Since most sales people’s compensation is based on actual sales orders obtained, not good intentions or positive attitudes, the selling profession’s relatively high rate of job turnover is most often validated fraught with intense frustration and an insurmountable learning curve that crosses many industries, products and services.
1) "Stretching" the Truth:
No one likes getting lied to, especially someone who is about to spend their hard earned money based on factual liberties told to them from the sales representative. Maintain your reputation first and foremost; it supersedes you in every sales call. Honesty should be the first adjective you want most of your customers to describe you with.
2) NOT Saying "I Don’t Know", When you Don’t Know:
This is a classic selling mistake! Discipline yourself to admit to your customer that you don’t know about something … anything! It is most credible to say, "I don’t know, but I will find out for you", than to try to sound like you know what you’re talking about. As you continue to practice this principle, your knowledge base and your client’s perception of your expertise will continue to increase.
3) NOT "Looking the Part"
Selling involves approaching strangers, people who have never met you before. People naturally base purchase decisions on first impressions. Look the part you are playing, or better yet, exceed the common "image" expectation in your industry. Always dress and groom one level above your targeted audience. It portrays success and gives you an opening edge over your competition. The least you can do is look like you know what you are doing!
4) Not Clearly Understanding "Rejection"
Selling is rejection intensive. It is absolutely critical to understand and learn to appreciate that a larger percent of potential new customers will reject you and your offering more than accept it. Selling is a numbers game and unfortunately to be successful at it you have to learn that customer rejection is not personal and "no’s" can be as valuable as "yes’s"!
5) Ineffective Use of Your "Selling Time":
Many average sales people spend most of there prime selling time every day, "getting ready to get ready" … filing, driving, typing or sitting in meetings. Typically from 8AM to 5PM a sales person has only approximately eight hours to be in front of customers or doing what is necessary to get in front of customers. Anything that can be done "after business hours" should be done then and only at that time.