3 Reasons Why You Are Bad At Sales

Sales is what we need to do everyday as entrepreneurs. This is not always fun, but is has to be done. No sales, no business. Sales is also more complicated than people think but once you master the rhythm you can get addicted. This is one of the healthiest addictions that I know. Personally, I enjoy sales. I get a rush from it and that is why my business coaching is based on sales.

Having worked with 200+ small businesses in the last 3 years, these are the top 3 reasons why some of my clients kept failing at sales.

They Used a Narrow Approach

A narrow approach refers to only selling when an opportunity to sell presents itself. The problem with that is, you are not in control. You wait for opportunities to present themselves instead of creating situations that will allow you to sell. We see this a lot within the mining space where SMMEs wait for RFQ’s. They cannot determine when the RFQ will be released. In that process, they miss an opportunity to network at the mines (corporate) and make their business known.

Hearing “No’s” Where It Was Actually Not a “No”

Selling to corporate is complex. There are many approvals that are required and so many channels to go through. While you may not get a direct yes immediately, it also means you might not have gotten a direct no. A lot of entrepreneurs walk away when things start to drag because they view that as a no. Remember, a deal cycle can be anything from a week to 2 years. So, evaluate the delays carefully. Do not discount yourself from a race unnecessarily.

Missing the Potential Client’s Perspective

Are you listening? One thing that I picked up in my years in business is that if you ask the right questions and listen to the responses, you can have the potential client write your whole proposal for you just by talking. This does not mean you must change what you offer. It means you can now offer it the right way to a specific person. It is customization.

I hope these tips can assist you. Let us go out there and fetch that bag.