9 Sales Mistakes to Avoid in 2022 - Salesken.ai

More than 40% of sales reps say closing calls is the part they dread the most. But a good close can be the difference between a deal won or lost. Are your sales reps making one of these 9 closing mistakes?

9 Sales closing mistakes to avoid:-

1. Not knowing what to ask for
2. Being vague
3. Trying to close the wrong person
4. Giving in to price negotiations
5. Talk endlessly
6. Not identifying deal-breakers 
7. Trying to close too early or too late
8. Mistaking ‘pushy’ for ‘persistent’
9. Not following up
   

1. Not knowing what to ask for / Not having a clear agenda

It usually takes a few rounds of communication to close a deal, which means not all calls need to end with a purchase. Know what to ask of your customer (and ask clearly) at different stages of the sales cycle – be it another meeting, a contact or referral, or a sale when it’s time. 

As opposed to 26% of average performers, 47% of top performers ask for referrals regularly.

Having a sales cadence may help you streamline and follow the different stages of your communication with your leads. 

2. Being vague

When you say something like “It would be nice to catch up with you again on this”, you are giving the customer a chance to say something nice and still not commit. 

Instead, if you ask, “Can I fix a meeting with you for next Friday?”, they can only say ‘yes’ or ‘no’. 

In about 63% of sales interactions reps don’t even ask for the sale!

3. Trying to close the wrong person

You are wasting time if you are trying to sell to someone who

•  doesn’t have decision-making powers
• can’t give you what you are asking for
• don’t need or have a use for your product

At least 50% of customers pursued are not even a good fit for what is being sold to them.

Avoiding this can be as simple as checking the LinkedIn profile of the person to whom you will be speaking, so you can get their designation, roles and responsibilities, and the decision-making power they wield.

‍4. Giving in to price negotiations

Yes, if your company allows, you should offer discounts and offers. But going too low just to compel the customer to buy is a rookie mistake. You are diminishing your product’s perceived value causing your company loss. 

Instead, persuade customers based on the problems you can solve for the customer and what could happen if they don’t solve those problems now.

Top reps spend 52% more time talking about value and 39% less time talking about technicalities than average reps.

5. Talk endlessly

There are three major problems with this.

• You are not letting the customer talk and give you valuable information
• You could seed doubts in their mind that didn’t exist before
• You could bore them 

Most sales reps have a higher talk ratio than their better performing counterparts.

Ditch the monologue and always pause after asking them a question. Chances are the awkward silence would get them thinking and give you what you need.

6. Not identifying deal-breakers

Valuable information includes factors that could instantly kill a deal (maybe a missing feature or incompatibility). If you can’t get the customer to mention such things soon enough, you would end up wasting your time and energy on a prospect that won’t even buy.

Almost 50% of deals are lost because of budget restraints. 

7. Trying to close too early or late

We’re not saying there is a specific time to ask, but keep these things in mind before popping the real question:

• Understanding the customer’s pain points and needs
• Establishing your product’s value
• Point 6!

Almost 25% of deals are lost due to bad timing.

8. Mistaking ‘pushy’ for ‘persistent’

You must be persistent – tackle objections, offer solutions/advice, follow up, etc. But don’t try to argue with a customer or shove your product down their throats. You would come across as someone who doesn’t care to help and only wants to sell.

You could also address the elephant in the room by saying something like – pardon my insistence, but I wouldn’t be following up on this if I didn’t think we could genuinely solve one of your biggest problems.

Customers think about 50% of sales reps are pushy and only 3% would say they trust them.

9. Not following up

You primed a customer, told them everything they needed to know, even piqued their interest, but alas! they hit you with a

“That sounds great, but we really don’t have the budget this year.”

“Maybe we could buy it when you bring out the data syncing feature.”

About 40% of sales reps give up after following up once. If you don’t follow up, you are willingly letting go of (possibly fruitful) opportunities.

Now that you know the things your reps could be doing wrong, let us also tell you what can reduce your efforts to get them to perform better – conversational intelligence.

CI analyses speech to show you what a good sales call consists of and how you can replicate the same across your team.  

Salesken is a CI platform that doesn’t just analyze speech but uses the data to provide reps real-time assistance.

Salesken’s Help Zone displays relevant prompts that can help your reps keep conversations on track, provide useful answers, and understand customer intent.

What’s more? Salesken’s post-call analytics give you deeper insights into your team’s performance. Now you can update your playbook based on things that actually work and discard what doesn’t.