Small Business: Sales mistakes to avoid

You've worked really hard to close a deal, but your prospect still has yet to make a buying decision.

This is an all too common selling scenario.

Be it procrastination or poor timing, there are many reasons why a deal won't close, but often the fault lies ultimately on the salespeople themselves, say experts.

"The bottom line is that quite often when a sale doesn't happen, it's because the salesperson has made one of several common mistakes," says Kelley Robertson, author of "The Secrets of Power Selling" (Wiley; $19.95) and president of The Robertson Training Group in Burlington, Ontario.

The good news is that these mistakes can be avoided, providing you know what they are. Here's some of the top ones:

Not qualifying the prospect: Before pitching a company or prospect, you need to understand whether it is the right fit for your product or service, says Robertson. Do some pre-call research including combing the Internet and visiting the prospect's website to see if it even has a need for what you're pitching, he said.

Lack of understanding: You also need to understand the prospect's "pain" or problem before you can adequately offer a solution, he notes. Try to get a better understanding of the issues and problems the company or its industry may be facing so you can offer a better solution, says Robertson.

Failing to build up credibility:Some salespeople have a tendency to go into automatic pitch mode or an instant sell, says Jeff Goldberg of Jeff Goldberg & Associates, a sales training firm in Long Beach, and co-author of "How to be Your Own Coach" (Serious Comics Press, $19.95). "If you haven't spent enough time up front building up credibility and a relationship, people won't buy from you," he said.

Getting cold feet: It may seem obvious, but to close a deal you need to ask for the order, says Goldberg. Often, a salesperson will go back and forth with a prospect and never get down to outright asking for the business, instead hoping the customer will make the final move. "They'll never actually come out and say, 'Can we do business?' " says Goldberg. "Typically that's based on a fear of rejection."

Not listening: We have two ears and one mouth for a reason, says Steve Schwimmer, regional sales and relationship manager for Renaissance Merchant Services, a Syosset credit card processing firm. Schwimmer, who actively sells, says a good salesperson knows when to keep quiet. "You need to listen to the prospect," says Schwimmer. "Don't dominate the conversation." If you're not hearing what they're saying, you can't offer them the right solutions, he notes.

Pitching the wrong person: Since the recession, the decision making at companies has moved up "the food chain," explains Colleen Stanley, author of "Growing Great Sales Teams" (Heartland Press; $14.95) and president of Denver-based SalesLeadership Inc., a sales consulting and training firm. In the past it may have been at the manager level, but in many cases now it's at a higher corporate level (i.e., vice president). The salesperson may have relationships with the previous decision-makers but now needs to expand those relationships to the top tier, she notes.

Scratching the surface: It's not enough to know who the decision makers are; you also must be able to speak their language, says Stanley. You can't just sell strictly on the technical aspects of a product with higher-tier managers, she explains. You need to understand their bottom-line pain (i.e. how the solution will directly affect the profits and losses of the company), she notes. "Product knowledge is a commodity," says Stanley. "What you really need to have is people with critical thinking skills."

Fast Facts

Successful salespeople

are:

PersistentAvid goal settersEnthusiasticGood listenersAble to show valueSource: Kelley Robertson