I get a lot of cold calls and cold emails every day, and most salespeople make the same sales process mistakes. This is so common that you’re likely making one of them. In this video and blog post, I will outline these three mistakes and show you how to fix them easily.

 

3 Common Sales Process Mistakes

All of these mistakes are essentially the salesperson selling too early. Here are the three mistakes:

  1. Selling the product
  2. Skipping to the explanation
  3. Having an instant meeting

These mistakes happen when the salesperson doesn’t move the prospect through the right sales process steps. We can fix and avoid these mistakes by improving the sales process. We will first discuss the mistakes, then the sales process steps that can prevent them and improve your sales results.

 

Selling the product

The first mistake salespeople make is always trying to sell the product. I say this because a lot of salespeople reach out to try to sell to me, and about half of them will talk about their product and then ask questions like:

Is that something you are interested in?
Is that some thing you all need?
Are you all looking to make a change?

While those might sound like logical questions for a salesperson to ask, they focus on the last step of the sales process: the purchase. That is not great because, in most cold outreach scenarios, the purchase isn’t the next step.

The next step in the sales process is a longer conversation, a meeting or appointment. By shifting your approach to focus more on selling the conversation, you will not only improve your sales results, but selling will also feel easier.

 

Skipping to the explanation

I mentioned that about half of the salespeople who reach out to me try to sell the product. The other half will talk about their product and then try to schedule a meeting by asking questions like:

Can we have a call to discuss?
Is this worth a call?
Can I show you how this works?

You might look at that and think these salespeople are selling the conversation and not making the mistake of selling the product. But I would challenge that, because I see these salespeople as also selling the product, since the meeting they are trying to schedule is for them to talk about or present it.

These salespeople are also selling too early by skipping ahead to the explanation step in the sales process. This is where a salesperson presents or demonstrates their product or service.

A conversation is simply a first step for the prospect and salesperson to learn more about each other. This is a stepping stone that can lead to a meeting where we can explain how we can help the prospect.

 

Having an instant meeting

The third way salespeople sell too early is by jumping to what I call instant meetings. This is when the salesperson tries to have the conversation the first time they reach out to or meet the prospect.

For example, a salesperson cold calls a prospect and ends up talking for 10 to 15 minutes. While that might look like a successful cold call based on call length, it is not great because the salesperson would likely get more time and attention by setting an appointment or scheduling a meeting to close the prospect on a different day.

 

Sales Process Steps

The three mistakes all relate to the sales process steps the salesperson uses. We can fix these common sales process mistakes by improving the steps we take prospects through as we work leads and opportunities.

To show this, I will explain the sales process steps I use. This process will not only solve those common sales mistakes, but also make selling easier and improve your overall sales results.

 

Sales Process – Step 1: Prospecting

The first step of this sales process is prospecting. This is where you first interact with a prospect by phone, email, or meeting them in person at an event.

  • Amount of Time: When you talk with a prospect during prospecting, try to keep it to 2- 5 minutes. If you talk longer than that, you are either trying to do too much during this step, or you have progressed to the next step in the sales process.
  • Focus: Many salespeople are “all about me” when prospecting, which isn’t optimal. To avoid this, we recommend making 80% of the prospecting conversation about the prospect and 20% about you and your product.
  • Goal: The goal of the interaction at the prospecting step is not to sell the product. The goal is to move the prospect to the next step in the sales process: the conversation. With that, we don’t need to build interest to the point where the prospect wants to buy our product. We only need to build enough interest for the prospect to want to talk more.

 

Sales Process – Step 2: Conversation

The second step in the sales process is the conversation. This is where the prospect and the salesperson have a longer, more established conversation.

The conversation step in the sales process typically takes the form of an appointment, meeting, or call.

  • Amount of Time: The conversation step typically lasts 15 to 20 minutes.
  • Focus: The focus can shift as you move into the conversation, with 50% on the prospect and 50% on you and your product. A nice way to do this is to make the first half of the meeting about the prospect and then the second half about you. This not only keeps the conversation focused on the prospect, but also gives you a chance to tailor what you say about your product to the prospect’s needs.
  • Goal: The goal of the conversation is not to sell the product. The goal is to move the prospect to the next step in the sales process: the explanation. With that, we don’t need to build interest to the point where the prospect wants to buy our product. We only need to build enough interest for the prospect to want to learn more.

 

Sales Process – Step 3: Explanation

The third step in the sales process is the explanation. Here, we explain what we sell, how it works, and why they should consider buying.

This usually involves a presentation or demonstration, but for simpler products, it could involve sharing pricing details and a list of options.

  • Amount of Time: For most products or services, the explanation could be a 1- to 2-hour meeting.
  • Focus: In the explanation, we flip the focus from where it was during the prospecting step, making it 20% on the prospect and 80% on you and your product. A nice way to do this is to make the first part of the presentation or demonstration an overview of the prospect and what you have learned about them. After that, spend the bulk of the time explaining what you sell and how it aligns with the prospect’s needs.
  • Goal: The goal of the explanation is to sell the product. Even if you cannot take the order in this meeting, you should still try to validate the prospect’s interest in moving forward.

These may sound like simple steps and common knowledge, but as you can see from common sales process mistakes, they differ from what most salespeople do.