For anyone in sales or business, you definitely will want to know why sales fail or fall through. To me, it comes back to two main factors – the salesperson and the buyer. Sure, the salesperson will have additional aspects affecting them, such as the branding and reputation of the business they work for, but I’m grouping all that in the area of the salesperson. This isn’t a blame game, it’s purely about education and helping those in business and sales to do better and understand why they might not be doing as well as they would like to. So, please, read on …
So Why Do Sales Fail?
The Salesperson
- Have good branding, reputation by behaving ethically, valuing your customers and providing excellent customer service. A tonne of great Google (or Facebook) reviews will substantiate this.
- Know your product – and know your customer. This might seem obvious, but it’s amazing how many times you are talking to a salesperson and ask a question, and they have no idea. When question after question has to be referred to another team member, the customer not only becomes frustrated, but they also lose complete faith in you. Additionally, by knowing your customer, you will know whether your product or service is actually even going to sell. For example, is it out of date, obsolete, irrelevant or superseded? If you’re listening to your market, industry and your clients and customers, then you won’t be trying to peddle something unsuitable.
- Present the product well. Whether it’s a service or a physical product, presentation is everything. Is your quote a 2-line email which says what you’ll do and then the price? You are missing so much of an opportunity here. Great quotes and proposal documents include far more than just what you’ll give for what price. For one thing, it’s fabulous to have some testimonials on the bottom of your quote – just as a starting point. I recommend much more.
- Communicate its worth, value and benefits. Whilst many people pre-research something before they go to buy, others may not. Ideally, your online platforms and especially your website communicate all the features and benefits clearly, but if someone hasn’t seen the product, then be ready to educate.
- Have the confidence to ‘sell’ the product or service. If you can’t look the buyer in the eye when you’re talking about price, you’re sending a subliminal negative message to them. Pure and simple, a lot of what is ‘said’ is in body language. You don’t need to be over the top here, but genuine and authentic ‘quiet confidence’ will take you a long way.
- You didn’t listen. Listening is such an important aspect of selling. If the customer says they are not ready yet, then pushing hard will only get them agitated and offside. Respect that choice, but also ask if it’s ok to follow up in a few weeks (or whenever they believe they may be changing that position). Now, the thing here is to recognise, that some prospects are scared of being honest and saying ‘no thanks’ and will revert to the equivalent lines of ‘don’t call me, I’ll call you’, which is code for ‘I’m not buying’.
- Have a sales process! Golly, I don’t know how many clients I’ve started coaching with and discover they either don’t check that an emailed quote was received and/or don’t follow up. Follow up is gold – it’s not harassing people. In fact, 80% of prospects expect follow-up. I should say here that don’t be lazy and just flick them an email – that will fail for many reasons.
The Buyer
- They simply don’t want what you’re selling. It’s amazing how often I’m inundated by people selling things I simply don’t want or need. Even on LinkedIn, marketers are trying to sell me marketing services, even though as a business coach I include marketing and sales training in my business coaching. There are enough customers out there; do you really need to be trying to ‘sell ice to an Eskimo’?
- They don’t see value in the product. That’s partly on the salesperson, but it’s more than that. If they are on a super tight budget, then they may not justify (value) the price of the product or service. They may see its worth, but they don’t value it enough to not eat that week, or perhaps not put fuel in the car. This is where ethics comes in. A ‘good’ salesperson might convince someone to buy from them and miss their rent for that week. In my view, that’s not ethical and doesn’t represent integrity.
- They are ready to buy, but you’ve not convinced them (yet). When they give you an objection, that is excellent. They are telling you that they want to buy, they even want to buy off you, but you’ve not convinced them yet. Here is where their tone comes in (another reason to follow up in person or over the phone, not via email), as an objection may be a flat out refusal (that would be clear in the tone) or the objection may be a plead for you to do a better job at convincing them.
- They really don’t appreciate or understand what you’re selling. Well, that comes back to the salesperson; they haven’t done their job right – either at online/website level and/or sales level. Part of your sales process should be asking them if they have any questions, and listening to them fully before you answer.
- They are a procrastinator. Some people are quick, decisive and action-focused, whilst others find it hard to make a decision, procrastinate and dilly dally when it comes to taking action. As a salesperson, you need to recognise all people are different and be ready for one of the other (and everything else in between). For the action prospect, you need to be on top of your game and very quickly. If someone rings you and you don’t answer the phone, or don’t recall a call quite quickly, chances are, they have already purchased elsewhere. Even if you can’t book a quote for a couple of weeks, being prompt in returning a call and touching base may be enough that the person is willing to wait. For the procrastinator, especially online, ticking clocks set a deadline for action. Alternatively, don’t leave it to them to follow up after a quote – ensure you do, otherwise it will never happen.
- They chose someone/something else. Hey, it might be the salesperson didn’t do their job well, or maybe they did a fantastic job. Even the best salespeople don’t win 100% of their quotes. Sometimes it comes back to small things we can’t really change. The other salesperson was a friend of a friend, or they are based locally in the buyer’s suburb, or perhaps their product has a little feature that the buyer liked better.
As you can see above, there are many factors which go towards making a successful sale. This starts well before the sale with great marketing and business promotion and branding (branding is more than colours, fonts or logos) and then actioning a great sales process, delivered the best possible way. If you’d like assistance with strategies around business promotional, marketing or getting that sale – just reach out to me; this and more is what I cover in business coaching – whether you’re in Australia or New Zealand. My passion is your potential!
