If your sales team looks great on paper, but can’t seem to produce the concrete results you know they are capable of, maybe they need to “take five.”
I don’t mean taking a break, but doing an internal check to see if they are holding themselves back with five common--and usually hidden--weaknesses.
I’ve seen these crop up in even the most seasoned, experienced teams out there. Thankfully, once your team becomes aware of these dynamics, they are easy to fix. But if your team doesn’t invest the time and introspection to catch themselves in the act, as it were, these weaknesses can hamper your best efforts.
Read on to see if any of these “Hidden Weaknesses” sound familiar and check out the estimated sales boost for overcoming each:
1. Need For Approval: Your salesperson’s need to be liked is greater than their need to get the business. These salespeople avoid confrontation; hold back from asking tough questions that might upset the prospect; and are easily put off by stalls and objections.
Estimated sales boost by overcoming this weakness? 35%
2. Non-Supportive Buy Cycle: These salespeople believe their own buying methods are the best. This means that if they prefer research, price shopping, and mulling it over, they will empathize with prospects who behave the same way. The prospect says, “I never make decisions without exploring all options to make sure I get the best price,” and a little voice in the salesperson’s head says, “Makes sense, that’s what I’d do.”
Estimated sales boost by overcoming this weakness? 50%
3. Inability to Control Emotions: The prospect throws your salespeople a curve ball and they panic. They are easily flustered and distracted by their own reactions, resulting in a tendency to listen to themselves instead of the prospect. They lose objectivity, which leads to a loss of control. When they lose control, they often lose the sale.
Estimated sales boost by overcoming this weakness? 25%
4. Self-Limiting Beliefs: When your salespeople’s belief system contradicts selling “best practices”, it will limit their ability to execute what they know they should do in common selling situations. For example, if they believe prospects need to think things over, that will neutralize their ability to close the sale--even though they know that’s what they’re supposed to do. Another example: A salesperson who believes people buy on low price will never be able to use any of the 124 techniques he memorized to overcome price objections.
Estimated sales boost by overcoming this weakness? 30%
5. Unable to Talk About Money: These salespeople can do little more than ask if there is a budget. They’re unable to uncover if the budget is real, where the money will come from, who controls the money and if the prospect will ever spend the money. These salespeople have trouble talking to the prospect about spending more money with your company than with your competitor. These salespeople are likely to waste time on prospects that don’t qualify.
Estimated sales boost by overcoming this weakness? 27%
If you want to know how these “Hidden Weaknesses” and other critical factors to sales success are impacting your sales organization or for information on diagnostic tools to screen sales candidates to ensure you hire sales superstars; contact Mike Zaruba at mzaruba@entrequest.com for a no obligation consultation.
Mike Zaruba is a Senior Business Consultant at entreQuest who has worked around the world with all types of organizations to create, implement, and lead effective sales management strategies at the executive, managerial, and frontline levels.
