Customer Success

Avoid These 3 Sales-Busting Mistakes

January 25, 2012

This is a guest post by Jill Konrath, Chief Sales Officer at Selling to Big Companies

When you’re dealing with today’s crazy-busy prospects, it’s a real coup to set up a meeting. Sometimes you’ve made eight, ten or even twenty contacts before you finally get to that point.

The last thing in the world you want to do is blow it. Yet time-and-time again, I see it happening. Defeat snatched from the jaws of victory.

How can that happen? Here are three sales-busting mistakes you must avoid to prevent serious opportunity leakage.

Mistake #1: Frenetic Firehosing

Whether a prospects grants you 5 minutes, 30 minutes or even an hour, it’s never enough time to share “everything” you want to cover — especially since you don’t know if you’ll ever get back in again.

As a result, you feel compelled to go through every gory detail about your company, products, services, guarantees, blah, blah, blah.

By firehosing your prospect, you’re hoping they’ll suddenly jump up and say, “Stop. That’s it. We need it now.” They’re hoping you’ll shut up and get out of their office.

What’s the solution? Focus, focus, focus. Pick one to three (max) common issues faced by similar companies and decision makers. Share a success story, then quickly transition to a business-oriented discussion on these particular challenges.

Stop frentically firehosing now!

Mistake #2: The Curse of Knowledge

Sometimes your own smarts get in your way. I know it’s hard to believe, but I see it happen all the time. Experienced pros can be the worst at this, but the curse also strikes normal people as well as newbies.

If you give long-winded answers to simple questions, you may be making this mistake. If you assume your prospect has the same depth of understanding you do, it could be a problem. If you use lots of acronyms, technical terms or insider’s lingo, you may suffer from the curse too.

You’re hoping that your depth of knowledge will impress your prospects. They’re hoping you’ll shut up and get out of their office.

What’s the solution? Simplify, simplify, simplify. Unless you’re talking to a real guru, make what you say understandable to your own mother. Ask questions to educate your prospect. Tell stories.

Banish the curse of knowledge now!

Mistake #3: The Itch to Pitch

Don’t you just love it when you discover that your prospect is having problems that are solvable by your product or service? I know I do. My whole body reacts to the potential opportunity. I bet yours does too!

Before you know it, you’re leaning forward, talking excitedly about how you can help them. It’s like you’ve just pounced on your prospect. They feel it. Within seconds, they lean back and cross their arms over their chest, but you keep talking.

You’re hoping that your prospects will be convinced to take immediate action and decide to buy now. They’re hoping you’ll shut up and get out of their office.

What’s the solution? Question, question, question. Find out why they’re having the problem. Find out who else is impacted by it. Find out how it affects their ability to reach their goals this year. Dig deeper.

Scratch that itch to pitch now!

Here’s the deal. These three sales-busting mistakes can easily be triggered by your prospect’s question, a statement they make about their business challenges or a request for more information. Before you know it, you’re babbling. Uncontrollably.

Stay vigilant. After all, you’re protecting a potential opportunity. Believe me, it’ll pay off!

 

Jill Konrath is the author of SNAP Selling (#1 Amazon sales book) and Selling to Big Companies, a Fortune “must read” selection. She’s a frequent speaker at sales conferences and kick-off meetings. For more fresh sales strategies and free sales tools that work actually with today’s crazy-busy prospects, visit  www.jillkonrath.com.

Author, Speaker & Strategist

Jill Konrath is the author of <em><a title="SNAP Selling" href="http://www.jillkonrath.com/sales-books/snap-selling/">SNAP Selling</a></em> (#1 Amazon sales book) and <em><a title="Selling to Big Companies" href="http://www.jillkonrath.com/sales-books/selling-to-big-companies/">Selling to Big Companies</a></em>, a Fortune "must read" selection. As a keynote speaker, she is passionate about helping salespeople and entrepreneurs be more successful in today's ever-changing business environment