The Common Mistakes of a Salesperson

by Doğa Çelikkan

In this post, we will be discussing the common mistakes of a salesperson. The dos and don’ts, which will lead to successful sales. Avoiding these mistakes will increase the chance for a successful closure.

All salespeople have some common mistakes which make sales more difficult for them. These mistakes may also be interpreted as the qualities which are not looked for in a salesperson. The common mistakes of salesperson are the following:

• Trying to reach a customer without doing enough research. This causes having insufficient knowledge about the customer which may eventually end up in losing the customer.
• Not asking enough questions to the customer. Asking questions is an important way of learning the true purpose and need of a customer. Customers should be talking more than the salespeople in a sales meeting.
• Not listening to the customer carefully. The salesperson assuming what the customer wants or needs through their own interpretations instead of listening to the customer, is a common mistake. This leads to misunderstandings and difficulties in communication. Instead of talking, the salesperson should be the listening party in a conversation. In a sales conservation the salesperson should talk and question at the 25% of the time only. For the 75% the salesperson should listen and let the customer do the talking.
• Biased recommending. The salesperson should not recommend any product other than the customer’s needs even if that product has a larger profit margin or revenue.
• Not knowing the competition. The salesperson should have sufficient knowledge about his or her competitors existing in the market.
• Taking huge sales for granted. If the salesperson has a customer who has a huge budget and is assumed to make a huge buying, then the sales person should not take that customer and sales for granted. The salesperson should continue working hard on the customer as if the sales will be lost.
• Not keeping up with the customers. In order to fulfil the customers’ needs, the customers’ lifestyles and changing environments should be followed constantly.
• Not asking for reference. A satisfied, happy customer is a sales success and in order to intrigue other potential customers, the instance of a successful sale is important.
• Not being sincere. It is important that the customer is aware that the salesperson speaks from the heart and not artificially. Great communication skills are key and the salesperson should show care for the customer. A friendship-based relationship should be present between customers and salespeople. This will be also a supplementary element for referencing.
• Not self-improving. The salespeople should improve their skills all the time.
• Not having enough knowledge about the product or service. The salesperson should have 100% knowledge of the product and its contributions to the customer. The salesperson should have solid evidence about why the product would be a solution for the customer’s needs.

Avoiding these set of mistakes lead to successful sales.

References:

Satış Teknikleri by Vidobu, Brisa Akademi, https://portal.brisaakademi.com.tr/Elearning

https://www.flaticon.com/authors/phatplus

https://blog.agentedu.com/the-10-steps-to-a-successful-sale/