What behaviours limit sales success in your business?
I'm giving a presentation tomorrow entitled "Twelve Behaviours That Limit Sales Success". Obviously I know what I shall be saying, but it got me wondering what behaviours SavvySME members would add to the list?
#1) emailing instead of calling! Leads are gold and when one comes in you need to get on the phone and give them a call! Only email if they don't pick up the phone. Calling shows initiative and it developers more of a personal relationship than email can establish.
For me, the no. 1 behavior that prospective buyers will initially judge you on is your eagerness for their business. If you are responsive and go the extra mile then you're likely going to make a better impression that your competitors.
From my very limited experience - 1) trying to sell without establishing a relationship first and 2) not understanding the buyer's circumstances and making assumptions are usually counterproductive.
Thanks Phil, Yes, response time becomes ever more critical the more we enter a world of automation. But leading into Mahua's point, does quality of response comes into it too you think?
Hey John! Glad to be acquainted with a fellow sales trainer :)
My thoughts are that it's not the behaviours that limit sales success as much as the attitudes behind them. It's like the symptoms vs. root cause.
Here are some examples of limiting beliefs:
- Selling is unethical
- Making a profit means taking advantage of others
- People are busy and don't want to be disturbed
- I don't have the gift of the gab
All of the above would manifest into unhelpful sales behaviours!
Spot on @Benjamin Lai Limiting beliefs (and emotions associated with them!) are often the root cause of consistently getting results we don't want.
We should team up as a community to list and distinguish as many as we can!
@Galit Ventura-Rozen , this is so down your alley! Would love to read stories of people you've helped on this front!
Thank you @eloah I could and have written whole articles on this :) appreciate the shout out
Being Salesy,
When someone spends more time listening to the potential buyer and asking what goals they want to accomplish and only responding when the product or service they are selling can solve that problem, then the product or service will sell it iself. It happens often with myself and my clients.
They focus on the clients needs and then the client asks, how can I work with you or how can I purchase your product. This happens because the person selling has already answsered all the objections in the conversation with the potential client.
So being salesy is the opposite of what you just described, @Galit Ventura-Rozen . Am I getting that right? It would be speaking more than listening, and sharing more about the attributes of the product than helping the client come to possible solutions.
What do you think leads people to be salesy? What are possible blind spots behind that behavior?
John Belchamber, Owner & Senior Consultant at Invoke Results
Ah yes, the over reliance on email. SAdly, this isn;t just a sales team problem I find :)