Sales representatives often have one sales pitch that they use for every prospect they visit. While there is nothing bad about having one pitch that you feel comfortable with, one can easily fall into common traps that drastically lower your closing rate. First of all, it is important to understand that an individually tailored sales pitch is always superior to a standardized one. Due to the evolving nature of our society, everything is in constant change. Products improve, needs adapt and markets change and so should your sales pitch with every customer that you visit. What worked out yesterday, might not work out tomorrow. And once you realize that, it is too late for many prospects that you already pitched.
Therefore, it is always good to analyze one’s own behavior during sales presentations to avoid the following mistakes:
1. Bad preparation
Preparation is key. Always. Never underestimate how far good preparation can get you. And never underestimate how bad of an impression you make, if you are giving a presentation without serious preparation. You might argue to yourself now, that you have done the same presentation hundreds of times and know it by heart. That might be the case for your pitch, but it is not for your prospect. Every prospect is different. They have different needs, product settings, budgets, teams and so on. It is your job, to identify all important information before you even think about talking to the prospect. The more you know in advance, the less topics will come up during the presentation. You can effectively avoid topics that will bomb your pitch and lead the customer to where you want him to be: Signing the dotted line.
2. Talking too much
As a sales representative you should be a master of words and rhetoric. You should be able to eloquently present your product or service and you should be able to speak your prospects tongue. But above all, you need to know when it’s time to talk and when it’s time to listen. A common mistake, numerous sales people do, is talking their way through the whole meeting. They don’t let the prospect come to word, except when it comes to the signing part in the end. At that point, unsurprisingly, most prospects do not sign the deal, because they don’t feel their needs have been understood. Asking questions and listening to the prospects needs, to then take these points and build the pitch based on these is the way to succeed in the sales world. Therefore, after every meeting, one should asses the speaking parts. Did you speak 90% of the time? Try to even this out. A good balance is equal speaking parts.
3. Not asking questions/Asking the wrong questions
While it may seem obvious to many, it is a common occurrence that sales representatives either do not ask any, or ask the wrong questions during the sales meeting. First of all, it is important to understand that asking questions is the key to closing most prospects. The more one asks, the more the prospect will explain and the better one can build a compelling argument to win the deal. Basically, you make the customer close himself by asking the right questions. And this is where the second part comes into play, asking the right questions. People often ask direct and okay questions like: “Do you need this product/service”. While this might give you a yes answer, it does not convince the prospect. If you turn this into “How much better would your company do with our product/service”, you will get an elaborate answer about how positive it is, to use your product. The customer will be saying these things himself, which at the end will convince him of your solution. Aim for these kinds of questions and you will be on the winning side of the deal.
4. Giving into false pretenses
Everybody knows the following argument: “This is too expensive for me”, or this one: “Now is not the right time to get this product/service”. While these sound like real arguments, they are not. When a prospect uses these arguments to avoid signing the deal, you can be sure that you have failed to make the prospect understand why your product or service matches his needs. Therefore, whenever you hear these words, do not panic, do not pack your things, but accept that there is more convincing work to do on your side. Answer these false pretenses with questions like “What else is our offer missing that you need for signing the deal?” or “I see that you have a hard time deciding, could you explain to me how you can benefit from using my solution, so I can understand where I failed to explain myself?”. These kinds of questions will allow you to dig deeper and find the real concern the prospect has. Solve those concerns and then go on to close the deal.
5. Not reviewing the sales pitch constantly
Some of you might say, that all the above points are quite basic and should be clear to everyone. However, I have seen many sales newbies and pros miss these during their sales pitches. The problem is not understanding these rules, but sticking to them continuously. After some time, routine catches up with everyone and makes you pitch the same sales pitch over and over. Once you fall into routine, most of the points above are not actively enforced in important meetings and closing rates fall inexplicably. After some more time, sales reps realize this and try to find out what the hell is wrong with them. The pitch seems to be the same, but the closing rate does not. At this point I want to remind you of these crucial basics. They become a given and then lose power and importance. Therefore, always analyze your sales pitch and your last sales meeting actively for these basic sales methods of convincing prospects.
Another good trick is to take a colleague or superior to a sales meeting and get feedback on your performance afterwards. People that are not in the same routine as you have a fresh view on things and can give valuable feedback. Listen to their points and actively improve your pitch.
Keep all this in mind the next time you are out there hunting for deals. Getting the basics right, will make your life easier.
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