The Biggest Sales Lie | Business Networking University

We?ve all heard it. And most of us believe it. It?s considered a classic truism in sales. But is it really? Let?s review the biggest sales lie.

Sales is a numbers game. While there is no doubt that more activity yields more results; focusing on this classic sales mantra can lead you down a dangerous path of profit-destruction.

Salespeople and their managers who believe sales is a numbers game typically will do whatever they can to generate more sales. This includes making a lot of crippling business mistakes. These mistakes include poor prospecting, an unfocused message and inadequate client relationships; all of which result in unhappy customers.

Poor Prospecting ? When you focus on the quantity of prospects instead of the quality of prospects, you typically get lots of wasted activity. Often sales managers will bark at their sales team demanding more sales and they focus on activity, not results. The outcome is predictable and common. Their salespeople unwittingly start chasing anything that breathes in order to get their activity levels where they need them. Or they focus on the easy sales, which are usually lower-priced and yield lower profits.

Salespeople that are focused on numbers and activity scurry around bouncing from one target market to the next. They never gain any sufficient momentum or meaningful relationships. It?s the classic, ?This week I?m looking for (fill in the blank with any industry).? Of course, next week, it will be another completely different market.

The prospecting that is done is not only haphazard, there?s no process or system in place. The salesperson and their boss often don?t understand what it takes to be successful, so they haven?t been able to create a prospecting system that works. Without that structure, the only reason that they can come up with for not hitting sales numbers is not enough activity.

Unfocused Message ? When you focus on more numbers and more activity, you can easily fall into the trap of trying to be all things to all people. I recently met with a new business owner who told me the three areas that his new company was focusing on. In the course of our conversation, he shared how a random comment he made to someone resulted in their request for a proposal. The proposal requested was for services that clearly did not fit within his company?s scope. Yet, he was actively pursuing it. He got caught in the ?easy money? game.

When you try to be all things to all people, you may make some ?easy money.? But don?t be fooled. ?Easy money? usually comes at a very high price. That price includes the extra time, energy and effort that is required to research and do what is outside of your normal scope of services. You also incur opportunity costs. By spending time on one project or one client, you have less time to devote to other prospects and customers who need the services that are truly in your sweet spot.

This scattered approach yields a diluted and unfocused message in the marketplace. It?s ironic because when you try to be known for lots of things, you?ll usually be remembered for nothing. You get caught in a constant churning of new and different clients and projects that yield little long-term traction.

Inadequate Client Relationships ? If you?re focused on the numbers, you can also become the victim of poor relationships with prospects and clients. It?s impossible to have more and more quantity without sacrificing quality when it comes to relationships. The result of a ?numbers mentality? is surface-level relationships and fewer sales. Instead, if you build deeper relationships, you will be rewarded with more profitable, long-term clients. And long-term satisfied clients yield more repeat business and more referrals.

One of my clients, a painting contractor, was caught in a common catch-22 position with his prospects. He was so busy with so many prospects and clients that he wasn?t building sufficient relationships with any of them.

He spent most of his day running from house to house providing painting estimates for his prospects. He felt pretty good about his closing rate of 29%. I challenged him and suggested that his closing rate was way too low. We talked about how he could build stronger relationships by taking some extra time building his relationship with each prospect instead of racing off to the next person on his list for the day. By making some minor but critical adjustments in his approach, he recently reported that his closing rate jumped to 92%.

Now, he can focus on the quality, not the quantity of his prospects. He can get out of the ?sales is a numbers game? trap.

Source: http://businessnetworkingu.com/2011/09/12/the-biggest-sales-lie/

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