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Avoid the 5 Fetters in Sales

Salespeople are known to be a different breed of people, and top management often do not treat them the same way as they treat office people.  They say that you must give salespeople lots of freedom, just make sure that they achieve your sales targets and everything will be fine.  Is it so?

 From our experience in managing, training and coaching salespeople, there are 5 fetters that all salespeople must avoid if they want to be more successful:
  1. Sales as War - such a aggressive approach will imprison salespeople to constantly win battles with a 'out to kill' mindset.  If we were to examine closely, we discover that the biggest war the salesperson need to fight is not with the marketplace but within himself. A good salesperson work on improving himself first before he can conquer the market.
  2. Sales as Entertainment.  Here the salesperson simply believes that all customers must be entertained in order to get the business.  We know that the focus on entertainment will make the salesperson ignore his work and focus on short-cuts and many measures that push the moral law.  This approach will also creates problems in the future, especially when the customer has a change of management and the new management does not like this kind of night-club deals.
  3. Sales as Income.  Here the salesperson just want to earn the most sales commission possible in the shortest period of time. He will serve his own interest more than the customers' interest. Often the customers will be pushed to buy things that he does not want to buy, creating long term unhappiness. Just look at the so many multi-level marketing products stuck at home and you'll know what I'm talking about.
  4. Sales as a no-choice job.  Here the salesperson has already lost his passion and interest for selling, he just sells for a living.  Because it is difficult for the company to find another person that is familiar with the company's products, the salesperson get to keep his job.  But we know that such a salesperson is just passing time and his results will be mediocre or 'just pass'.
  5. Sales as One-Call Transaction.  Here the salespeople assume that people will buy based on just one presentation. The truth is that unless you follow-up, you're following the path of failure.  For people need more than one call, and most sales are closed on the 7th to 9th follow-up.  If you have a system in follow-up so, you can increase your sales conversion rate by at least 30% to 50%.  For details on how to do sales follow-up, click here.  
A good sales manager wants to ensure that his sales team are of the right people with not just the right skills, knowledge and experience, but also the right mindset and moral values.  For if the salespeople are not straight, the company will get into trouble. Just look at the record fines paid by top banks like JPMorgan Chase for their past 7 years of shady deals and you'll know what I'm talking about. 

Written by Andy Ng, Sales Trainer at Asia Trainers, details of sales and sales management courses are at here. 
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