7 Big Problems in Sales with Small Fixes

Everyone has the ability to make small fixes, to make things a little better and eventually overcome big problems. Over the past 30 years, I have been making these small fixes to sales processes and customer satisfaction for companies. Sometimes the fixes were tiny and in other cases I rewrote the sales process of their entire industry. The media continues to tell us the problems of the past instead of coming up with new fixes for the future.

Here are 7 small fixes that will help you become more effective, no matter what you sell, and help you overcome big problems to reach your true potential.

1. Not Solving Problems

The only reason anyone buys anything is to solve a problem—period. Spend less time selling a product and more time assuring the buyer that your product or service solves their problem. Your goal becomes making their life better, less stressful and more efficient. This will separate you from the masses and establish you as someone who makes situations better, not worse. And the bigger the problem—and the more people who benefit from the solution—the more powerful your success will be.

2. Tough Questions

If you don’t get the answers to the tough questions you won’t know how to solve the real problems for the buyer. And in my experience, salespeople miss opportunities to build trust because they don’t ask tough questions. Asking these questions shows the buyer you aren’t afraid to face the real reasons for being there—to solve a problem; see #1.

I was on a call with one of my top sales representatives while he was doing a presentation and sensed the buyer wasn’t into it. I interrupted with, “You don’t believe a word of what he is saying, do you?” The client started laughing and agreed that it was exactly what he was thinking. You have to ask things like: “How do you feel about our terms?” “How do you feel about our price?” “Why did you decide to meet with me when you have been with our competitor for so long?”

3. Prospects Not Listening

If you don’t give your intention initially, the prospect isn’t listening or is thinking about something else. You have to hook their attention and have the person take interest directly. My prospects know from the start what my intention is. I start with, “Thanks for your time today; my goal is to have my product in your company’s hands by the end of this week.” They usually object to this saying they have no intention of acting that quickly, to which I respond, “I understand. I just wanted you to know my intention.” Make your intentions clear early in the sale. The buyer is going to close because of you, not because of them—build their confidence in you.

4. Presenting Too Long

Have you ever seen your sales team presenting long after the buyer had seen or heard enough to make a decision? I had, so I took all of our presentations and broke them down into five stages. At the end of each stage, I require my staff to ask, “Have you seen enough information to make a decision?” This worked like a miracle. If the customer said, “No, I haven’t,” the salesperson would continue with the presentation. Sometimes they found out they didn’t even have the right decision-makers in the room! This is critical information to make the close and in some cases, they would make the sale 80% faster than they had in the past.

5. Blaming the Price

“Price is the only issue.” I have been in sales my entire adult life and have been tricked by thousands of buyers who said that. Sometimes lowering the price is necessary to close the sale, but you must eliminate the idea that a lower price is the reason buyers close. Instead, live and die by the fact that “No one buys a price, ever!”

One of my sales managers had a client who absolutely, 100% could not break their budget of $1000 per month. They explained they simply could not afford to pay $1400 per month for a 12-month contract. My sales manager agreed with them and said, “I agree, and I can give you $1000 per month for a 24-month contract which will give you more time to utilize the service.” They immediately agreed to it and signed the contract. So instead of paying $16,800, they ended up agreeing to pay $24,000!

6. Using Free Trials

I used to believe the buyer would close after using my product for free. The only way that approach would work is if I could scale out to hundreds of millions of people, but it still becomes a cash flow problem at some point—too much time and energy are flowing out with no commitment to invest. This will break your company; so grow up and close the deal.

The only thing free at the grocery store is walking around inside—and even that requires your time and energy.

7. Lacking Urgency to Close

If you don’t close, neither you nor the prospect has gained anything! The close is what separates the ‘haves’ from the ‘have-nots’ and too many sales organizations don’t insist on the close for fear of being perceived as a nuisance. If you are truly sold on your own product or service, you must learn how to insist on closing the transaction—now. I have had too many unforeseen events or interruptions, beyond my control, steal the deal away from me because I didn’t act soon enough.

My books The Closer’s Survival Guide and Sell or Be Sold cover how and why to close extensively—both of which are Best Book of the Year on Amazon.

I hope these 7 Small Fixes help you dominate these big problems and crush your previous sales numbers.

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