wrong Person
If you pitch your product or service to the wrong person, you’re going to lose out on potential sales. You need to take the time to find out who is the decision making group at your prospects company, and personalize your pitch & demo to their needs.
#1: A Broken Product Demo Environment
There is nothing worse then demoing broken software. Whether it’s empty data, broken graphs & reports, unfinished & buggy software, or generic instances that aren’t personalized to your prospects use case there are many thing in your demo environment that can hurt your chances of closing the sale. Saleo offers a complete sales demo experience platform that will fix your bad product demo environment in seconds. Why not request a personalized demo today?