Sales are the fundamental factor for success in every business. It is a freaking reality that you would require excellent salespeople to bridge the gap between your customer’s needs and the goals of your business.
The recent statistics say that optimistic sales pros outperform pessimists by 57%. Being a good salesperson is an art that only a few can master.
The typical sales call mistakes made by the reps on calls with prospects shall make the difference between optimistic sales pros and pessimists.
If not corrected or avoided at the right time, these mistakes can result in a bad user experience or a lost deal with a prospect.
Below are 7 sales call mistakes that you must avoid in your sales call.
1. Using too much technical jargon
Whenever you connect with the prospect, you need to keep in mind the person on the other side. The sales call aims to inform and describe the potential customer about your product or service, so you must keep it simple, clear, and understandable.
While conversing, you always need to keep in mind the audience and avoid blasting a lot of technical jargon or vice versa. If the prospect cannot understand you, then the purpose of your sales call would fail right then and there.
You must keep in mind that what pays is direct, clear, and knowledgeable. Here are a few ways through which you can avoid using the technical jargon over your sales calls-
-Breakdown the conversation into different segments
-Practice using simple vocabulary in conversations
-Pull out and summarize the most vital information in advance
-Practice sales conversations
2. Asking too many or irrelevant questions
Sales calls are not your regular customer calls; they are about selling your products or services to the prospects. The trick here is to build the conversation while making sure that you ask relevant questions to the prospect.
The secret to having a good sales call is not about having 15 questions for closing the deal but rather having personalized questions. Sales representatives should avoid a typical sales mistake of asking too many irrelevant questions. To avoid these things, you can use deal management software to enhance the organization’s sales process.
3. Not listening correctly to the prospect
Listening is a very crucial skill for building a relationship with the client. It helps increase sales, boost productivity, and reduce errors.
Many sales representatives make a typical mistake by speaking more and not listening to the prospect. Statistics say that listening is essential for a salesperson. The top sales performers talk only 43% of the time, and the rest 57% of the time; they listen patiently.
4. Not using your prospect research in the call
Researching the prospect is essential to delivering a personalized and successful sales pitch. The reason is straightforward – without the proper background research, your sales call would lack authority, personalization, and context.
To have a successful closing to the sales call, you must use background research. 90% of business professionals believe that having personalized prospect research specific to the industry is significant.
Many sales representatives make a typical sales mistake because they do not use prospect research during the call. Here are a few suggestions that you can use during the prospect call-
-Information about the company and what products and services do they offer
-Have they worked with any of your competitors
-Who would you expect to have the final say in a purchase decision
-Be ready with a solution to their pain point before the call
-Check their journey on the website and provide personalized solutions based on the pages they have visited
5. Not connecting with customers after the deal closed
When you intend to build a relationship with the prospect, the focus should be on building a long-lasting.One of the most common mistakes that sales representatives make is not connecting with the customers post the deal’s closure.
Instead, what should be ideally the right way is to have regular follow-ups with the client. The follow-up adds value to the service or product the customer purchased from you. It would give you additional sales from the same consumer and referrals to more potential prospects.
Here are a few ways through which you can have a follow-up call with your customers-
-Wish them on their birthdays and anniversaries
-Seek feedback for the product and ask if they need any help
-Inform them about new updates
6. Badmouthing your competitors
Sales calls are for you to market your products and not tell the prospects why your competitors are bad. There is a very thin line of difference between proving why your product is good and badmouthing your competitor. What you must do is draw a line between the two.
One common mistake that many salespeople would make is that they often badmouth their competitors while making the sales pitch. When you speak negatively about others, you create a negative impression of yourself. The negative image would divert the attention to the products of the competitor.
Here are a few steps you can make the most for your sales call:
-Emphasize why your products and services are better
-Address how your product can solve prospect’s concerns
-Inform the prospect about how their sales pipeline could be effectively managed
7. Just talking about features, not benefits
The prospect is in no freaking way interested in knowing what coding or programming language your software uses; their concern is how it would add value to them.
When on a sales call, you must keep in mind that just mentioning the features won’t take you anywhere, so make sure you drive value for them.
The focus should always be on adding value; here are a few ways through which you can do it-
-Focus on the prospect’s problem and offer them a solution through your product.
-Justify how the product would save their time and money
-Reveal how the product/service will ease their life
-Focus on the post-sales experience they will earn.
