Three elementary mistakes to avoid to sail your way to sales success

Author: Gautam Mane

They say we are all trying to sell something throughout our lives. A person wishing to get married sells his good qualities as a man and husband to the woman he wants to marry. As employees, we try to sell our qualities to our employer not only during the interview but also when we are employed with a company. But for a salesman who is trying to get some products or services sold, a good sales pitch is often the matter of success and failure.

Selling is an art and that doesn’t come naturally to all of us. Yet some of us manage to do much better than others. There are some people whose best efforts do not bring success. Why do some sales pitches fail, while others sail through effortlessly? The devil, they say, is in the details.

There must be some things that are being done wrong. In our experience, unsuccessful sales pitches usually go wrong in some of the basics. It is the small things that make the difference, not the big ones.

Let us look at three simple reasons why sales pitches go wrong.

1. Think of the customer, his needs

The simplest thing to do before selling is to imagine yourself in the shoes of the prospective customer. What real or imagined need does he have that your product or service could fulfil? Does your product address any of his or her concerns?

The basic mistake many salespersons do is to think only of themselves and their products, instead of looking at things from the point of view of the customer. As soon as you think about what need your product or service can fulfil, you will find that the right sales pitch becomes very evident in the process.

2. Ask more about their probles, don’t blabber about your product

It has been surveyed time and again that many salespersons, no matter what industry he belongs to, spend all their time and energy blabbering about the product to their prospective clients. They forget the simple truth that a person would choose to buy from them only if they find the salesperson likeable and trustworthy.

Salesperson should make efforts at presenting their genuine face to the prospective customer. They must work on first developing a sense of ease in the minds of the prospect. Only if they themselves are likeable will the customer hear their story about the product or service. You would be amazed to know that only three percent of people find sales reps trustworthy.

3. Face the good and the bad

Like in any other situation in life, salespersons also face both the good and the bad. There are low hanging fruits which are very likely to get converted. On the other hand, there are some prospects who would need more than a single visit for closure.

The jury is still out on which is the correct order, but we feel that the easier ones should be got through first. This not only helps to put some numbers under your belt before you begin trying to crack the hard nuts, but it also helps improve your self-confidence.