These days, the average buyer is shrewd - naturally suspicious of salespeople and having certain standards they must meet. For any sales effort to succeed, credibility is essential.
However, maintaining that level of trustworthiness and legitimacy over multiple sales calls can be a challenge - a lot of reps encounter hiccups and mistakes that undermine their credibility.
Here are 8 mistakes reps make that make them appear less credible to potential buyers. Let's begin.
Fumbling Basic Information
The act of calling your prospect by the wrong name or making up facts you should have checked on Google is always unacceptable. It's also an easy way to kill a deal prematurely.
If you fumble fundamentals like those, your buyers will assume you don't care about them - if they see you don't even bother to get the basic information right, why would they believe you care about them?
How to Avoid This Mistake
Research is the foundation of every productive sales conversation. As a result, you get a better understanding of the appropriate tone to use, the relevant benefits to highlight, and the ultimate basis of a value proposition that works. It will at the very least prevent you from misrepresenting fundamental information and persuading your prospect you aren't serious.
Asking Prospects to Repeat Themselves
"I'm sorry — what did you say?"
Even the most promising sales conversation can be ruined by phrases like that, as well as behaviors such as asking prospects the same questions repeatedly. Your prospect should never have to repeat themselves.
It’s one thing if you’re asking follow-up questions or digging deeper on a point you didn’t catch — but if you have to ask a buyer to tell you how many stakeholders are involved in a purchase more than once, you won’t be paying full attention to it.
How to Avoid This Mistake
Obviously, avoiding this mistake can be more difficult than it seems. Juggling multiple deals at once can make it difficult to keep track of every detail about a prospect. Keep detailed notes about your prospects' company, challenges, goals, and plans - ideally in a CRM or other central repository you can refer to later.
Not Actively Listening
Listening isn't just about absorbing information; it's also about listening in a way that facilitates real dialogue. It's not enough to listen, say "Uh-huh," and then move on.
Despite understanding what your prospect said, that method of communication does not prove you absorbed anything. By practicing active listening, you can show your prospect that you are paying attention to what they are saying.
How to Avoid This Mistake
Databox CEO Pete Caputa teaches his reps the following four-step process:
- - Truly listen to the prospect.
- - Provide feedback on the prospect's content and feeling.
- - Make sure you heard the prospect correctly.
- - In order to clarify your understanding of their situation, ask a relevant follow-up question.
Active listening indicates that you are present and interested in what the prospect has to say. By conveying those elements in your communication, you are demonstrating to the prospect that they have a legitimate stake in the conversation, enabling you to build rapport and establish credibility.
Talking Instead of Asking
Similar to #3, telling your prospect before he or she has asked anything is a cardinal sin. If you don't know the problems your prospect is trying to solve, you can't make useful recommendations.
If you want to have a productive sales conversation, don't be too presumptuous or arrogant. For an effective, personalized value proposition, you need to ask the right questions so that you have a fleshed-out enough picture.
How to Avoid This Mistake
In prospecting mode, it's okay to make some assumptions - after all, making educated guesses about what a buyer's challenges might be is essential to providing value. As soon as you connect with a buyer, you should go into exploratory mode. Until you fully understand their situation, refrain from making sweeping statements or recommendations.
Misstating Information
Any productive sales conversation begins with an understanding of your prospect's situation - and misstating information is the quickest way to demonstrate that you haven't been listening to them.
Reiterate what your prospect has already told you accurately if the conversation calls for it. Never misrepresent any facts or insights they provide to you.
This isn't something you should do on purpose - at least it shouldn't be - but it raises a question about how much weight you place on what prospects say and want. Saying things like, "In our last call, we discussed X" when you actually discussed something else demonstrates a fundamental disconnect with your prospect. That's enough to sow doubt in their minds and undermine your credibility.
How to Avoid This Mistake
Keep up with the conversation by practicing active listening, repeating information back to your prospect, and getting their buy-in on your perspective and recommendations.
Overpromising
Your prospects will often ask you about extremely specific use cases for your product, and you might not know the answer. You can't anticipate every possible use case, but it's okay to not know everything.
It is only human to want to keep your prospect interested, so you may say, "Yes, we can do that," without thinking. Nevertheless, if you realize later that you were wrong and have to backtrack, you've just lost authority.
How to Avoid This Mistake
You can fix this one pretty easily - don't lie if you don't know the answer right away. Be upfront about it, but assure your prospects you'll drill down to what they're looking for and promptly follow up with them about it. Prospects prefer to wait a few hours for accurate information rather than receive faulty insight immediately.
Incorrectly Describing Your Product
Being an authority on what you're selling is an important part of being a successful sales professional. When you can't prove that your product will fit a prospect's situation, or get basic facts about your product wrong, your reputation suffers.
Showing that you're not a credible expert on the offering your entire career revolves around is the fastest way to undermine your credibility and expertise.
How to Avoid This Mistake
In this case, practice makes perfect. Make sure you understand any areas of your product or service that you aren't 100% clear on through demos with your manager. Make sure to take notes on anything you need to work on if you have your manager or a tenured rep sit in on your first few calls.
Contradicting Yourself or Your Team Members
Never make a promise or say anything you don't believe to be true. Chances are that if your prospect asks about it, they care about it, even if it's an offhand answer. When you give different answers on Monday and Thursday - or if you and the other people involved in the sales process aren't on the same page on what you can and cannot promise - your prospect experiences an inconsistent, confusing sales process.
Furthermore, they'll feel misled and lied to - not the emotions you want to instill in them.
How to Avoid This Mistake
Make sure all stakeholders on your side are briefed and aligned before team calls to avoid this. Credibility comes from cohesion among all parties involved.
Today's buyers are shrewd, as I mentioned at the beginning of this article. In order to establish yourself as a legitimate resource for them, you need to establish yourself as a salesperson. Being credible is the first step, so avoid the mistakes we've outlined here.