Sales Mistakes You Think You’re Not Making

A little while ago I was visiting Will and Holly, friends of mine who have a four-year-old son, Chaka. Chaka just got a new pair of performance-enhancing sneakers (Wildcats anyone?) that, in his mind, has him challenging Lebron for the MVP.

No question Chaka got game, but even with the bionic footwear his dunking ability still doesn’t extend much past Oreos and milk. Can’t tell him this, though.

Chaka came to mind when I saw that RainToday.com just published a new free report Deal or No Deal – Sales Mistakes that Turn Buyers Away. The report shares never before released data about sales mistakes from our How Clients Buy benchmark report, and gives thoughtful advice about how to fix them.

The problem most people have is this: they don’t think they’re making them…

In RainToday.com’s report, you’ll find that professionals by and large need to listen more, understand needs better, craft better solutions to client needs, communicate the value of their solutions better, and more.

According to the buyers, 4 out of 5 service providers are making at least one critical mistake that makes it much less likely that the buyers will buy their services. But do service providers think this is them? Not usually.

What service provider thinks they don’t understand their clients’ needs? Who thinks they don’t listen enough? Who thinks their services aren’t worth what they’re charging?

Trying to tell them that they’ve got some progress to make on these fronts is not unlike trying to tell Chaka that – rad sneakers and all – he’s got a few skills to improve before he should challenge Kevin Durant to throw down on the court.

This is great news for people who know there’s always room to improve, that it’s a lifelong mission to be the best business developer you can be, and that are willing to hear about and accept their own particular shortcomings. Why great news? Because those of you that are willing to improve will be selling against those who aren’t.

The hard part is finding out if you dunk like Kevin Durant or like Chaka. If you do want to find out, here are a few ideas:

Ask your clients if they ever perceived any issues when contracting with you for services. When you ask, take care not to ask the same way a waiter might ask, “How is everything?” after he has served your food. If you ask without keenly requesting an answer, you’ll get what the waiter always gets, “the food is fine, thanks.” This is not what you want to hear. You’ve got to ask more rigorously, letting them know that you really want the tough feedback.
Ask prospects you lost why you lost. And same as above, if you don’t really dive in, you’re likely to get, “it wasn’t you, we just didn’t have the budget,” or “we went with someone who had a relationship here already.” These answers are often not the real answers, but they are polite letdowns you’ll get even when they’re not the whole story.
Get a third party to ask for you. Sometimes no matter what you do you won’t get the real answers if you ask yourself. Some people will gush to a third party things they won’t even hint at directly with you.
Assess your rainmaking skills and tendencies, and get feedback to figure out what your tendencies are. (Full disclosure, we offer this service with our Rainmaker Assessment Instrument and our coaching services. If you call to inquire about it or anything else, I promise to do my best to listen, understand needs, craft a compelling solution, and the rest. I’ll even wear my Converse All-Stars.)
Get feedback internally from people who have observed you in action. Again, sometimes they’ll tell you straight-up what they think, and sometimes you have to go through a 360° assessment or survey process to find out the real story.

If you’re still reading this, you’re probably wondering if you have any of these challenges to overcome (good for you!) or you think your colleagues or clients might. In any case, you want to find out the answers. Nobody wants to hear about their (as the polite set would call them) areas for potential improvement, but if the shoe fits…