Colleen’s Blog

Are you selling the same way you were five years ago? Many salespeople have not adapted with the times and have not updated their sales process. As a result, their sales are suffering and they’re not selling as much as they used to. When it comes to your sales processes, it’s important to constantly stay on top of what’s working and what is not. ← Click To Tweet That way, you can identify and stick with the strategies that yield the best results for you and kick the “sales trash” to the curb! Here are five common practices that, in my experience, hurt sales and are often not addressed by salespeople! If your sales results are struggling, consider reviewing these five practices and identify whether or not you have recently updated these points in your sales process.

If you’re anything like the motivated salespeople I have worked with in the past, you may at some point feel as though you are not doing enough to separate yourself from the pack. You may look at your colleagues and competitors and see little to no difference between your approaches to secure more sales. If this is something you’re feeling, don’t get discouraged! This feeling is a good thing. By feeling motivated to do something more or different than everyone else, you are already separating yourself from other people. This feeling is the beginning of creating a certain uniqueness about yourself which your prospects, clients, colleagues and competitors will surely notice! In fact, professional relationships on almost every level will advance; not to mention more leads are created and more long term and profitable relationships are formed. However, wanting to do more is only the first step. Stepping outside of your comfort zone and doing more is where the real magic starts to happen.

A mistake I often see sales leaders making is suddenly setting new sales processes in place, with little to no notice. Every so often, a new sales process needs to be implemented. It’s expected. Regardless of whether or not the current sales process is flawed, there should be periodical adjustments (and sometimes, complete overhauls) to keep things fresh and to reflect the current needs in the market. For example, a sales process from 5-6 years ago would likely have little to no emphasis on social media. A sales process in 2014 that neglects social media has an extremely high chance for failure. As times change, sales processes must change as well. As I often remind my clients, some of your best sales reps have likely been with your organization for a long time. They’re often set in their ways and routines, and because of this, it isn’t realistic to expect them to change and become accustomed to a new sales process overnight.