These blunders can cause your business to lose sales, customers, and revenue
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Last week, Natalie walked into a sports store with a simple goal: to buy a swim cap. She found the caps and was soon approached by a young man, the ‘salesperson’ on duty, who asked, “Can I help you?”
“Yes, I need a swim cap,” Natalie replied, standing in front of the display.
The ‘salesperson’ then informed her that their most popular cap was out of stock, and without offering any guidance on the other 10 varieties available, he walked off.
Natalie was left standing there, confused, and decided to leave without making a purchase.
As she later told me, if the ‘salesperson’ had shown even the slightest bit of care or interest, she would have bought more than just the swim cap – perhaps a swimsuit, goggles, a towel, a swim buoy, or even flippers.
So, what went wrong?
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Here was a customer ready and willing to spend her money, yet she left without spending a dime. How often does this happen? More often than it should, and the reasons are five-fold:
1. We fail to show we care
Many salespeople don’t seem to care about making a sale or engaging with the customer. They don’t grasp the importance of their role in the business’s success or customer satisfaction.
Instead of seeing each customer as a unique individual with specific needs, they view them as interruptions, inconveniences, or just another task. If it spreads within your organization, this mindset will inevitably hurt your sales and reputation.
2. We don’t invest in proper training
Many businesses fail to train their staff in the fundamentals of sales. Natalie’s ‘salesperson’ likely took the job without fully understanding what it meant to sell.
Businesses often assume that employees will instinctively know how to sell, but without proper onboarding and sales training, they won’t. Training your team on how to interact with customers and guide them through the buying process is essential for long-term success.
3. We don’t document or script our sales process
Many businesses have a sales process – a series of structured steps that a salesperson or team follows to guide potential customers from initial contact to final purchase – but fail to document or script it for their sales team.
By engaging customers along this decision-making journey and scripting responses to common questions or challenges, salespeople can anticipate customer needs and increase conversion rates. Documenting and teaching this process ensures your sales team is equipped to handle any situation effectively.
4. We don’t understand the customer’s why
There are dozens of better questions to ask a customer than “Can I help you?” Understanding why a prospect has come to you is crucial for offering the right solution.
By training your staff to ask thoughtful, open-ended questions, you can gain insight into the customer’s needs, desires, or pain points. Without understanding their motivation, it’s nearly impossible to offer the right product or service, and if you can’t solve their problem, they’ll take their business elsewhere.
5. We fail to measure the sales process
One of the biggest oversights is failing to measure what’s happening in the sales process. Businesses often don’t track essential metrics like conversion rates, customer feedback, or why certain sales opportunities are lost.
Next time you’re in a store, say “No” when asked if you were helped and watch the reaction. Most of the time, the response is an indifferent “Oh” followed by, “Would you like a bag?” Without measuring how effectively your sales team interacts with customers, you can’t improve the process or understand where things are going wrong.
Tracking key metrics helps identify areas for improvement and ensures that customers receive the attention they deserve, leading to higher conversion rates and better sales performance.
Natalie’s experience with the swim cap may seem like a minor issue, but it’s indicative of a larger problem in many businesses. Whether you’re selling goods, services, or ideas, learning how to engage with customers and guide them to a purchase is essential.
Sales isn’t just about transactions – it’s about fulfilling a need or desire, and when we fail to understand or address that, we miss out on building better relationships and making the sale.
Ultimately, improving sales skills – whether developed in business or taught in schools – could foster a more thoughtful and engaged society, where asking better questions leads to better outcomes for everyone.
David Fuller is a Commercial and Business Realtor with a strong reputation as an award-winning business coach and author. He has extensive experience helping businesses grow and succeed, providing guidance on various aspects of business management, strategy, and development. His work as a business coach and author has earned him recognition in the industry, making him a respected figure in both real estate and business coaching.
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The opinions expressed by our columnists and contributors are theirs alone and do not inherently or expressly reflect the views of our publication.
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