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Summary: Sticking with bad sales habits will ultimately cause you to have poor sales results.

In sales training and coaching you often hear “shoulds.” “You should make more calls. I think you should start earlier in the morning. We feel that you should call on more customers per day.” People basically “should” all over you. I’m somewhat of an expert on the items that follow because I have been guilty of all of them. This is a list of things that will cause your sales results to suffer. These are the opposite of “shoulds;” these are things you want to avoid while simultaneously replacing them with more positive behaviors.

Calling only on customers. Error in thinking: You erroneously believe that your customers will stay with you forever and there is no need to grow your sales by prospecting. All customers will eventually leave the fold for one reason or another and all companies want their salespeople to grow revenue.

Ignoring customer relationships and focusing exclusively on being a good order processor/taker. Error in thinking: The reason you are getting orders from a customer is largely a result of the relationship you and your company have with that customer. Ignore this long enough and the customer will divorce you. If you’re just a warm blooded version of e-commerce why does the customer need you?

Dominating customer interactions and doing all the talking. Error in thinking: The biggest single complaint about salespeople is that they don’t listen. Asking open ended questions and then listening will not only help bust this stereotype but will get you needed information and build the customer relationship.

Keeping all of your customer information “in your head.” Error in thinking: Even Einstein had to take notes. Quit deluding yourself; you’re not able to keep track of all the information you need about your customers and prospects from memory. This is just a lazy copout. Ever have a waiter or waitress not write down your order and then get it wrong? Didn’t make you too happy did it?

Working only part of the day. Error in thinking: You incorrectly think that your superior sales skills will carry the day for you; there is no need to work a full day every day. Besides, you’re in sales; you’re expected not to work a full day. Here’s where this will nail you every time and it’s a slippery slope. You start out working ten hour days, then nine hour days, seven hour days, five hour days and before long you’re barely getting out of your pajamas. Your sales results will show it.

Believe me, there are more ways than this to grenade your sales career. I should know; I’ve done all of them. These five are some of the most prevalent. We have a tendency to think that we can get away with these things without consequence, but these bad habits will ultimately nab you.

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Tags: habits

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