The main job of a sales team is to bring money into the company, but having a 100% success rate is almost impossible.
In spite of this, you can still strive to make improvements, and a good start is to look at the factors which are hurting sales performance in the first place. To that end, here are just a few of the most common reasons that salespeople miss out on opportunities.
Disappointing prospective customers
Navigating the ins and outs of a sales call can be a challenge for even the most experienced professionals in this field, yet the thing that catches experts out most often is not having a quick answer to questions raised by the customer.
This is a problem because modern consumers expect salespeople to be able to fulfill their unique needs, with the digital age and increased personalization leading to higher standards across the board. This is where enabling a mobile sales system which puts vast amounts of information at the fingertips of the sales team is an impactful tactic. They will never be lost for words or confounded by a customer question again.
Over-explaining elements when a deal is almost closed
This may sound counter-intuitive, but it is entirely possible for a salesperson to stumble at the last hurdle by continuing to bombard a would-be buyer with information about the benefits, features and value of a product or service at the point in the process where this rhetoric is no longer needed.
It is partly a case of letting the thing you are trying to sell do the talking for you. If you are over-explaining the perks, at a certain point it will come off as desperation, and make the customer think twice about going through with the purchase, even if they were already onboard up until this point.
Research suggests that it is even a legitimate tactic to not attempt to provide reasons why a customer should buy whatsoever. By talking less, you let them feel more in control of the decision, and so could be in with a better chance of winning them around.
Poor prospecting
To have any hope of improving sales figures, you need to ensure that there are enough suitable prospects for your team to approach in the first place.
Suitability is key here; while it may seem sensible to go for quantity over quality, with the hope that if you throw enough mud at the wall, some will stick, in reality this could be a waste of time and money. Instead it is better to tune your prospecting processes so that the leads you generate have real value because of their relevance to your particular niche.
A lack of experience
Finally, if your sales team has members that are either lacking in experience or are not suitably trained to take advantage of all the opportunities that come their way each day, you will clearly be letting money walk out the door.
Setting up a mentor scheme or coaching program so that veterans can impart wisdom to greenhorns is a good way to combat this. And ultimately, you should aim to adopt a number of different strategies if you want to increase sales made in your business, rather than thinking that there will be just one simple solution to this issue.
