Biggest Mistakes New Sales People Make...

Personally I think the biggest mistakes new sales people make is nothing they have control over. It's the company they work for and I don't mean the company is bad what I mean is too many companies do not take sales training seriously.

Sure you can train them on your products that's the easy part, but training them on how to sell is just as, if not more, important.

I usually like to stump sales people who come in saying they have a hot prospect that is ready to buy, by asking them "Why are they buying our product ?"

You'd be surprised at the looks on their faces, and how long they sit there trying to figure out the answer. If a salesperson doesn't know why a prospect is buying a product then chances are they were only listening to what they wanted to hear during a conversation with the prospect.

The point here is the first step in any sales campaign is to understand the clients or propspects NEED. Why do they need your product, what problem are they trying to solve ?

Of course understanding the need is only a small part of the sales process.

But to get back to the topic I think companies need to be more aware of the benefits sales training provide and should provide sales process training for all new sales people to help them get started.