9 mistakes the beginners in sales do

If you ask recruiters about the most popular vacancies and the most difficult ones to close, you will probably hear “Sales Manager” among them. There are no universities that will teach you how to sell. You cannot become a surgeon without having a practical experience. The same is happening in sales. You will not become a sales manager before you try to sell something to someone.

While working with young sales managers, especially those who have just started their career, I’ve noticed that most of them do the same mistakes. The difference between the experienced sales manager and the freshman can be defined easily if you look through the list of mistakes below and apply it to a real person.

Here are the most common mistakes I have noticed:

1. Avoiding personal communication — being afraid of calls.

When you are confident and ready to deal with unpredictable questions and cases, you will always try to find the shortest way to reach your goal. I teach my sales managers so that they always add more in-person relations to the sale process. What else could be more personal than a call with your prospect? Many sales managers try to postpone the call or do it at a later stage. I am sure that when you have a chance to get your prospect on a call, you have to do it.

2. Relying too much on prepared scripts and sales pitches.

Sales pitches and scripts, even highly detailed and well-prepared can cover just a part of questions that may arise during the conversation. Experienced sales manager always tries to avoid some standard scenarios and do not get into the “written process” when he feels that his potential client does not need it. Many times, I had a situation when I felt that a prospect would like me to be more straightforward. Such a feeling comes only with experience.

3. Speaking more than listening.

The Pareto rule applied to the sale process may sound like “your potential client has to speak 80% of the time”. Very often, young sales managers forget about this rule and change a dialog into a monologue. Without knowing the exact need of a prospect and his intentions, such a monologue about your company and your experience may be just a time-wasting activity.

Young and inexperienced sales managers tend to be more concentrated on their company, cases, skills, and knowledge. The real sales professionals are always focused on investigating potential clients’ needs.

4. Pushing too hard with follow-ups.

Finding the right time balance in following up your prospects is very important. Very often, the sales manager does a mistake by pushing prospect too hard with second-third-fourth follow-ups. The practical experience shows that following up when the person did not respond to your second email in 99% of cases does give the result. It does not mean that you do not have to ping your lead. It means that you have to:

(1) change the channel of communication,

(2) give your prospect some time and contact him in 1–2 months for instance,

(3) find another important reason to contact your lead — for instance, if you have accomplished a similar project and would like to show this case to him.

Would like to follow up professionally? Read this article at HubSpot.

5. Being too optimistic about the lead, prospect or possible deal.

We all believe in good things to happen to us. When a sales manager gets his first lead, he/she tends to overestimate the readiness of a lead to move forward with the offering. Experienced sales managers always try to keep their head calm and stay silent even if the prospect or client is really hot.

I had cases when the potential client requested the agreement immediately after the call, signed it and… disappeared after receiving the invoice with the same tempo as he appeared. Thanks to such cases, I taught self to be always calm.

6. Taking “NO” from potential clients too emotional.

The first thing, which I have described in my previous article about dealing with psychological pressure in sales, was getting “NO” from clients.

It is very difficult for young managers to realize that a refusal is just a part of their work. Being upset because you have got a refusal from the lead, which you thought would become your client, is something that you have to avoid. And it is something that you learn only with a time.

7. Losing sales discipline in following up, working with the CRM, closing meetings.

If you ask experienced sales manager what is the secret of successful sales, you will probably get the response, which is close to this: “If you want to be successful in sales, you have to be consistent”. The consistency is something that makes the sales process systematic. If you want to create a renewable model, which brings repeated sales, you have to keep the discipline in it:

• never forget to take a note after the meeting
• always close your action and fix the result in CRM
• use calendar to plan your activities
• follow up your prospects
• say “Thank you” even if you got “Not” from you prospect.

8. Expecting quick results.

When someone tells me that he is unlucky that his sales approach does not lead to sales, I always ask such a person about the math of sales. How many calls did you make or how many messages did you send? What is the conversion rate of your activities? How long have you been in sales? I also ask other questions in order to understand if the conclusion about the tool or approach is statistically verified.

Young sales managers very often expect to get quick results from their activities and do not take into account such things as conversions, seasonality, and other factors that may impact the result.

9. Avoiding small but very important details.

Experienced sales managers always pay attention to small details:

• the quality of the Internet connection
• the quality of your business card
• being in time at the meeting
• having a premium subscription for the conference call room
• clean and precise email and other small details.

They may impact the decision of your potential client.

I hope that this article will help you to rise your level in sales and to avoid mistakes that are common for your sales managers.

Good luck to you and do not hesitate to ask me any questions! To ask me, visit NoviLeads official page on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/novileads/

Best wishes,
Max Sidorenko
Co-Founder at NoviLeads Sales Outsourcing
https://novileads.com/