7 Reasons You're Not Making The Sale Part 2

By Jim Klein

Last week I talked about the first four of the seven reasons why you're not making the sales.

This week I will give you the last three reasons.

5. Lying - Think of a time when you have been lied to. I'm sure you can think of at least one or maybe many instances.

Maybe it was the repair man who said he would be there at a certain time and showed up hours later or the mechanic who found nonexistent problems.

It seems in our society lying is acceptable. Many people even think it's okay to have their kids lye for them when someone is on the phone they don't want to talk and the parent tells the child to tell them they're not home.

I sales lying is not acceptable, especially when you consider people want to buy from people they like and trust. How can a customer trust you when you lie to them?

However, the number of salespeople who lie or intentionally mislead their customers is staggering.

The old cliche', "honesty is the best policy" holds true. Customers would much rather have you tell them the truth than stretch it or out and out lie to them.

It will hurt your credibility and ultimately the amount of sales you make and your repeat and referral business.

6. Failing to understand their needs - This reason is a byproduct of reason number one and two. When a salesperson talks to much and doesn't listen well then they tend to miss getting to the real need the customer has.

Finding and understanding the needs of your customer is an important step in the sales process, however, very few salespeople really probe and ask enough questions to understand their customers needs.

Many salespeople think they know what the customer needs so they skip this step and jump right in to presenting their product or service.

Without a clear understanding of the specific needs of each customer it's difficult to know if your product or service is even the right fit.

When you ask specific questions and get a clear understanding of the customers needs you can better tailor your presentation to show your product or service as the best option to fill their needs.

7. Refusal to take "no" for an answer - Statistics show that most sales are made after 5-7 touches. A touch is a personal visit, a phone contact, email, snail mail or some other form of communication.

As a salesperson it's important to understand this and to be persistent in attempting to make contact with a potential customer or in the follow-up. However, there comes a time when you need to accept the word as the final answer from the customer and move on.

There is a fine line between and objection and a condition and it's up to you as the salesperson to determine that line and to make sure you don't cross it.

It is often better to walk away a little too early than to alienate your self from the customer and kill any chance of possibly doing business with them at a future date.

Over the last two weeks I have given you some valuable information directly from the customers themselves as to why you might be missing out on sales.

Use this information wisely, make some corrections to your current sales process and see if you don't make more sales.