10 Sales Mistakes That Will Crush Your Revenue

Each company has a product or service it needs to sell to make a profit. Sales representatives are the ones that offer your products or services to prospective customers and increase your revenue. It makes them crucial for your business success.

Unfortunately, even the best salespeople can sometimes make sales mistakes. For your business to thrive, sales reps must constantly be on top of their game. The mistakes your sales reps make can cost you a lot of money, so preventing these issues is essential.

One solution is to invest in employee training to increase knowledge and improve the skills of your sales reps. You can use sales training platforms like our Wonderway, which helps you perfect your results using advanced technology.

Wonderway uses machine learning and data analysis to detect specific skills your sales reps lack. Based on these insights, you can provide tailored sales training to your sales representatives, reduce their sales mistakes and help them close more deals. To see how Wonderway works, you can sign up on our website.

In this article, we will give you further insight into common sales mistakes, explain how to avoid them, and how Wonderway helps you each step of the process. Let’s begin with some useful stats.

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What sales stats show us in 2022

To become successful, sellers need to improve their skills continuously. Here is what statistics show us:

• 98% of cold calls are rejected
• 85% of customers reported being dissatisfied with their phone experience
• Only 23% of sales emails are opened
• 55% of the people making their living as a sales experts don’t have the right skills to be successful
• 63% of sales representatives say they work more than 40 hours a week
• 44% of sales reps give up after one follow-up
• Only 60% of sales reps meet the quota 
• Companies that invest in training are 57% more effective at sales than their competitors
• Continuous training is said to result in 50% higher net sales per sales rep
• Sales enablement can lead to a 6% to 20% increase in sales

The lack of sales skills and proper training increases the risk of making sales mistakes, negatively impacting your profits. Let's discuss other ways how sales mistakes affect your business.

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How do sales mistakes affect your business

Sales mistakes can lead to many undesirable consequences – from lost revenue to damaged relationships, customers complaining about your business, and employees unhappy with their work environment.

Using common sense when running your business is always a good idea. If something doesn’t seem right, trust your gut and take action immediately.

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The 10 worst sales mistakes that cost you clients

By taking the time to identify common sales mistakes, you can ensure these problems don’t occur. Focus on the following during your sales analysis.

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1. Confusing sales process 

Every process entailed in your business requires a systematic approach. Sales teams must have a solid sales process to perform well.  All the steps in the sales process should be clearly defined and easy to understand. 

After establishing clear rules and action points, you need to hire or train people to follow the plan and complete the job. Not having a defined sales process represents a critical mistake you must avoid.

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2. Lack of training and coaching for your sales reps

There are top salespeople with pure talent who don't need much coaching. They are rare. Most salespeople require significant training to thrive.

Investing in your sales reps seems expensive and unnecessary. After all, shouldn't employees know how to do their job from the start? The truth is employees without proper skills will cost you more in the long run.

You need to invest in your workers, which means investing in your company. Your employees need appropriate training that will allow them to be the best possible version of themselves. It will increase your profits in the future.

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3. Lack of effective prospecting and lead generation efforts

Lead generation is the process of attracting leads for your business. Your sales team must maintain contact with prospective clients and nurture them to turn them into customers. 

A salesperson without proper skills can contact hundreds of leads and still only capture the attention of a handful of individuals who will become your clients. 

If lead generation efforts and prospecting process are not efficient and adjusted to your target audience, your sales reps could end up wasting their time on people who were never a good match.

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4. Incorrect qualification and prioritization of leads

If your company sells a helpful product only for a specific age group, your leads need to be prioritized based on their age. Older people who do not use smartphones will never be good prospects for a product that requires them to use mobile devices.

If your product is for adolescents, having sales calls with older people will only waste your sales reps' precious time. It is of the utmost importance that the sales team know what type of product they sell and to whom it may be valuable and attractive.

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5. Not leveraging technology and data

To succeed in today's dynamic business world, you must adapt quickly and effectively to changes in technology and customer behavior. One of the essential sales skills is the ability to recognize and respond to growing customer needs. 

To do this, you need an accurate picture of your customers' needs and wants. Various sources, such as customer surveys, social media, and marketing campaigns enable you to gather these insights. Data helps your sales teams make more informed decisions and improve customer satisfaction. 

It helps you build stronger relationships with your customers. By doing so, you can ensure that your business stays on top of current trends and maximizes its growth potential.

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6. Having an ineffective product demo

An ineffective product demo can result from many factors, including a weak presentation, lack of preparation, and a sales rep who cannot effectively convey their ideas and experience. 

In addition, poorly prepared salespeople may not have enough knowledge about the product or its potential customers, making their presentation less credible. 

An effective demo should target a specific audience and demonstrate how your product solves a problem or fills a need.

By demonstrating the value of your product, you can show potential users or customers how it can improve their everyday lives. In addition, you can also highlight features and benefits they might not be aware of. 

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7. No clear value proposition or hook to excite buyers

Every good sales rep knows how to excite potential customers. As prospecting often occurs through sales calls, sales teams must be equipped with skills to catch attention without being in front of the buyer.

Sales calls must be straight to the point but at the same time not overbearing or hard to understand. Sales reps' talk needs to be smooth, enjoyable, and impactful. They must communicate why your product is the right choice for a prospective customer and what it offers.

The most important thing is to convey the value proposition in a way that resonates with your audience.

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8. Lack of trust, transparency, and authenticity

Building strong relationships with existing and potential customers is crucial in a successful sales process. The most significant obstacle sales reps face when attempting to sell products or services is the lack of trust, transparency, and authenticity. 

If your customers are not confident in your product or service, they will not purchase it. Ensure you are clear about what you provide for customers with open and honest communication. 

Being authentic is also important because it shows people that you are true to who you are and what you believe in. Trying to sell anything that is out of line with who you are as a person is a bad idea because people will not be able to look past that. 

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9. Incorrect pricing strategy

No matter how excellent your product is, you will not earn profits if it is too expensive for your target audience or if your competitors' products are cheaper. If you did not do a good cost-benefit analysis, the same applies if it is too cheap. You may not earn much, or your company may suffer losses. 

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10. Not tracking your sales reps' performance

The list of possible sales mistakes does not end here. If you don't track the performance of your sales team, you will miss out on valuable information that may help you identify why specific reps are so successful and what mistakes those who are less successful tend to make.

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8 ways to avoid making sales mistakes

The sales process is tricky. A lot can go wrong, and finding yourself in a compromising position as a seller is easy. If you’re not careful, you might leave the negotiation table empty-handed or lose a potential customer over something foolish. 

Let's discuss the best ways to avoid sales mistakes and how Wonderway helps you achieve your sales goals.

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1. Define your sales process and implement a sales onboarding program

Start by organizing all the steps in one sales cycle. It will give you an overview of everything your sales reps need to do to close a deal. When you finish the preparation phase, create an onboarding program for your new sales hires.

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Reduce ramp time and employee retention costs by offering your new employees an efficient way to prepare for their new job and tasks. With Wonderway onboarding software, your new employees can become efficient workers in the shortest time while gaining critical knowledge that leads them to success.

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Wonderway helps you improve your existing onboarding program or create a new one using our platform's high-quality, engaging content and templates created by the best sales trainers in the tech industry.

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What's best, you can increase your sales reps' engagement by using your existing documents and combining them with interactive quizzes, video recordings, and other elements. Wonderway integrates with Gsuite, Confluence, Office 365, and Loom, to name a few.

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2. Identify sales reps’ skill gaps and invest in a sales training platform

Sales training software like Wonderway helps you assess sales reps' skills and detect which skills they need to improve to close more deals. It combines machine learning and advanced data analysis, giving you insights to tailor sales training to employees' specific needs.

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Our upskilling software successfully detects employee skill gaps based on performance data it collects, combining it with feedback from managers and employees. Once you get the complete picture of your sales team's performance, you can apply training for specific stages in the sales cycle, such as prospecting, discovery, and negotiation that show poor performance results. When they are ready, your sales representatives can practice on real deals.

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With Wonderway, you can track sales reps' improvements in your CRM. It allows you to track conversion analytics and KPI development to understand how your team performance impacts your revenue.

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3. Automate sales workforce training courses

Wonderway certifications help you align your entire sales team with your sales goals. You can easily track sales reps' participation and engagement during training and keep them up to date with the latest product and process changes.

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You can conduct quantitative and qualitative assessments to ensure your sales team understands everything properly. From interactive quizzes to screen recordings and role-play, Wonderway gets you covered. When sales representatives finish the training, you can issue the certificates to confirm their improvement and boost their confidence.

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What's best, it's an excellent solution for remote teams operating in different time zones. With Wonderway, you will quickly unify sales reps' skills, improving the strength and cohesion of your sales team efforts. 

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4. Know who you are selling to and why

Do not make a sale mistake of not leveraging available technology and data that can provide you the information on who you should target group be. Always know who your leads are and if their needs are compatible with your products or services.

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5. Know your product and your competition well

Be ready for all kinds of questions. You need to be aware of how your product works and know all of its facets. You will also have to understand why your product represents a better choice than your competitors and what gives it an edge.

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6. Create an informative and helpful product demo

It should teach potential customers about what your product does and why they should choose it over other options. It should also show how easy or difficult it is to set up and use. By creating a demo, you’re setting yourself apart from the competition. 

Potential customers will be able to see how easy or difficult it is to use your product immediately, which will help them make an informed buying decision.

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7. Use the best tools to support your sales process

The sales process is crucial for revenue. Do not take it for granted. Invest in the best tools, such as our Wonderway that will give your employees a better starting point and quickly turn them into efficient workers that bring you money.

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8. Assess team performance and improve accordingly

Use features of software programs like Wonderway to measure sales teams’ effectiveness. To eliminate sales mistakes and improve your team's results, you must first define them clearly and know how to measure their impact. Then, you will be aware of possible ways of reducing issues or mistakes that hurdle the sales process.

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The final words about sales mistakes

In this article, we made an overview of the biggest sales mistakes that sales teams can make. We pointed out the importance of having a solid process that sales teams can rely on and the need for constant investment in your employees' training. We also explained why tracking employees' performance is critical to a successful business. 

If you have a well-organized sales process, but your sales professionals are not properly trained, they will repeat mistakes that hurt your business' revenue. A sales training platform such as Wonderway helps you reduce the occurrence of the biggest sales mistakes by using machine learning and advanced data analysis. Wonderway provides you with sales onboarding and training programs, employee assessments, and certifications you can utilize to make your sales team more productive and efficient. 

To eliminate sales mistakes, conduct high-quality sales training, and achieve higher revenue and faster ramp time, sign up for Wonderway today.

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Sales mistakes: FAQ

What are negative behaviors to avoid when you sell?

You should not speak in a complicated manner. It will make customers feel scared and inadequate. Also, you should not be overbearing. Take time to listen to your prospect and gain insight into their needs. Sales are not only about presenting. They are also about connection and trust.

What makes a good salesperson?

A good salesperson follows all the rules that showed success in the past. At the same time, a good salesperson knows how to induce trust in a potential customer and exhibit confidence in the product's value.