4 Biggest Mistakes Sales Reps Make and How to Fix It

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There is nothing like blowing up a sales deal just when the client was about to sign the dotted line.

Well, it happens, more often that you ever thought.

In the end, sales reps are also human beings. No matter what Harvard qualification they have in selling and marketing, they are prone to make mistakes that can dunk a hard-earned deal.

You can’t blame your B2B sales team if they make mistakes. Most often it is a case of ignorance. Nobody blows up a deal intentionally!

As someone who has seen sales team sketching B2B sales strategy from scratch till implementation and the experience of having seen some of them failing, I have gathered together these common mistakes that sales reps make and ways they can approach to avoid such mistakes.

#1 Pitching Without Proper Rresearch

do research

You don’t have to be Sherlock and play detective to research about your customers. But, you do have to do some groundwork before pitching them your offering and expect them to buy it.

  • Who is your customer?
  • What is the market they are in?
  • What offerings are currently available in the market?
  • What is the customer expecting that competitors are not providing?

These are few things to begin with to understanding your customer better. Proper research on these grounds throws up information about the exact pain areas of your customers and how your product/solution can address it. Without proper research, even with a well-equipped field sales application your field sales reps may not be able to sell well.

Making Sense of what you are Trying to Sell

sell what you have

Selling is good, overselling, not much. The purpose of selling should be to make customers understand what the product and what problem is targeting to solve. One thing that I have noted the most is that, B2B sales reps use too much of jargons that confuse and derail the customer from making a clear decision. Their indecisiveness is almost impossible to overcome and often leads in the losing the lead.

The lesson: Make sense while trying to sell. Explain the product/solution in a simple and lucid manner that is easy to understand.

Not Bearing a Salesman Charisma

A good salesman can sell ice cream to eskimos. They have the charisma to convince and convert the most adamant customers who don’t want to buy.

A fact about selling is that, most customers make their buying decision in the last phase. It is here that your B2B sales reps must shine their personality and win them over. When that does not happen, even when the product is great, the customer is lost forever.

However, one can’t expect the entire B2B sales team to be charismatic. For those who are lacking can always be trained how to be an awesome sales rep along with other B2B sales strategies and tactics.

Trying to Sell Without Solving aPproblem

Is your B2B sales strategy primed to help customers solve their problem? Or are you pitching your product only to sell it. In the words of Seth Godin, it is always better to find products for your customers than customers for your products.
Is your B2B sales strategy primed to help customers solve their problem? Or are you pitching your product only to sell it. In the words of Seth Godin, it is always better to find products for your customers than customers for your products.

solve a problem

Because, customers might forget your product, but they will always face their problems and would want lasting solutions. When you solve a problem, (like how Airbnb made it easy to find local accommodation without shelling out a fortune) customers tend to become loyal. They stick to your brand’s product & services and makes it easy to sell.

On the other hand, when you focus only on making them buy or pay, it is very easy to lose them. A mistake that most B2B sales team make without second thought.

Closing In

In a scale of 10, selling and scaling Mount Everest are almost equal to each other. Adding to the woes are some mistakes that underpin the selling abilities of sales reps eventually failing them from reaching their targets. We have discussed some such mistakes above.

Make a note of them. If you are committing any of them, make corrections right away. Don’t forget what Gless Ross told us: A for Always, B for Be and C for Closing.

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May the force be with you.

Meena Veilumuthu
I am Meena, working for Contus - a Digital Transformations Company. I love to explore the latest inventions and innovations that rock the tech world. I write about them at length with the intent to spread the knowledge far and wide to all known and unknown.

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