By Todd Duncan

Despite the promise of hope that the sales profession offers, many salespeople are left haggard and hopeless at the end of their workweeks. And many aren’t achieving the success they set out for when they began. Sure, you could blame it on an oversaturated industry, but that’s not really the problem. The real rub is that sales­people make mistakes. And lots of them.

Mistakes are inevitable in every profession, but especially the sales profession. I know because I’ve made many of them. Once I failed to send some very important paperwork to a client on time— despite her explicit instructions. My client was very frustrated when she called to let me know of my blunder. Yet instead of owning up to my mistake and apologizing, I became defensive. When she expressed her disappointment and threatened to take her business elsewhere, I told her I didn’t care. Go ahead, I said. But five days later, I had lost not only her business but also the business of four other clients who had heard about the incident. Big mistake.

The fact is that when one person is involved in any endeavor, human error will eventually come into play. Mistakes will be made. We’re not flawless individuals. But the sales profession, to the cha­grin of some, is not an individualistic enterprise. Others are always involved. And if one person alone can botch a solo endeavor, a couple of people can absolutely ruin a shared enterprise. That’s because all it really takes to produce some good ol’-fashioned may­hem are two strong-willed individuals with varying values and motives trying to force an agreement on something. And truth be told, that describes far too many selling efforts. Certainly some of mine, and I bet some of yours too.

The bottom line is that the sales industry can be a breeding ground for blunders: fallible salespeople offering fallible products to fallible customers. If we were all good at what we did and every customer was perpetually satisfied, there would be no need for this article. But unfortunately that’s not the case. Salespeople still mess up. Customers still walk out. They still hang up. They still blurt obscenities—God forbid, but they do. And why? Because we’re not always doing our job right. Because we sales professionals make mistakes. And some are bigger than others.

And so, what is a sales professional to do? How can a sales­person like you, like me, steer clear of such lethal lapses in judg­ment? Well, that’s what this article is all about. Based on thousands of interviews, years of research, and two decades of personal sales experience (and though I hate to admit it . . . making many of the mistakes), I’m writing to help you steer clear of the fatal selling mistakes that can literally turn your selling career into a sales graveyard.

I’m confident that if you follow the forth­coming strategies to avoid the 10 fatal mistakes that we will discuss, you will succeed in the sales profession, regardless of your product, service, or industry. And you won’t just succeed now and then. If you create selling habits that allow you to consistently side­step the fatal mistakes, you will succeed on a regular basis. And I’m not just talking about making more money. If you’re ready, let me show you all that I’m talking about.

Over the next few months, we’ll be talking about the following fatal mistakes salespeople make:

MISTAKE #1: HYPING
Relying on “You can do it” propaganda to maintain your sales motivation

MISTAKE #2: POSING
Trying to sell before training to sell

MISTAKE #3: TINKERING
Treating the symptoms but not the sickness of poor selling efforts

MISTAKE #4: MOONLIGHTING
Building a business-based life instead of a life-based business

MISTAKE #5: MUSCLING
Taking Lone Ranger actions instead of using team-connected strategies

MISTAKE #6: ARGUING
Selling your product before knowing your customer

MISTAKE #7: GAMBLING
Making unplanned calls on unknown customers

MISTAKE #8: BEGGING
Seeking your customers’ business before earning your customers’ trust

MISTAKE #9: SKIMMING
Focusing on surface profitability instead of client satisfaction

MISTAKE #10: STAGNATING
Losing your sales edge by neglecting your growth curve

Stay tuned as we provide detailed solutions to help you avoid killing your next sale!

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