Increase Your Sales by Learning from the Mistakes of Others!

Increase Your Sales Success by Avoiding these Mistakes!

Whether or not you work with big companies, it is wise to observe the errors of their ways. Your quickest path to success is to learn from their mistakes. This week alone, I learned three very good lessons that I want to share with you.

by Elinor Stutz, CEO Smooth Sale

Elinor Stutz

Mistake 1- Stuck Inside the Box Thinking

A particular startup company is facing financial difficulty. The CEO issued a decree that their product must sell for $50,000 and nothing short of that amount. Service is a different line item and represents a steady stream of income for the company.

The sales representative was jubilant when his prospect called to say they were ready to purchase the software system and the higher end service agreement. This brought the total sale to $90,000; the equipment portion is $40,000.

However, Jim, the CEO reprimanded the team reminding them he ordered $50,000 to be the minimum sale for equipment. He ordered Rudy, the salesperson, to walk away from the sale.

Lesson-A Winning Sales Strategy for Both Revenue and Morale

Examining the issues from all sides and taking a creative approach to the problem would have been far wiser. Given the monetary surplus for the service, Jim could have moved the line items around a bit. In turn, his company would hit the $50,000 mark for product. Instead of trampling morale in the office, Jim could have built it up and become the sales team’s hero.

Mistake 2-Greed Colored Glasses

The second lesson this week was a tale of greed. Upon being offered $20 million dollars, a University said “Yes” to the idea of building a brand new campus for MBA students. However they did not stopping to consider the impact of one key requirment… that it be in the middle of the desert!

The University is now scrambling to figure out a way to attract their clientele to empty buildings and student housing.

Lesson-Know Your Target Audience

The lesson here , before you begin a new project familiarize yourself with your target audience to know what they want!

Mistake 3-Verbal Handshakes

The third lesson was mine. I had a verbal agreement with someone about how a partnership process would work down the road. Having successfully worked together before, verbal was good enough for me. Big mistake!

Bob did not recall the agreement and I had no proof. Talking to myself, I vowed to never let this happen again!

Lesson-Get IT in Writing

Luckily Bob approached me with a new arrangement incorporating the original idea plus a new one. This time around, I asked for a 1-2 paragraph summation of our agreement so that everything is clearly spelled out and we have it for our records.

It is important to note there was no finger pointing, simply friendly communication.   I’m a client and he’s a client of mine – we have a mutually beneficial arrangement and are still friends. This is the definition of a Smooth Sale!

Shortcuts to YOUR Sales Success

Proverbial business wisdom tells us to study the “success habits” of the people and/or companies that are successful to help create the fast path to your success. But don’t overlook the power of learning from the mistakes of others. You can shortcut the pain and agony by putting their lessons learned into action and boost your sales success!

Elinor Stutz is CEO of Smooth Sale, LLC a sales training company. She is available for team training, coaching, motivational speaking and includes the Smooth Sale product line as part of her program. Her book, Nice Girls DO Get The Sale: Relationship Building That Gets Results, published by Sourcebooks sells worldwide.

Elinor welcomes your questions through e-mail or phone: (415) 615-6887 or (800) 704-1499. To learn more please visit her website and also her blog for her latest insights.

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