3 Costly mistakes sales people might be guilty of

The other day, I went to one of my banker’s branch to do a transaction. I spent about 10 minutes at the desk of a personal banker. I met a professionally dressed gentleman in his blue black suit, a white shirt and a red necktie, comfortably seated next to the personal banker, looking on as the bank staff were working and customers came in and out.

This gentleman was into the conversation I was having with the customer service officer and at a point smiled at some of the comments I made. In my interaction with him, he told me he was a Life Insurance Salesperson attached to that branch of the bank.

My first remark was, “how am I supposed to know you’re an Insurance Sales Rep; there’s nothing to show that?” His response to my question was just to smile.

Immediately, my sales management instinct kicked in as I began to ask a number of questions about his monthly target, number of cases to date, and whether he was on track to achieving his monthly target. He mumbled his responses unconvincingly and fraught with so many inconsistencies. He didn’t exhibit proactiveness – I never saw him make an effort to speak to any of the more than a dozen bank customers in the branch while waiting for my turn. I suspect the salespeople of this insurance company were deployed in the bank branches to maximise cross-selling opportunities offered them by a regular stream of high volume potential customers: buyers of financial services. So why are such salespeople failing their organisations and do your salespeople make the same mistakes? Here are three mistakes which might be costing your organisation:

Mistake #1: Opening statements fails the “what’s in it for me” test. The salesperson’s opening statements when I asked the question “what do you do here?” was the usual stuff: “I’m a bancassurance sales rep.” This kind of opening statements by salespeople is a put-off to many potential customers since they don’t see that there’s something in it for them, something that they want, which will make them listen to your pitch. The answer would be, “and so what?”

On the other hand, successful salespeople’s response to the question “what do you?” would be to use opening statements which include both value (i.e. benefits, results and differentiations) and credibility (i.e. company profile/capability and salesperson’s expertise and experience) to gain attention of the potential customer and enhance the likelihood to listen to their sales pitch. As the saying goes, “sell the sizzle, not the steak.” In the case of the bancassurance sales rep, he should be mentioning the ‘”sizzle” to potential customers first to get them excited, and then the “steak” with the “sizzle” being peace of mind, whereas the “steak” is life insurance.

Mistake #2: Lack of conviction in their products and company

The salesperson lacked the conviction in the portfolio products he was selling, as well as the industry in which he is employed. For instance, I told him he had the opportunity to become a millionaire given the fact that life insurance as a product currently enjoys less than five per cent market penetration.

Shaking his head in disagreement, he started the usual salespeople’s excuses. He blamed prospects for their skewed interest in funeral policies, not life policies as is the case in developed countries; as well as the bad image of insurance sales (insurance) as reasons why he couldn’t become a millionaire. He never attributed any blame to himself and his inability to be proactive in engaging prospective customers in the branch. Obviously, this salesperson has a mindset problem, thereby limiting his ability to initiate any form of sales interaction with prospects that came into the bank.

In contrast, successful salespeople in a similar situation cash-in on the opportunity to become millionaires. They will build confidence in the product portfolio, educate the prospects about the benefits of their products, as well as use their professional selling skills to position themselves as trusted advisors thereby de-sensitising the impact of any “negative” perception associated with their industry.

Mistake #3: The lack of desire The salesperson didn’t demonstrate the sort of desire required to be successful in sales - the desire to actively engage prospects and excite them about his products. In my attempt to “ignite the right fire to burn inside this salesperson” to be proactive and show desire, I said to him, “Young man, you appear to have a mind-set problem just like your other colleagues. Apart from this one, I frequently visit the Osu and Odorkor branches, and guess what, your colleagues there have neither spoken to me nor attempted to pitch me. You’re also doing the same thing here. The fact is that I don’t have a life policy.”

He just smiled at me. There was no fire of ambition glowing in his eyes and his face didn’t shine with burning desire. I got up to leave and asked the salesperson a direct question, “won’t you ask for my business now? I’m leaving now.”

He responded by smiling again, to which I said “If I were you I’d ask to walk me to my car to begin the process, or you don’t want my business?” Shockingly, he responded: “when you come here the next time.” REALLY! Contrary to the above, successful salespeople typically demonstrate desire and passion when they spot sales opportunities. They are proactive and driven to meet prospects’ needs, while increasing their earnings.

Conclusion In order for sales organisations to maximise sales opportunities as well as improve the productivity of salespeople, it is important to identify and correct mistakes which hamper revenue growth. Three of such common mistakes have been discussed in this article. Until next time, happy selling! GB

The writer is the C.E.O of Salesmark Services He is also a Sales Consultant, Trainer & Coach For a FREE Consultation, you can reach him at E-mail: mocloo@salesmarkservices.com