Stuart Ayling presents six common ways people sabotage their own sales opportunities. Improve your sales results by avoiding these selling blunders.

1. 6 Ways You Might Be Sabotaging Your Sales Presented by Stuart Ayling Founder Business Development Studio

2. You Don’t Want to be a ‘Sales Person’ #1 Nobody wants to feel like a high-pressure sales person. And that’s OK. But what is definitely not OK is to avoid doing anything related to selling because of your fear of being ‘like a sales person’. Aim to be a professional seller of what you provide. Learn modern ways to sell that don’t turn people off.

3. You Don’t Have a Plan for Sales Conversations #2 Successful sales don’t just fall into your lap. You have to make them happen. This means understanding your sales process, and your prospect’s state of mind. And it means having a plan for each sales conversation. Know how to keep your sales conversation moving forward, and what you need to achieve at each step.

4. Communication Skills Need to be Improved #3 To win more business from your sales conversations you need to have well-developed communication skills. Seek first to understand; then to give your message. Listening is hard work… it requires self-discipline. And you need to know how to share information about what you do, without taking over the conversation or looking like you’re bragging.

5. You Don’t Ask the Right Questions #4 You probably already know you need to be asking your prospect questions. But if you do it the wrong way you can annoy - or even alienate - your future client. There is a structure to how you should be asking your questions. This will help you, and your prospect, to understand the opportunity. Aim to use your questions to create clarity.

6. You’re Not Establishing Trust Quickly Enough #5 Your prospects will need to trust you before they will commit to you. They don’t have to trust you like they’re getting married to you. But they do need to trust you can deliver what you are promising. If you don’t proactively accelerate the development of trust you may miss out on the sale.

7. You’re Not Asking for a Commitment #6 Eventually you will need to ‘ask for the order’. But it can feel awkward if you’re not confident. Now you need to ask your prospect to move forward. Understand what commitment you need from them. Be brave enough to ask for it. At the right time. In the right way.

8. How Can You Improve? To find out how the Business Development Studio can help you feel more confident and win more business… keep reading.