Three Mistakes Every Sales Rep Makes Every Day

Three Mistakes Every Sales Rep Makes Every Day March 13, 2008 by Christopher Rack

Whether you're a sales rookie straight out of college or a crafty veteran of 20-plus years, being a sales professional provides one absolute truth: you make mistakes and you make them every single day.

It was Jack King, in "Confessions of a Winning Poker Play" who said, "Few players recall big pots they have won, strange as it seems, but every player can remember with remarkable accuracy the outstanding tough beats of his career."

This holds remarkably true in the sales world. It becomes difficult to remember all of the large deals you've closed throughout your career, but you can always remember the one client that got away—and, more importantly, why they got away. There isn't a sales professional in the world that doesn't make at least one mistake every single day. But making mistakes doesn't have to be looked at in a completely negative light. Mistakes, especially in sales, are the foundation for growth and achievement.

Mistake No. 1: Pre-Judging Sales Prospects

Leads/prospects are the foundation of success in any sales job and every day sales professionals pine for the "hot leads" within their prospective industries. Have you ever seen the classic sales movie "Glengarry, Glen Ross" and viewed the vicious battle between sales reps for the Glengarry leads? The movie is a classic example of one of the biggest mistakes sales professionals make daily—pre-judging their leads. But don't confuse pre-judging sales leads with pre-qualifying them—the two are night and day. Sales basics teach us that we should do a bit of research on our clients to ensure they are a good match for our products and services (pre-qualifying), pre-judging leads is automatically eliminating a prospect because you feel they are not worth the time.

Below are a few common areas in which sales reps pre-judge their leads/prospects.

• Company Size. A small company size doesn't mean small spend.
• Buying Cycle. A prospect that is "just looking" is doing just that—looking at your product or solution.
• Project Budget. If your product/solution is good—and you pitch it well—budgets get created.

Mistake No. 2: Not Asking Questions

As markets become more and more competitive, sales professionals become too reliant on pitching their product. Sales is quickly becoming all about bells and whistles, product demonstrations and pricing. Prospects and clients share one commonality across all industries: they have a problem (or they wouldn't be talking to you) and they are looking for help (a solution to that problem). The key to identifying a prospect's "pain" is questions, questions and more questions. Going into a sales call/presentation, a customer/prospect expects the "pitch"—they expect that you will try and sell them on your product/service. What most don't expect—and what separates the No.1 rep from the No. 10—is that you have a vested interest in not only their company's success, but also their personal success. Prospects and clients love to talk about their company and its successes/struggles; you just have to open the door.

Here are a few tips:

• Ask questions based on research: "I noticed you are launching a new product next quarter, is this going to be a big initiative for you?" Or, "I see in your reports that your company has grown by 25% this past year, how has that affected your position?"
• Don't be afraid to get a bit personal: "So how long have you worked in this industry?" And, "Is there a product/solution you feel would make your job/workload easier?"
• Ask the tough questions: "What has held you back from working with my company in the past?"; "What do you like most about (your biggest competitor)?"; and "What is the biggest problem you face on a daily basis?"

Mistake No. 3: Ego

The first step to fixing a problem is admitting that you have a problem. Believe it or not, this is the hardest step in the process. Sales professionals, as a norm, tend suffer from over-inflated egos. And with those egos come habits that are often difficult to break. In the long run, the biggest mistake sales professionals make every single day is not recognizing that they make mistakes. It is impossible to fix problems that you don't know exist. Thus, you have a responsibility to identify problems and work on them.

Here are a few tips:

• Schedule regular self-evaluations. Schedule a regular time in your calendar to review your work, at least once a month. Review accounts you win and more importantly review the prospects and clients you lose. What did you do well? What went wrong?

• Create a standard checklist that you can use for every self evaluation. By using the same format to review yourself, you can track your growth across an extended period of time.

Start simple and think back over today—which one of the mistakes listed above did you make? It's okay to admit it, you are 100% not alone. You can safely assume that thousands of sales professionals are in the same boat. Believe it or not, there is a light at the end of the tunnel. Mistakes can be good things, but only if you are dedicated to learn from them.

Christopher Rack is a sales professional with an undergraduate degreee in Comminications and a minor in Art and Design from Purdue University. At Careerbuilder.com, he held several positions including account manager, senior account manager and sales manager. Currently, Rack manages a sales team for emediaUSA concentrated on lead generation solutions for IT companies.