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06/14/2021

A Subtle but Deadly Killer of Sales

by John Chapin

If you’ve read past sales articles of mine, you know I talk a lot about the two major keys to sales success: lots of the right activity and great sales skills. That said, while a lack of activity is the biggest killer of sales success, a lack of great sales skills isn’t the second biggest killer. The second biggest killer is more subtle. In fact, it’s so subtle that most salespeople go through their whole sales careers and never figure this one out and, as a result, never become the salesperson they could be.

The Second Biggest Killer of Sales

I won’t make you read the whole article to find out what the second biggest killer of sales is, here it is: the second biggest killer of sales is not being direct. Coincidentally that’s also the second biggest issue I run into with salespeople I train. Number one is lacking the first key to sales success: lots of the right activity. Most of the salespeople that struggle simply are not making enough calls to get enough qualified prospects, to make the sales. While lacking the second key to sales success, great sales skills, definitely hurts sales results, it doesn’t hurt sales as much as an unwillingness to be direct in sales conversations. An unwillingness to be direct by not asking enough questions and/or tough questions, will lead to incorrect assumptions and an overall breakdown in communication and the sales process as a whole. Salespeople who aren’t direct will find themselves chasing people who aren’t interested, aren’t qualified, or both. Also, when they do talk to the right people, they’ll fail to uncover all the necessary issues and buying motives.

A perfect example of not being direct is the fact that more than 60% of salespeople don’t close at the end of a presentation. The average salesperson gets to the end of a presentation, asks the prospect what they think, and upon hearing a simple brush off like, “looks good, why don’t you follow up with me in a week”, simply agrees and leaves. I’ve even been on sales calls where the salesperson finished their presentation by telling the prospect they’d follow up in a few days after the prospect has had time to think about everything that was covered.

Of course, the end of a presentation is only one area where many salespeople fail to be direct. Other common areas include: qualifying on the initial call, the needs analysis during the first and subsequent appointments, and when dealing with objections.

Here are the most popular reasons salespeople fail to be direct:

Here are some solutions to the above:

 Err on the side of asking too many questions versus too few.

John Chapin is a motivational sales speaker, coach, and trainer. For his free eBook: 30 Ideas to Double Sales and monthly article, or to have him speak at your next event, go to www.completeselling.com John has over 33 years of sales experience as a number one sales rep and is the author of the 2010 sales book of the year: Sales Encyclopedia (Axiom Book Awards). You can reprint provided you keep contact information in place. E-mail: johnchapin@completeselling.com.

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