Are You Making Any Of These 8 Costly Sales Mistakes?

By Erin Tamberella author of Plateau to Pinnacle

  • There is no such thing as a natural salesperson. Sales is a learned skill.
  • Unfortunately, in a business that’s essentially 90% sales, it’s a skill that is seldom, if ever taught.
  • In most cases, “sales” training is nothing more than product training.
  • This puts advisors in the unenviable position of having to go through the process of trial and error
  • There are 8 common and costly sales mistakes that even the most seasoned veterans make on a regular basis.
  1. Believing When You Ask Clients & Prospects for Money You’re Asking for a Favor.
  2. When you ask prospects, clients for their business, you are NOT asking them a favor. You’re doing them a favor.
  3. Make that mental shift
  4. Nothing sells like conviction
  5. Studies have shown that people who feel like they’re working for a purpose larger than themselves are far more successful.
  6. Make that mental shift by taking 10 seconds to ask yourself the following 3 questions every single time you pick up the phone or walk into an appointment:
  7. Who’s going to care more about them? You!
  8. Who’s going to do a better job for them? You!
  9. Who are they going to feel the most comfortable with? You!
  10. When you start believing it, so do your prospects and clients.
  11. Trying to Sell Without Enough Conviction
  12. If you don’t believe in what you do or what you’re selling, neither will your prospect or client.
  13. You build conviction in yourself by consistently repeating the 10-second mental conditioning exercise above.
  14. Show your prospects and clients that you understand them, their situation and their goals.
  15. They want to feel taken care of by you.
  16. Being Hung Up on Fees in Your Own Mind
  17. There is a direct correlation between the amount you’re charging, and how much value you believe you bring to the client.
  18. Although, there are many things you do that the client may never see or be aware of, it’s extremely important that you always maintain perfect clarity on the value you bring to the table.
  19. In case you should forget, make a list of everything you do for a client and review the list often.
  20. Never Ask When You Can Tell
  21. Asking someone what they think at the end of a sales presentation, is not a close.
  22. People left to their own devices, prefer not to make decisions.
  23. In most cases, they would rather be told what to do or make no decision at all.
  24. There is power in an assumptive close
  25. Remember your purpose is to protect the prospect or client
  26. After your presentation simply say, “So all we need to do to get this going for you is a signature here.”
  27. If they say they need to think about it, ask, “So what questions do you still have that I can answer for you?”
  28. Try to uncover and answer any lingering questions they may have.
  29. Presenting Too Many Choices
  30. Unless they specifically ask for it, never present a prospect or client with more than two and only present the second if they adamantly opposed to the first.
  31. It’s your primary recommendation for a reason.
  32. Presenting Too Much Technical Detail
  33. Unless you’re dealing with an engineer type who loves data, graphs and charts, you don’t need to explain every nuance of your recommendation.
  34. Know the person as well as you can, be crystal clear on their goals, timeframe and risk tolerance, do a plan for them, do your research and determine what you think is the simplest way to get them to their goal.
  35. Most people are only interested in:
  36. What you’re recommending and the very basic “why” behind it?
  37. How will it help them to reach their goals?
  38. Why is it a good fit for them specifically?
  39. How much does it cost?
  40. What value are they getting vs. the cost they’re paying?
  41. Selling Features and Not Benefits Without Realizing It
  42. When reviewing your presentation if you’re unsure as to whether your points are features or benefits, simply ask yourself, “How does this affect them?”
  43. Saying that a particular investment or platform will automatically get rebalanced for them means absolutely nothing to the average person.
  44. A better option is, “your investments are automatically rebalanced to keep everything in line with the level of risk you’re comfortable with. So, should the market become more volatile, you can sleep at night knowing that your investments will stay in line with your specific risk tolerance.
  45. Not Having a Structured Drip System for Prospects Who Don’t Become Clients Immediately
  46. Don’t lose track/interest in a prospect.
  47. Calling a prospect when you happen to think about it is not a drip system.
  48. Develop an automated system that at the press of a button will generate a list of people for you to call each day, with a place for you to put notes and a schedule for your next contact.