5 Fatal Sales Traps That Stop You Dead

May 29, 2009 in Articles by article-admin | No comments

Word Count: 460
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Resource Box: Bare Knuckle Selling / Bare Knuckle
Negotiating

“5 Fatal Sales Traps That Stop You Dead & How to Avoid Them”

- By Simon Hazeldine (MSc FInstSMM)
The “Bare Knuckle” Salesman

Have you ever dug a big, deep hole and then been stupid
enough to fall into it? Countless people unwittingly dig
fatal sales traps for themselves that kill off any chance of
a sale being made. Five of the most common traps that you
must avoid if you want to sell more of your products and
services are:

1) Thinking about the sale too much
when you are in the selling process you must stop thinking
about the sale. My book ‘Bare Knuckle Selling’ does stress
how important it is to set solid objectives for every sales
call. However, once you have done this, put your objective
out of your mind and concentrate on the customer and what
they want. Get the dollar signs out of your eyes, forget
your objective and focus on the most important person – the
customer. Help them to get what they need and the sale will
take care of itself.

2) Failing to probe
If you truly want to help the customer then you must probe
their needs thoroughly. Failing to ask enough questions and
failing to clarify customer’s requirements leads to sales
proposals that are off target. If your proposal doesn’t
meet the customer’s specific needs, your chances of success
are slim.

3) Negotiating before selling
Selling is convincing someone to purchase your product or
service. Negotiation is agreeing on what terms the purchase
will take place. If you start negotiating before you have
followed the correct selling process then you are, quite
literally, selling yourself short. If the customer does not
fully appreciate how much you can help them then they are
unlikely to be prepared to pay what you ask. Sell first,
negotiate second. If you sell well then you may not need to
negotiate at all.

4) Price dropping
many customers, particularly trained buyers, will always
tell you that your price is “too expensive”. Many
salespeople immediately drop their price (and cut their
profits) in an attempt to close the sale. This only
encourages the customer to ask for further price cuts. One
of the many counters to “It’s too expensive” is, “you are
absolutely right, it’s not cheap. Would you like to know
why?” And then re-commence selling the benefits of your
product or service to justify your price.

5) Failing to follow up
A sale isn’t a sale until the money is in the bank. Failure
to do what you say you are going to do will lose you more
sales than anything else. Always do what you promised to
do, make sure the customer gets what they want, and make
sure they pay you for it. The selling process is far from
over when the customer says ‘Yes’. Follow through and make
sure you don’t lose the sale through poor customer service.

Simon Hazeldine is the author of the bestselling books
Bare Knuckle Selling (foreword by Joe Vitale) and
Bare Knuckle Negotiating (foreword by Duncan Banatyne)
http://www.bookshaker.com/articles.php?authors_id=20

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