THE 5 BIGGEST MISTAKES SALES PEOPLE MAKE

In any field there are good salesmen and bad salesmen. In this article we will talk about the mistakes we have identified in 10 years of real estate sales experience. But these can be applied to any field that has a sales component. We hope it will be useful not only to sellers, but also to directors or managers, those who lead sales teams.

1. Not calling enough customers
   You will find salespeople who will say they have smelled the one who wants to buy, not call the other 100. But among those 100, there are sure to be 10 who could do the deal.

If you ask them at the end of the day how much work they’ve done, they’ll say “A lot. I’ve talked to a lot of clients. I almost didn’t breathe.” In most cases, they jumped from task to task and actually spent extremely little time with customers (which is actually the only productive sales work).

What do you do if that customer doesn’t sign on? In the meantime you lost another 10 because you didn’t want to call the other 100.

For long-term performance, the time spent with customers should be 180 minutes on average, every day. But most salespeople spend less than an hour or up to an hour and a half.

2. You don’t do CLOSING
   Closing is the technique by which you close a sale, a transaction. Basically you ask the customer to take an action towards buying the product you are selling. You would be surprised to know how few sellers do this. The difference in results between those who do and those who don’t is huge. Ideally they should use 5 closing techniques per interaction.
3. Not spending enough time on gaining customer trust
   Too many salespeople jump straight to the product presentation, when they need to spend that first part connecting with the customer. Before selling, you need to build a foundation of friendship and trust with that customer. In fact, closing and trust gaining must always follow each other in your interactions with the customer.
4. Don’t ask for referrals
   Referrals are one of the most important tools of a successful long-term salesperson. The moment a customer comes in on a referral, the level of trust they have in the referrer is transferred to the salesperson, who burns some steps in the process of gaining trust.
5. Does not monitor his activity
   Ideally, you should not only monitor it, but also report it. But most don’t even do the first part. It’s a good example of Pearson’s law: “What gets tracked gets improved. What gets tracked and reported, improves exponentially.” Most salespeople will improve their performance if they start tracking their activity and reporting it at the end of the day.

These were the top 5 mistakes salespeople make that sales managers should pay attention to.