Being a sales manager is not an easy job. You are not just the representor of your company but you are a brand ambassador when you are an on the field. It is true that sales can mine you lots of money, rewards, bonus and extras but the hard work that you take to close these deals can be unimaginable.
Few years back, I heard this dialogue in a Bollywood movie, “when you are in sales; at the end of the day, your tongue become dirtier than your shirt”.
(Rocket Singh 2006)
True. Isn’t it?
Though we may keep our tongue a bit more clean if we he could leave some bad sales habits
A] No planning of the day –
You should have ready plan of a day before you leave office for the field. It includes dividing time for each prospect and even keep spare time for call-backs. Planning will keep you focused throughout a day and will keep you away from boredom and unnecessary breaks. Never let circumstances decide your daily routine.
B] No research –
A very very necessary step before leaving for the field. No matter whether you are a sales manager in a bank, in FMCG, in insurance, in product industry or working for an export import; if you have not researched well, you have already lost the deal.
I prefer researching through company website, there past projects and communicating to their employees (in case of old prospect). Befriending with the client’s employees can provide you lots of information. Use this information effectively in your pitch.
C]Not learning to dump people –
He is your prospect. You feel you can crack this deal. However, even after 5-6 attempts the prospect is telling you to connect back tomorrow or does not seem serious enough. Then this is the time to dump such person. Such People are just waste of time.
D]Wrong prospect –
You are a sales manager of an international juice brand. Therefore, it is expected that you should not run to a local shop. They hardly have capacity to stock your drinks, neither they have customers who can afford international brands. Instead of that, malls and supermarkets should be your priority. Hence, the rule is; invest, which will not go waste.
E] Showing up at wrong times –
Avoid showing up at early morning and during the lunch breaks. No one has spare time when its 9:30 am and they have just switched on their laptops. In addition, lunch breaks are for refreshments to get power to survive for remaining half of the day – do not spoil it.
Instead, go for an hour before lunchtime and before half day after lunch especially for first time prospects.
F] No proofs/ documents –
Keep all brochures about Work, copy of identity proofs, and necessary office documents in a bag.
You have no idea, where the gatekeeper at the company office will ask you to write down your Aadhaar card number in a register. (Yes! such weird people exist). And you do not want to lose good prospect for such silly reason. Also, company brochures and documents come handy in objection handling. It will also help you to create trust factor.
G] Interrupting to the clients –
People like listeners. It is not love where partner would say, “ Don’t stop speaking. I love the way you speak”.
Listen to the client first; let him bring out whatever he has in a mind. When he is done, ask politely, “anything else sir/madam?” Now you can start objection handling.
H] Trying hard for the closure –
Everything we do in a meeting is to get crack deals. Sometimes the meeting is so good, client seems interested and here we go eager to put a close. Never let client see your excitement. Make him feel that you are helping him out with a solution. Put a closure at the right time. He should happily reward you the deal, you are not going to snatch it out. Snatched deals are often cancelled after 24 Hrs.
I] Deaf ear to the criticism –
There is always a place for improvement. People may criticise the way you speak, the way your company works and your product or service. If you feel they are right, try to improve.
J] Show-off about research –
It is true that you should be clear with research, but people feel intimated when they see that you know too much about them. No one wants you to talk about how you did your graduation from the same college as his wife and you saw this information with the link of his couple profile photo On Facebook, where he tagged his wife. The extra show off about your research may backfire on you.
K] No call-backs and follow ups –
follow ups is an integral part of sales. Only on lucky days, contracts are signed in a first meet. For others, follow up is must. A good sales manager ideally takes follow up for six times.
In addition, you need patience, waiting for call-backs. If client says, he will call you after two days you had better wait for two days. If he does not call then comes the first follow up call.
Also, even after fulfilling client’s requirement, keep calling for once in a month or so, to ask if he needs anything else. This will help you to create long term relations.
L] Loosing Motivation –
Sales, marketing and advertising runs on the fuel of enthusiasm. No enthusiasm – no motivation – no work.
It is obvious to loosen your tie on hard days, but this should not last more than few minutes.
Keep motivating yourself on field with good food or some gossip with your colleague or with just deep breathing for few moments. Money is also a good motivation especially when you earn bonus per sell.
M] No Balance In personal and professional life –
Whatever we do in our professional life is to create better personal life. However, is very important not mix them both. Do not take personal calls when you are at work unless they are urgent. Avoid discussion about your affairs, your private life with a colleague, when you are on the field. Such talks will take you both in a different mental state, better keep these talks for the end of the day. It is unavoidable to not receive office calls at home. You must pick up the call if they are from client side, but otherwise you can always ask politely to your colleagues to see you at office timing.
N] No communication with other Departments-
It is true that, for maximum time of a day, you are going to be on the field. However, that does not mean that you should loose contact with other people in the office. Befriend with the people from other departments. There should be a right link of communication to avoid the confusion.
For example if you are assuring a client of some special service, marketing team says we are not sure about it and customer service team says we do not provide any such service then it will not only create confusion but also huge lack of trust.
Hence, it is important to have a proper communication to function your company in an organised way.
(scene from a movie Wolf of the wall street)
Apart from these bad sales habits, let us know if you or anyone you know have more such habits. Avoiding them will surely make you more efficient sales manager and will earn great respect among your colleagues.