Sales is a hard job, but it comes with a sense of autonomy about work as well as financial ability. To sell well requires you to have many life skills necessary to convince the way. So what are the weaknesses of sales people that cause them to fail?
Skills can be cultivated day after day, month after month, but the desire for success, positive outlook, commitment to action, and accountability for results are things no one can teach you. . The following article will only be 9 weaknesses of common sales people, are you one of them?
What is a sales profession?
Working as a Sales or Salesperson – A salesperson is the person who will be responsible for selling the brand’s products, goods and services to customers in need. Sales people will learn the problems from customers, offer solutions with products or services of the business, according to a process that has been optimized.
In addition, sales staff also need to actively seek out new markets, customer sources, and increase revenue for the business. But in some specific cases, sales people only need to focus on the contacts that come in from the marketing department, commonly known as Telesales, mainly making calls to close orders.
Skills and virtues required
- Customer care skills: “Customer is king.” You will need to learn to listen to their needs effectively, thereby providing solutions they cannot refuse.
- Communication skills: You will need to explain the product features thoroughly, and answer any questions and concerns from customers. ( 9 Books to improve communication skills )
- Flexibility: You may have to work under a lot of pressure, with many irregular hours.
- Persistence: Not everyone becomes your customer. Be persistent to the end.
Salesperson Responsibilities:
- Introduce, promote, and sell products/services to potential customers..
- Perform cost-benefit analysis for customers.
- Establish, maintain and develop sustainable relationships with customers.
- Direct access to potential customers.
- Resolve customer issues to maximize satisfaction.
- Achieve existing business KPIs
- Good coordination with colleagues, other departments
- Analyze market potential, track and make sales reports
- Keeping up with the latest product and service promotion trends
- Continuously improve qualifications and skills
Common Weaknesses of Sales People
1. Weakness in money
When you were a kid, there was a time when you asked someone how much they make, or how much their salary is, and your mother often scolds you for those “impolite” questions. This may be true in some cases, but not in sales. In fact, if a salesperson doesn’t feel comfortable talking about money, they’ll never make a dime.
Salespeople have to discuss money issues with customers in many different contexts: How much will this product create or save for the customer’s company; How much money the customer has lost, how much they spent on the project, their expected budget for the purchase, and whether the customer is really looking forward to buying.
There will be no questions that avoid money issues, they need to be asked often and clearly in order for you to close your application.
To solve this money problem with salespeople, you should write down wherever you want your list of things you want to achieve in life: send your kids to a prestigious college, retire early, Traveling abroad, buying a house, buying a car, etc.
Then calculate the amount of money you need to make these things happen, and break them down by year, month, and week. With those numbers, you will be more motivated with your sales career, and sure, don’t hesitate to ask money-related questions.
>>> 9 Tips to close the sale quickly and easily
2. Not the buyers
To overcome this weakness, salespeople ask themselves. When was the last time you bought something expensive, and how did you buy it?
The first question will spark you about the concept of “expensive”. Usually the answers will take the form of a car, a fancy dress, a luxury piece of jewelry, or a vacation. The purpose of the question is not to judge people’s financial ability, but rather to see how the seller will deal with prices with their customers.
If you think your product costs 1 million VND is expensive, you will make customers not in one way or another think like you that it is expensive. But on the contrary, if you think 1 million is too cheap for this product, immediately the way you approach, the way you communicate will show how the customer has an advantage in this sale.
With the second question is to evaluate buying behavior. When buying a new TV, do they research and consult online first? If you approach as a shopper, you will more easily get a nod of approval from them.
To address this common salesperson’s weakness, they should accurately price their products relative to the competition. Make sure that the buyer fully understands the value, and benefits that without your product, they will have to lose.
>>> A Guide to Building a Sales Process
3. Do not cultivate trust
“Selling is difficult.” “Customers are rarely honest.” “Competition is fierce.”
If you stick to statements like the three above, it will be difficult for you to become a good salesperson. Trust is an important mental factor, when there is trust, your actions and the way you solve problems and talk to customers naturally will also be different.
Belief is a bit like passion, some people lose their faith after a few weeks, months or even years due to reaching their sales limit. You can hear about famous pho restaurants, thousands of customers, selling thousands of bowls a day, estimated revenue is a huge number but it is not difficult to operate.
But are you passionate enough like the owner of that shop, meticulous with each bowl of pho, warmly greeting each customer day after year, even remembering their name and taste?
>>> 4 Tips for solving customer problems
4. Do sales need recognition?
Needing recognition becomes a weakness of sales people when they care more about being liked or not than selling. Criticism is never a good thing, but your response is what matters when it comes to getting used to being rejected.
No one is perfect, and it’s normal for customers to hate you. Maybe you should change your approach when opening a conversation with them, with more informal questions unrelated to the product you sell.
>>> 9 sales books for sales people
5. Can’t control emotions
Sales people are also human, but as a sales person you need to absolutely avoid expressing too much of your anger and resentment. If a salesperson encounters objections such as: “this product is not suitable for us”, “we are not interested in this product” that reveal a state of frustration, negativity, we will affect the entire conversation, and more broadly, your relationship with the prospect.
Customers, of course, don’t always tell the truth. The fact that they say they are not interested in your product, is it possible that they are busy doing other things, or not convenient to answer the phone right now? No interest now is different from no interest forever.
If you let your emotions rule, you will be affected and it will be difficult to give wise words to customers.
6. Too trusting
Before going into this detail, remember how many times have you heard a call to buy a product and you said you were busy when it wasn’t? Or in a more “polite” context when you say you’ll consider when you know for sure that you don’t have any intention of buying them.
All of these lies that you come across in clients are for them to hide their feelings and avoid confronting you. Of course, you should not trust the customer to do anything, top sales people will know how to recognize this and make customers become more honest with their problems.
For example, when your customer says “my business is fine” but asks “what will your product save me?” Is there a contradiction here? The next time you call a potential customer, don’t trust their words completely, they are waiting for you to uncover their hidden truths.
>>> Part-time Work From Home Help Make Money Fast
7. Fear of rejection
What salespeople really control is who they should spend their time with. But if they let the fear of rejection overwhelm them, the salesperson will be controlled in reverse.
People who fear rejection don’t call, don’t ask wise questions, and are most afraid of being answered “no.”
They need to have patience to overcome this weakness, instead of thinking it’s a disaster, why don’t you think positively than they quickly say “no” then you save more time to find out. those who say “yes”
8. Easily overloaded
Sure, salespeople are under a lot of pressure, and will feel overwhelmed at times (that’s true in any industry). It is important that you control the balance and move forward.
If you do your work with joy and passion, you won’t find it “hard” anymore.
9. Poor time management
Do you often stay up very late and… do nothing? Do you appear in front of customers with a sleepy face, depressed state? You can not arrange a meeting, talk and exchange with all the information about the potential customers you have? Perhaps you are having problems with real-time management.
Sales always requires a lot of energy, the advice here is that you should create a list of things to do tomorrow every night before going to bed, arrange them in order of priority to know your tomorrow. what to do, and finally review the things you haven’t solved.
Good time management is one of the key factors for successful sales.
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