These Are The Bad Habits That Sales People Should Never Make

Sales people develop bad habits overtime just like everyone else. It’s always good to correct the bad habits before it’s too late. It’s hurting your company’s sales and it’s not good for you as an individual. In this article, I’ll be covering some of the top bad habits that sales people make that you might not be aware of.

They talk more than they listen

I’m going to have to say that this is the BIGGEST bad habit that most sales people tend to have. As a sales person, you’re supposedly to listen 2x more than you talk. The goal of a conversation with a prospect is to listen, listen and listen.

The more information you’re able to gather, the easier for you to adapt to their pain points and provide a solid solution for them. You might also identify other problems that you never thought they would have.

They don’t know their offering well enough

As Sun Tzu would say in the Art of War that if you know yourself and know your enemy, then you’ll win 100 battles. This same concept applies to sales.

You have to know every little thing about your product, so that you can offer the best possible solution for your prospect.

In addition to that, you must know your competitors in and out as well because one of the most common questions that you will get from your prospects is, “How does your solution differ from XYZ?” You have to know all your pros and cons off the top of your head and be ready to adapt.

They’re selling good to have and not MUST HAVE

I used to be in the employee perks space and it was extremely difficult to close deals because to most HR professionals, the service was only a “good to have” and not a “must have”. I always asked myself, how are my competitors in the employee perks space doing so well if it’s just a “good to have?”

The truth is that you CAN TURN “good to have” into “must have.” You just have to figure out which part of your products will make people’s lives easier and that goes a long way.

Find a feature within your product that will not only save their time, but will help them achieve their career goals and make their life easier.

They sound like a boring old man over the phone

Seriously, look at the top sales people or the top sales motivators in the business space. They’re SUPER excited about their product and they’re quite aggressive with their tone as well. And no, I don’t mean in the crazy pushy way, but as in, they know how to push the “must have” and why the prospect needs to have your product.

Stop sounding like an old radio DJ and ramp up your game. Be excited about your product/service.

They don’t follow up

Persistence is KEY to success. In the past, I’ve had to follow up with a prospect over 15 times in order to close the deal. Yes, it was tedious, but you know what the prospect said at the end of the 15th follow up?

“Thanks for being persistent! Persistence pays off, I’ve signed and paid the invoice” Boy, was that a good feeling to finally close a large deal after a few months of tedious follow up.

Every follow up is another interaction with the prospect and it reminds them that you still exist. So do your follow up!

They overpromise…

Bad sales people do whatever it takes to close a deal in a pushy way that doesn’t help with long term relationship.

You know what’s the best lead generation strategy out there? Referral leads..and customer relationship sticks with you forever. Loyal customers will ALWAYS return and always refer you to their buddies.

Do not burn bridges with anyone and over promising is one of the fastest way to burn a bridge.

Oh yeah…we can do this, we can do that. We have this, we have that, but in reality your company can’t provide it. That’s not a good sign at all.

Conclusion

Yes, there are A LOT more mistakes and bad habits that sales people make, but these are the most common one from my own personal experience. I try to avoid them and if you have one of these bad habits, you should correct it before it gets too late!

Hope it helped! If you’re looking for highly qualified and targeted sales leads, check out GrowthOK. We got you covered!