There’s nothing worse than desperation seeping into sales. The outcomes are very frequently unfavourable. That’s because desperation, along with being a major turn-off for prospects and causing errors, results in a number of negative activities – offering large discounts, telling lies or significantly exaggerating.
We understand how difficult it is to stand out in a crowd, even more so when you’re competing with other businesses. However, desperation will never produce a good sales encounter for you or the prospect, nor will it result in you gaining more clients. Yes, some prospects might snap you up and convert, abusing your desperation with a great deal, but others will simply never want to buy from you again.
So, with that in mind, here are four desperation fails to avoid at all costs.
Fail number 1: Getting a meeting at all costs
Salespeople need to retain their dignity and self-esteem. Don’t sell yourself short and do anything it takes to get a meeting. It’s desperate and it completely ruins your credibility.
Sometimes, salespeople target a meeting above all else. Even when a meeting is not required, for instance, if the product has a low value. When a meeting is pushed onto the prospect, the majority get cancelled.
Fail number 2: Circumventing proper sales processes
When it comes to desperation, there’s nothing worse for the Sales leader than someone in the team avoiding processes to rush to get in contact with a lead. Often, when processes are circumvented, it creates embarrassing situations. For example, sales reps calling the same prospect at the same time. Or, sales reps calling a prospect by the wrong name. Or, sales reps logging calls incorrectly.
It drives leaders insane, and it fosters desperation in the sales cycle.
Fail number 3: The pointless sales email
Email overload, unfortunately, isn’t going anywhere, so going down the desperate route of sending point sales emails is one way to annoy a prospect. These emails typically have limited thought, provide no value, and are more pushy than anything else.
Sending pointless emails is like trying to find a needle in a haystack. Prospects emails get inundated with poor quality communication, and it’s a lazy approach to good sales. It’s a hit and hope tactic.
Fail number 4: Sales overkill
The last fail to avoid is trying to continue to sell something that either isn’t required or isn’t wanted. If the prospect has a need that you simply can’t fulfil, stop the process. Equally, if the prospect gives you a hard no, don’t continue to push it. Doing either of these wastes time, and time is money for both parties.
Know when to walk away and respect the boundaries.
What can you learn from the 4 fails?
If a prospect makes an inquiry and asks for a short sales pitch as the prospect has already done the research and is ready to make a purchase, what would you do? The answer should be, to give them what they want. Why does that matter? Because sometimes, to get the bigger sale, you need to stop trying so hard to sell. Sometimes, simply giving the prospect what they want, which could be nothing, is a better long-term gain.
If these four fails continually creep into your sales activities, it’s time to rethink your strategy. If you’re needy, take a step back and be more tactical. If you’re pushy, become better at qualifying deals and respecting boundaries. If you’re giving away discounts too much because your numbers are down, do more training and roleplay on closing. Whatever it is, address it, because desperation isn’t a long game and it won’t help you hit your targets.
