5 Mistakes that are Costing you Sales
Do you find that you are frequently having conversations with potential clients that don’t end with a “Yes please!” from an excited and committed client?
Does it leave you feeling confused because, honestly, you thought you had great rapport and connection, and you don’t understand what went wrong?
If so then chances are you too are making one or more of these common mistakes that I see heart-centred business owners make – and that are costing them sales and clients.
This is not just about you, and lost clients and potential income (although that is important too). It’s also about the cost to the client.
Because when you speak to a client who clearly has a need for the service or transformation that you offer, and because of the way you conduct the sales conversation they decide “No” instead of “Yes” then that is costing them too – it is costing them the happier relationship, the leaner body, the more successful business, the better quality of life, the pain free football games with the kids, or whatever it is that you offer that can impact their life in a positive way.
And it’s not about closing techniques
These mistakes are not the ones you would tend to think of first if you are familiar with traditional sales training. They have nothing to do with your lack of “closing” or “objection handling” techniques.
In fact, using those traditional sales approaches will more often than not backfire on you. Unless you are a very smooth, practiced and experienced sales person these approaches can quickly descend into what feels like confrontation. One of your mistakes might be attempting to use these traditional sales techniques when in truth they don’t feel comfortable or natural to you!
Here are the 5 most common mistakes that I see heart-centred business owners make:
1. Not Following a Structure
The opposite of a structure is what I call the “let’s go for coffee” school of sales. You rock up for a coffee with no clear agenda or reason for the meeting. You have a great conversation, the rapport and connection is off the scale and you just “know” that you are going to be working together. Then you are left feeling confused when you don’t hear from them again – or find yourself in chasing mode where you keep leaving them messages to “check in”.
If you are serious about guiding ideal clients to make a decision to work with you then it’s important you guide them through a structured conversation that covers all the right things in the right order – and leads the clients who really need your services effortlessly to a decision to work with you – and not only that but feel really excited about it!
2. Letting the client lead
If you allow the client to lead the conversation then your sale is lost from the very beginning. There are a number of reasons for this. Firstly, your client is looking to you as the expert. If they are to part with precious time and money to work with you, they need to be convinced that you are a leader. If you allow them to lead, you don’t get the opportunity to take that role. Secondly, if the client is leading then by definition it’s almost impossible to guide them through a structured conversation and it’s more likely to go a bit like this:
Client: “So how much is it to work with you?”
You: “£2,000”
Client: “Oh, that’s too expensive, let me think about it and I’ll get back to you”
You: “Er, OK”
Far better that you take the lead from the beginning so that you can demonstrate your expertise and guide them through a conversation that allows you to fully communicate the value of the work that you do – before you talk about the price.
3. Thinking you have to be Different
There’s a funny thing that happens for a lot of what I call heart-centred business owners when it comes to sales conversations. They suddenly feel that they have to wear another persona – let’s call it their “sales persona”. They believe that somehow they have to be “different” from their normal selves, and this is one of the reasons that so many people are uncomfortable with sales. The only mistake you might be making is the mistake of not being yourself. To have a really effective sales conversation all you need to do is connect authentically from the heart with your potential client. Yes, a structure is what makes it flow and feel comfortable, but within that structure, it’s important to be yourself – not me, or anyone else.
4. Letting “I need to think about it” or “I can’t afford it” be the end of the conversation
Most people, when they hear these words, let this be the end of the conversation. However “I need to think about it” and “I can’t afford” it don’t always mean what you think they do (click here for more on handling “I can’t afford it”). Providing you are prepared to ask the client at least one more question, you might find that these statements just mark the beginning of another conversation that ends in a clear “Yes”.
5. Not asking for a Decision
So many heart-centred business owners are so keen to not come across as pushy that they do the opposite – which doesn’t serve anyone. This includes not asking clearly if your potential client wants to go ahead. People naturally tend to resist change – even positive change – and so even if your client has already made up their mind and is mentally thinking “oh, this sounds great, it’s just what I need, I think I’m actually going to do it” they still need you to ask them directly if they are going to go ahead if you don’t ask them directly they probably won’t say anything. This is one of those strange things about human psychology.
Learn The 7 Steps to ‘Yes!’ for Authentic Sales
If you’d like to learn a sales process that feels much more comfortable for both you and your future potential clients, sign up for my 7 Steps to Yes! FREE video training. In less than 35 minutes, you’ll learn a 7-step structure for your sales conversation, and the sort of questions to ask to guide your clients to an excited ‘Yes please!’
Your future clients will thank you for it, I promise.
And please do let me know your thoughts around this subject by commenting below – I always love to read your comments.
