Not only the salespeople themselves, but also the managers of sales teams should know the typical causes of salespeople’s failures so that they can prevent them. The customerthink.com website therefore summarized these causes into ten clear points.
1. Lack of experience
All salespeople need training and support of their manager, especially in the beginning.
2. Insufficient planning
Going to work everyday thinking that sales will come all by themselves is naïve. Most salespeople realize this, but they still often work without clear monthly or quarterly plans.
3. Lack of discipline
Sales are no walk in the park. Salespeople must be prepared for rejections yet not lose the focus on their target, which is success.
4. Insufficient training
Training of salespeople should not be limited to just product training. Salespeople need to know their market, the target group that they sell to as well as its requirements and problems. This requires ongoing, not just one-off training.
5. Lack of support
In order for salespeople to be successful, they need not just sales knowledge and skills, but also resources in the form of a functioning company infrastructure. They also need help from the management.
6. Lack of contact people (leads)
Companies sometimes give their salespeople qualified leads for sales calls. Other times this is not the case and the salespeople have to come up with the leads themselves. This can be demanding and may significantly influence their ability to close sales. All salespeople without leads have only two options: find them themselves or go do something different.
7. Lack of motivation
All salespeople are motivated for success by something different, and the managers should know what that is.
8. Insufficient adaptability
Sales techniques must develop and adapt as the markets and behavior of customers change. If you are unable to keep up, your revenues will decline.
9. Insufficient understanding of the customer
A big mistake made by today’s salespeople is their inability to understand their customers before they approach them. Salespeople must know not only how to begin the conversation, but also how to anticipate the customers’ needs. And based on that they need to differentiate themselves clearly from the competition.
10. Lack of focus
Salespeople must know how to determine what’s truly important. They should not allow themselves to be distracted by things that appear urgent but are not.
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