{"id":45376,"date":"2021-08-07T06:04:00","date_gmt":"2021-08-07T10:04:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/?p=45376"},"modified":"2021-08-20T10:46:56","modified_gmt":"2021-08-20T14:46:56","slug":"sales-success","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/sales-success\/","title":{"rendered":"Are You Undermining Your Sales Success?"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p>Are you struggling to get sales? What do you think the issue is? Do you think the problem is systemic (to do with the system) or individual (to do with the people)? <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>According to sales expert Mike Weinberg, if your company&#8217;s sales department is struggling to hit its goals, the reasons can be both systemic (to do with the company&#8217;s processes) and individual (to do with the sales reps). In his book <em><a href=\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/new-sales-simplified-by-mike-weinberg\/\">New Sales Simplified<\/a><\/em>, he outlines possible systemic and individual factors that could be undermining your ability to acquire new business.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Here&#8217;s a quick look at the issues that could be preventing you from getting sales. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<!--more-->\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>Systemic Issues Hindering New Sales<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>First, here\u2019s a look at the systemic issues undermining <a href=\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/succeed-in-sales\/\">sales success<\/a>:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\"><li><strong>Salespeople haven\u2019t learned to prospect:<\/strong> Many salespeople, especially those who joined the profession prior to the 2008 recession, don\u2019t know how to \u201chunt\u201d for new business. When the economy was strong, they didn&#8217;t have to learn to grow their customer base\u2014nurturing their relationships with current customers was sufficient to hit their sales revenue goals. But simply managing existing accounts isn\u2019t enough to sustain and grow sales in the long term, especially when the economy slows.<\/li><li><strong>New sales models reject the value of prospecting: <\/strong>Sales experts decided that <em>pursuing<\/em> customers through cold calling didn\u2019t work; inbound marketing, or <em>attracting<\/em> customers through social media and other methods was more effective. Since most reps are reluctant to do cold calling anyway, they\u2019re happy to have an excuse to avoid it. But selling isn\u2019t passive\u2014it\u2019s active. Tools such as social media should augment rather than replace prospecting.<\/li><li><strong>Sales managers don\u2019t teach prospecting. Instead, they focus on data analysis:<\/strong> Managers used to go out in the field with new reps to show them the ropes\u2014however, both managers and reps now spend more time entering data in Salesforce (a sales, marketing, and analytics application) than engaging in essential activities like calling a prospect to get a meeting. Updating the system is a greater priority than selling.<\/li><\/ul>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>Individual Issues Hindering Sales Reps<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>Besides these systemic problems with the sales profession, there are 12 reasons individual reps fail at acquiring new business, even when they excel at other aspects of selling. Some stem from a lack of knowledge while others are personal shortcomings.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>Insufficient Knowledge<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>1) The rep hasn\u2019t identified good prospects and diligently pursued them: <\/strong>They haven\u2019t strategically identified the potential customers most likely to buy their product or service. Or if they have a good list, they don\u2019t stay focused on pursuing the prospects\u2014for instance, they leave one message or get one refusal, and they move on without following up. Chapter 5 explains how to strategically develop a target list.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>2) Reps don\u2019t manage their time productively: <\/strong>They\u2019re often distracted and reactive, using their time for whatever comes up (which is never new business development). But generating new business requires scheduling dedicated time on your calendar for prospecting and treating that time as inviolable. It also requires creating and following a personal <a href=\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/business-development-process\/\">business development plan<\/a>. Chapter 14 looks at <a href=\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/time-block-schedule\/\">time blocking<\/a> and executing a new business plan.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>3) The rep lacks a compelling story: <\/strong>Reps who can\u2019t articulate a compelling story can\u2019t sell because, without it, their pitch is boring, self-focused, and unclear on the message. Chapter 8 explains how to craft an effective story about why your company and offerings are a good fit for the customer and better than any alternative.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>4) The rep doesn\u2019t know how to conduct an effective <a href=\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/face-to-face-sales\/\">face-to-face sales<\/a> call: <\/strong>Getting a face-to-face meeting with a prospect is an essential step in new business development, but you also need to know how to handle a meeting effectively once you get it. Many reps play it by ear or follow the customer\u2019s lead. However, to differentiate yourself from the competition and discover customer problems you can solve, you need to gather information by <a href=\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/how-to-ask-the-right-questions\/\">asking the right questions<\/a> and listening for clues about what the buyer is interested in. Chapters 10-11 explain how to structure a face-to-face call.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>Unhelpful Behaviors<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p>Besides a lack of knowledge, salespeople are often hampered by their own bad behaviors, which cost them sales. Here are some of the most common\u2014most are related in some way to procrastination.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>5) They wait for something from their company or the potential client before they act<\/strong>\u2014for instance, reports, marketing materials, or a callback. While they\u2019re waiting, a competitor may win the account, or the buyer will be shopping around and will have already decided what they want (reducing the salesperson\u2019s ability to influence the prospect\u2019s choice).&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>6) They keep hoping for a specific deal that\u2019s in the works<\/strong> <strong>to come through.<\/strong> This puts all the salesperson\u2019s eggs in one basket, increasing the risk of failure. Instead, the rep should have multiple deals at various stages in the works to increase the likelihood something will come through.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>7) They\u2019re reluctant to make cold calls and therefore procrastinate. <\/strong>They delay or seldom make cold calls; when they do, they\u2019re so uncomfortable and lacking in confidence that their calls are ineffective. But generating new business requires dedicating time each week to calling prospects and following through. Chapter 9 explains how to confidently make effective cold calls.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>8) They spend too much time on customer service: <\/strong>They babysit existing accounts\u2014for instance, tracking the order and invoices, and listening endlessly to complaints. Of course, salespeople need to take care of existing customers, but many overdo it at the expense of acquiring new customers\u2014because it\u2019s more comfortable to deal with people they know, or they feel important when they respond to a request. But this is a service role, not a sales role, and there\u2019s an <a href=\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/opportunity-cost-decision-making\/\">opportunity cost<\/a>: not growing your company\u2019s customer base.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>9) They spend their time on office social activities: <\/strong>Salespeople sometimes get involved in too many office activities aimed at building company culture\u2014for instance, planning the company Halloween party or serving on the safety task force. These activities can be fun, especially for extroverted salespeople. Further, companies often <a href=\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/how-to-evaluate-interview-candidates\/\">evaluate employees<\/a> on how they <a href=\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/how-to-get-along-with-other-people\/\">get along with others<\/a> and contribute to the team. But being seen as nice at work shouldn\u2019t distract you from acquiring new business, which is essential to your success as a salesperson.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>Counterproductive Attitudes<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p>Counterproductive attitudes also hinder sales because prospects sense and are turned off by them. Or, the reps\u2019 attitudes hold back their development or success.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>10) The sales rep isn\u2019t likable and doesn\u2019t adapt to the customer\u2019s style: <\/strong>As the sales adage goes, customers buy from people they like, so having an unpleasant personality, a negative attitude, or habits such as not looking professional will undermine sales success.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Many reps who are unlikeable lack emotional and social intelligence\u2014that is, the ability to manage their emotions, relationships, and others\u2019 perceptions of them\u2014and therefore struggle to build relationships with clients. For example, they fail to adapt their communication style to their client\u2019s: They may be overly talkative with a reserved client and not pick up on when the client is uninterested or irritated.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>11) They\u2019ve stopped developing professionally: <\/strong>Many reps don\u2019t invest in their professional development. They believe the clich\u00e9 that \u201ceither you can sell or you can\u2019t\u201d and think there\u2019s nothing new they can learn about sales. But you can\u2019t succeed in any field, sales included, without <a href=\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/keep-learning-keep-growing\/\">continuous learning<\/a>. Another reason to keep honing sales skills is that customers are becoming increasingly resistant to existing sales approaches, making it important to learn new strategies.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>12) They\u2019re not cut out to be in sales: <\/strong>Some people aren\u2019t suited to be sales hunters for two reasons:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\"><li>They\u2019re too \u201crelational,\u201d or focused on building relationships, which makes them shy away from the uncomfortable aspects of winning new accounts such as risk, conflict, and resistance. Developing new business requires not accepting the first \u201cno\u201d and pushing past resistance.<\/li><li>They\u2019re too analytical and process-oriented and therefore, too slow to act. They have to have all the data and facts before acting because they fear being wrong or embarrassed. However, generating new business takes persistent action.<\/li><\/ul>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>How Companies Undermine Sales Success<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>When a company\u2019s sales are falling short of its goals, the reasons may lie in the company\u2019s own actions and policies rather than the competence of the sales team. Here are some common company-driven issues that undermine sales success:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>1)<\/strong> <strong>The company isn\u2019t providing a clear strategy or mission: <\/strong>The executive team&#8217;s job is to decide and articulate the company\u2019s strategy; the sales team\u2019s job is to execute it. However, a muddy strategy often leaves salespeople confused about their focus and therefore, less effective.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The company should clearly define:&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\"><li>Why it exists<\/li><li>The direction it\u2019s going and why&nbsp;<\/li><li>What the company sells and why&nbsp;<\/li><li>Which markets are the priority<\/li><li>How it\u2019s positioned in those markets&nbsp;<\/li><li>The competitive environment&nbsp;<\/li><li>The company\u2019s differentiators&nbsp;<\/li><li>Its pricing strategy&nbsp;<\/li><\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>2) The company and its culture look down on the sales team: <\/strong>Many companies have an anti-sales culture that kills the passion salespeople must have to sell successfully. For example, other departments complain that sales reps are using too many samples, aren\u2019t using the right marketing materials, or are spending too much on meals with clients. However, to grow their business, companies need to be sales-focused\u2014that is, to fully support sales efforts and provide whatever the team needs to close deals.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>3) Reps spend more time on servicing accounts than hunting for new business. <\/strong>Requiring salespeople to babysit customers rather than hiring customer service people is the biggest obstacle to new business development. Customer service tasks that could often be handled by others include: quoting, taking orders, handling complaints, and walking orders through production.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Companies have few sales reps to begin with who consistently bring in new business (they make up about 10-15% of a typical sales team). At the very least, these people should be freed up from routine account management to do what they do best.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>4) The company\u2019s sales compensation plan is illogical: <\/strong>Compensation plans are a sensitive topic in sales because people\u2019s livelihoods depend on them. However, most companies get two things wrong and, as a result, their plans disincentivize the behavior they want (new sales development):<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ol class=\"wp-block-list\"><li><strong>The base pay for a rep is usually too high: <\/strong>Salespeople are typically paid a base or fixed rate plus a commission. When the base rate makes up too great a proportion of total compensation, top performers and mediocre performers earn close to the same amount (which doesn\u2019t motivate people at either end of the scale because top people are underpaid and poor performers are overpaid). Instead, compensation should reflect results.&nbsp;<\/li><li><strong>The plan treats all sales the same when it comes to paying commissions: <\/strong>Commissions are typically calculated based on total sales (X total sales times Y commission rate equals commission). This treats all sales as equal, but they aren\u2019t\u2014acquiring new sales is more challenging than servicing existing accounts.<\/li><\/ol>\n\n\n\n<p>If companies want new business, they need to decrease the base pay and increase the rewards to encourage reps to focus on sales hunting.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Are you struggling to get sales? What do you think the issue is? Do you think the problem is systemic (to do with the system) or individual (to do with the people)? According to sales expert Mike Weinberg, if your company&#8217;s sales department is struggling to hit its goals, the reasons can be both systemic (to do with the company&#8217;s processes) and individual (to do with the sales reps). In his book New Sales Simplified, he outlines possible systemic and individual factors that could be undermining your ability to acquire new business. Here&#8217;s a quick look at the issues that<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":496,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[45,14,103],"tags":[456],"class_list":["post-45376","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-business","category-management","category-sales","tag-new-sales-simplified","","tg-column-two"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO Premium plugin v24.3 (Yoast SEO v24.3) - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Are You Undermining Your Sales Success? - Shortform Books<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Is your company struggling to get sales? Here is a quick look at the factors that could be undermining your new sales success.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/sales-success\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Are You Undermining Your Sales Success?\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Is your company struggling to get sales? Here is a quick look at the factors that could be undermining your new sales success.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/sales-success\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Shortform Books\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2021-08-07T10:04:00+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2021-08-20T14:46:56+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/07\/leanstartup-entrepreneur.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"897\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"666\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Darya Sinusoid\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Darya Sinusoid\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"9 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/sales-success\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/sales-success\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Darya Sinusoid\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/0421cce75bc249b11e2517b3a91f9c46\"},\"headline\":\"Are You Undermining Your Sales Success?\",\"datePublished\":\"2021-08-07T10:04:00+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2021-08-20T14:46:56+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/sales-success\/\"},\"wordCount\":1897,\"commentCount\":0,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/#organization\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/sales-success\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/07\/leanstartup-entrepreneur.jpg\",\"keywords\":[\"New Sales Simplified\"],\"articleSection\":[\"Business\",\"Management\",\"Sales\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/sales-success\/#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/sales-success\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/sales-success\/\",\"name\":\"Are You Undermining Your Sales Success? - Shortform Books\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/sales-success\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/sales-success\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/07\/leanstartup-entrepreneur.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2021-08-07T10:04:00+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2021-08-20T14:46:56+00:00\",\"description\":\"Is your company struggling to get sales? 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