There's a ton of info out there about how to improve your sales skills (shout out to our own free resources), and that’s great. We’re all about women improving their sales skills. These resources are important when considering what you should do. But rarely do we talk about those things you’re doing that might inhibit your sales. What are some of the routines, patterns, habits, blind spots you have that could derail or sabotage your best sales efforts? Let’s discuss. Here are five examples of habits, instincts, or patterns that might jeopardize your potential sales and revenue. 

Asking For The Meeting Too Soon 

The first bad habit is pitching or asking for a sales meeting or conversation before you should. You need to have a strong enough relationship with the potential client, and if you don’t, asking for their time or resources before you should will tank any potential future sale. You shouldn't really be asking for that meeting until you've earned the relationship trust and know enough about the businesses to confirm and validate that your solution will match. 

Skipping Preparation 

Not preparing well enough in advance for the meeting or only preparing on your way into a discussion is a big no-no. To land a sale, you need time to think through and prepare what your key messages will be.  

You should be thinking about: 

• Questions you're going to ask 

• What outcomes you're driving toward 

• Who your audience is and what questions and objections will they likely have 

If there’s more than one person in the meeting, you’ll also need to determine who’s kicking things off and who is covering which portions. Know not only your key points, but who is saying what.  

Presenting Solutions and Trying to Close the Sale Too Soon 

You should never present solutions, ideas, and services before you have qualified the lead. You must lay the proper groundwork because if you’re proposing solutions and how you’re going to help your potential client before you fully understand their problem, it’s a problem.  

Give yourself enough time and space to really understand their priorities, objectives, challenges, pain points, and the opportunities on the table before you start offering a solution. 

Discounting Your Rates 

Anytime a prospect or client pushes back on rates or asks a question about money, as sellers, we clam up. We’ll immediately offer a discount instead of offering guarantees or really understanding what the buyer is looking for.  

Automatic discounts hurt sales and revenue overall because if you're giving a bunch of people a 20% discount automatically because you think it'll satisfy and add insurance to closing the sale, it does more harm than good. That’s not to say you can never use discounts. There’s a place to employ discounts, but offering them automatically is going to hurt you in the long run. 

Ignoring Your Current Clients 

The majority of our potential growth lies in focusing on guarding and growing current relationships. People are always focused on:  

• “I need new clients”  

• “I need to attract new buyers”  

• “I need to get new people in my pipeline.”  

But really, there is a ton of sales potential within the relationships you already have. Ignoring those established relationships is a big habit or routine that people fall into. If you choose to place importance on your current clients, you’ll find that’s a great avenue for making more sales.