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"5 Fatal Sales Traps That Stop You Dead & How To Avoid Them"

- by Simon Hazeldine MSc, BA (Hons), FInstSMM

(c) Simon Hazeldine All Rights Reserved.

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Have you ever dug a big, deep hole and then been stupid
enough to fall into it? Countless people unwittingly dig
fatal sales traps for themselves that kill off any chance
of a sale being made. Five of the most common traps that
you must avoid if you want to sell more of your products
and services are:

1) Thinking about the sale too much
When you are in the selling process you must stop thinking
about the sale. My book ‘Bare Knuckle Selling’ does stress
how important it is to set solid objectives for every sales
call. However, once you have done this, put your objective
out of your mind and concentrate on the customer and what
they want. Get the dollar signs out of your eyes, forget
your objective and focus on the most important person – the
customer. Help them to get what they need and the sale will
take care of itself.

2) Failing to probe
If you truly want to help the customer then you must probe
their needs thoroughly. Failing to ask enough questions and
failing to clarify customer’s requirements leads to sales
proposals that are off target. If your proposal doesn’t
meet the customer’s specific needs, your chances of success
are slim.

3) Negotiating before selling
Selling is convincing someone to purchase your product or
service. Negotiation is agreeing on what terms the purchase
will take place. If you start negotiating before you have
followed the correct selling process then you are, quite
literally, selling yourself short. If the customer does
not fully appreciate how much you can help them then they
are unlikely to be prepared to pay what you ask. Sell first,
negotiate second. If you sell well then you may not need
to negotiate at all.

4) Price dropping
Many customers, particularly trained buyers, will always
tell you that your price is “too expensive”. Many
salespeople immediately drop their price (and cut their
profits) in an attempt to close the sale. This only
encourages the customer to ask for further price cuts.
One of the many counters to “It’s too expensive” is,
“you are absolutely right, it’s not cheap. Would you like
to know why?” And then re-commence selling the benefits of
your product or service to justify your price.

5) Failing to follow up
A sale isn’t a sale until the money is in the bank.
Failure to do what you say you are going to do will
lose you more sales than anything else. Always do what
you promised to do, make sure the customer gets what they
want, and make sure they pay you for it. The selling process
is far from over when the customer says ‘Yes’. Follow through
and make sure you don’t lose the sale through poor
customer service.

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Simon Hazeldine is a best selling author, professional
speaker and performance consultant. He is passionate
about helping individuals and organisations improve
their performance.

Simon is the bestselling author of Bare Knuckle Selling,
BareKnuckle Negotiating, Bare Knuckle Customer Service
and The Inner Winner

For more valuable information on improving your
sales, profits and performance (including sample chapters
from all of Simon's best selling books) at zero cost to you
visit: http://www.simonhazeldine.com today!

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