I recognize that you may be an excellent salesperson. And if you are already a sales wolf, then welcome to the pack. But more than likely that isn’t the case. And if you do suck at selling, these are the three most probable reasons why.
Take heart. Recognizing that you suck at selling, and why, is the first step toward improving your ability. So with that in mind, let’s get into it.
You Think the Basics Are for Beginners
You learned the basics as you cut your teeth in the sales world. They helped get you to where you are today. And now that you’re established, the basics no longer apply. They need to be replaced with advanced sales techniques, otherwise you’re going to be stuck a “basic” salesperson forever. Right?
Wrong. The basics are the foundation for everything you do as a salesperson. It’s the diligent, consistent application of the basics that keeps your pipeline full. That helps develop prospects. That converts prospects into customers. If you’re ignoring the basics you’re cutting off the lifeblood of a healthy sales process.
Consider a carpenter. As an apprentice, they learn basic framing techniques, how to quickly compute miter angles, and how to swing a hammer. These, and others are the foundation of their trade.
As they move forward in their career they pick up all sorts of advanced techniques. But if they stopped doing basic framing properly, stopped computing angles the right way and decided to completely abandon their hammer, their career wouldn’t last long.
So if you want to stop sucking at selling go back to the basics, master them, and start applying them consistently.
You Spend 90% of Your Day on Things That Don’t Matter
You may not be aware of it, but you probably waste a huge amount of time each day. Distractions are everywhere, and there’s a very good chance, if you’re like most people, that you fall into their trap more frequently than you’d like to admit. Here’s how you make yourself aware of it.
Pick a day, or a few days, and write down what you accomplish every half hour. Set a reminder on your phone and each half hour, when it chimes, jot down what you did. I can almost guarantee that by the end of your experiment you’ll be shocked to see how unproductive your day is usually.
Are you checking emails more frequently than you need to? Scanning social media? Or are you substituting busy work for productive work? If so, then stop. This is why you suck at selling. Yes that paperwork needs to get done, but not during peak business hours when you should really be cold calling or chasing down leads. You shouldn’t be proud of being busy. Anyone can be busy. Successful people are productive.
So identify areas where you’re wasting time and stop doing them.
You Refuse to Ask for Help
If you’re slogging through your sales life, fighting to try and solve every challenge on your own, you’re making things unnecessarily difficult for yourself.
Maybe you see asking for help as a sign of weakness. Maybe you think a good salesperson shouldn’t need to rely on others. But I submit that you’re looking at things backwards. A good salesperson takes advantage of every resource available to them. They leverage every advantage. And the knowledge and expertise locked up inside other people’s heads is a major resource. If you aren’t allowing other people to help build you up, you will likely always stay close to the bottom.
You aren’t the best. There will always be people better than you. That know more. That have a clearer perspective. Let that value add to yours. If your ego is stopping you, get rid of it. Whenever you notice yourself feeling self-important and refusing to seek help when you need it, repeat this phrase.
“I’d rather be rich than right.”
Your ego can be your worst enemy. It lets you pretend you’re successful while actively preventing you from being successful. Don’t let that happen. Ask for help.
You Can Be a Better Salesperson
And we can help. Check out everything Tyler Jack Harris has to say about the sales process, success, and human nature in our Sales Wolves Podcast here
