Acquiring a customer and signing a contract are the most important goals for a salesperson. However, sometimes obstacles arise or mistakes are made such that sales plans are not realized. Find out what behaviors to avoid in order not to scare away customers.
In the flurry of daily tasks, one can quickly succumb to routine. This also applies to the marketing industry. Salespeople often base their actions on established patterns, without bothering with creative solutions. The result of this approach can be diminishing returns. So what should you do to increase your revenues? What mistakes not to make in marketing and sales? What do customers dislike?
It often happens that salespeople flood their offers to people they know nothing about. Gaining knowledge about potential customers should start every stage of sales. We need to have a personalized approach, focus on the needs of the audience and know how to gain their trust. Before contacting a particular customer, let’s prepare. It is enough to gather some information. For this purpose, we can, for example, browse business profiles on social media.
A conversation about nothing is a waste of time – both for the seller and his interlocutor. Before contacting a potential customer, let’s spend some time preparing. Let’s think about what we would like to ask and what we will offer. Consider that the caller may also have some questions, so think about how we will be able to answer and help him. Before starting the interview, it’s a good idea to prepare notes, a plan or a script that you can glance at any time. This is what professional preparation looks like.
Have you gained knowledge about the client and prepared for the call, and even taken notes? Great, however, this is not enough. The best preparation will not hide our communication deficiencies. During the conversation, let’s avoid prolonged monologue, listen carefully to the customer, let him tell the story, respond to what he says and try to answer his questions comprehensively. Let’s not avoid the difficult ones, and let’s not baffle the interlocutor with learned formulas. Let’s think about the best solution we can offer. In this way we will win the customer’s trust.
Many salespeople focus too much on their product and not on the real needs of customers. Instead of asking what the customer really wants, we enumerate the features and benefits of our product without considering whether they even matter to the caller. Customers often have precise expectations and know what they want. Let’s get to know those needs and focus on solving their problem. Let’s be flexible and remember that it is the offer that is supposed to fit the customer, not the other way around.
This kind of mistake is often made not only during an individual conversation with a customer, but also, for example, in social media, where we try to build relationships with our audience. Automatically sent answers scare off customers and indicate a lack of individual approach. Let’s not answer all questions in the same way. Let’s modify our statements so that the customer doesn’t feel like an intruder who is being disposed of.
main photo: pixabay.com/islandworks
