6 Ways to Kill Your Sales

You’ve invested money in SEO, and that fancy new CRM, but the phones still just aren’t ringing. The emails aren’t coming in. Somehow, your great new product or service still isn’t jumping off the shelf. So, where are you going awry? When meeting with people, these are the top 6 things I see that are killing your sales:

Meeting new leads – real face time:

This is simple – so many people aren’t setting aside the time to be, physically, in the same place with their best prospective customers and clients. This face time to meet new people, and re-confirm your presence with prospects and referral partners you’ve already met proves invaluable to the long-term viability of your business.

Bad first impressions

You’re always running late, there’s always an excuse, your teeth aren’t brushed, papers are falling out of your notebook, you aren’t dressed the part, you talk over the other person, you talk too much, you don’t listen…. Do you think that the prospect will be eager to meet again?

Follow-through after meeting

You got that first meeting, it went well. Now what? You send a follow-up email, but no reply. So many people see that as a sign that the interest isn’t there, and move on. NO! There are many reasons why there may be no reply:

1. Other priorities have taken precedence: depending on what you offer, this may be a good sign! If they are so busy they don’t have time to talk with you, that may indicate a high need for your time saving, labor saving, efficiency producing or pampering product or service! Above all: don’t take it personally, and keep at it!
2. You’re caught in the spam filter: add phone call follow-ups to your mix. Using email is great, but the greatest opportunities arise through human interaction. Pick up that phone!

Too many leads and opportunities

Too much of a good thing can be a problem – are you taking the time and bandwidth to nurture and care for your prospects? Automation and improved qualification may help here.

Qualification

Are you scoring your leads and opportunities properly? To be clear – are you setting aside the individuals and businesses who are less likely to use your products or services, to focus on those who can and will?

Sales dialogue and structure

Do you talk and talk and talk, but the deal never closes? Bingo! There is your problem. Great salespeople listen and ask questions, not talk and talk and talk. But beyond those questions, they are focused on developing the trust and confidence of the person to whom they are speaking; with questions and statements carefully structured and rehearsed to draw the prospect to the desired goal.