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Sales Mistake No 10: Absence of a replicatable sales process

29 December 2009 by Charles Howden

When we began this series of the Top Ten Sales Mistakes, we were careful to point out that we were not addressing mistakes in any order of seriousness. Depending on the precise business situation that they present in, any one of them can cause havoc to an organisation’s sales performance. That said, I was tempted to call this week’s mistake the “worst” of the lot. And I’m still tempted to.

Sales Mistake No 9: It’s not just about the money!

17 December 2009 by Charles Howden

The popularly held misconception about the motivation of sales professionals is that it’s all about the money. Bonuses, commissions, prizes are all supposed to be the common currency of incentivising sales staff.

Sales Mistake No 8: Absence of a lead generation mechanism

10 December 2009 by Charles Howden

Whether you are selling double glazing or legal services, selling is a lot easier if you have a queue of half interested prospects waiting at your door. Just imagine it. You, your sales team, have a queue of prospects that fall into your target market, just waiting for you to pitch to them…

Sales Mistake No 7: Allowing price to dominate the sales dynamic

01 December 2009 by Charles Howden

If your salesforce is telling you that it’s “all about price”, that they need access to heavier discounts, at best they’re negotiating, at worst, they’re simply price taking. When sellers allow buyers to move the focus of the discussion into this territory they are setting themselves up for a margin destroying exercise. Are your margins increasing, or are they decreasing?

Sales Mistake No 6: Not using a qualification process

26 November 2009 by Charles Howden

Two weeks ago we talked about sales activity (do you remember the equation “activity x performance = sales results?) and that without activity, nothing gets sold (it might get bought, it doesn’t get sold).

Sales Mistake No 5: Aren’t we wonderful!

19 November 2009 by Charles Howden

Sales mistake number five in our “Top Ten Sales Mistakes” series is… Aren’t we wonderful! Well yes, of course we are, but do you think your prospect really cares? When businesses get too wrapped up in the rhetoric of how great they are, they can often lose site of their sales prospect’s perspective.

Sales Mistake No 4: Focusing on results and ignoring activity

10 November 2009 by Charles Howden

Results matter! Sales revenue pays the wages and keeps the business afloat, we all recognise that. Sales managers should be constantly tracking the level of sales achieved. So what is this week’s Top Ten Sales Mistake all about?

Sales Mistake No 3: Failing to actively develop sellers’ sales skills

02 November 2009 by Charles Howden

This week’s mistake in our “Top Ten Sales Mistakes” series is, to quote from Monty Python, “stating the bleeding obvious”, though given the number of times we observe it, perhaps it isn’t so obvious at all. We’ve put it on on our list because it’s incredibly damaging to sales results.

Sales Mistake No 2: Expecting “farmers” to become “hunters”

21 October 2009 by Charles Howden

You are probably aware of the hunter versus farmer sales model. Farmers have existing accounts to look after; they stay close to them and manage the sales process, hopefully upselling as they go. As their customers grow, so does the sales volume, and everyone is happy.

Sales Mistake No 1: Features versus Benefits

15 October 2009 by Charles Howden

We’re often asked “what are the main mistakes that businesses make with their sales operations?” It’s a great place to start when setting out to improve performance so I’ve decided to write a series of short articles about what we would regard as the “Top Sales Mistakes”. We hope you’ll find them helpful. Please don’t hesitate to share your thoughts with us.

The fastest way to improve your sales conversion ratio is…

29 April 2009 by Charles Howden

Do you need a rapid improvement to your sales performance?

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These are a collection of our views about the world of selling, though please feel free to disagree and share you own views with us.

Simply add your view to the comments box below each story. We’d be delighted to engage with you…

CPV have taken the mystery out of the sales process and shown us how to do it for ourselves, now I feel much more in control of our business” – PW, MD Financial Services SME

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