Five Common Sales Obstacles—and How to Overcome Them

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Five Common Sales Obstacles—and How to Overcome Them

While every customer is unique, these stumbling blocks are all too common. Here's how to navigate them. 

PAUL CHERRY

Lucy was a brand-new salesperson who wanted to make a big impression. She did everything she could think of to establish relationships with prospects and wow them with her proposals. While she was not failing as a salesperson, Lucy was certainly not leading her team in sales. After nine months of below-average performances, she knew something had to change—but what?

Veteran salespeople know that while every customer is unique, the obstacles to a sale are predictably the same and occur rather frequently. Once you understand these obstacles and the strategies to overcome them, you will have all of the tools you need to make the sale.

Obstacle 1: Communicating with decision makers
Too often, salespeople will focus solely on their initial contact, but that person is probably not the only person who is going to have final input on the proposal process. Smart salespeople know that there are usually other decision makers who will have input in the deal, and the challenge is to figure out who they are and how you can meet with them. In order to get the information you want, you will have to ask your contact some questions that might seem awkward. Some questions to broach the issue include:

• What is your timeframe for making a final decision?
• What criteria will you be evaluating to ensure you are making the best decision?
• What measurable outcomes are you looking to achieve?

Once you are able to determine who else will be involved in the decision-making process, you can ask this follow-up question: "So that I can propose the best solution that is going to meet the needs of everyone else involved, I would love to talk with these other individuals and get their input. When can I meet with them?"

Obstacle 2: Uncovering the budget
Nothing will derail a deal faster than a mismatch between your proposal and a customer’s budget. Unfortunately, prospects are often reluctant to discuss their budgets. It is your job to press them further to get a number, or at the very least, a range of what their budget is. There are two options for making this happen:

1. Politely—but firmly—suggest that your prospect determine his or her budget in advance. This approach puts the focus on the prospect, not you. It tells him or her that you care.

2. Frame the interaction through the lens of recommending a product that best suits your prospect’s needs and expectations, and express how budget parameters can shape the direction for both parties.

Obstacle 3: Commitment problems
There is nothing more frustrating than getting ready to close a sale and a customer says, "I still need to think about it." When this happens, a seasoned salesperson knows that he or she needs to follow up on the customer’s statement. Respond by saying: "I can understand your need to think about this. After all, it is an important decision and you need to do what is best for you. Tell me, what specifically stands out from our conversation that is of interest to you?"

The goal of this question is to get clarification on how much the prospect is really interested in what you have shared and whether or not the prospect feels they want to move forward. Is there sincerity in the response, or are you being blown off?

Once you get an answer to the first question, acknowledge that the customer has concerns, and ask him or her what they are. Ask what is holding him or her back from making a decision, and hopefully you can help alleviate any concerns and get the sale back on track.

Obstacle 4: Understanding the customer’s values
If you sell on price, you lose on price. Instead of getting caught up in price wars, you need to steer a customer’s attention to other issues. This means you need to ask your customers about value. What characteristics does your customer value? Is he or she most concerned with good customer service, high-quality products, speedy delivery or ease of use? Once you get a customer talking about these areas, you can determine what their needs are and how you can position yourself to get those needs met.

Obstacle 5: Establishing your credibility
Many salespeople make the mistake of spending an initial meeting talking all about themselves and their products. This is a mistake. During an initial call, your goal should be for the prospect to do 70 percent of the talking, for two reasons:

 1. You want to hear about his/her problems, goals, concerns and ideas.

2. You want to find out if there is a genuine opportunity with this prospect.

You cannot do either of those things if you are trying to sell during the first meeting. As much as you want to sell yourself, you should never bring out PowerPoint, samples or company literature during an initial meeting.

Start the meeting with a unique value opening statement, which is a 30- to 60-second description of who you are and what you do. The value opening statement should detail the benefits of working with you, explain the impact that hiring you will have and include an immediate follow-up question to gauge expectations and interest.

Remember Lucy? She started to utilize these tips and strategies with her customers. Asking the right questions led to increased sales and overall performance.

Paul Cherry is president of Performance Based Results and is the leading authority on customer engagement strategies. He has more than 23 years of experience in sales training, leadership development, sales performance coaching and management coaching. He is also the author of Questions that Sell: The Powerful Process for Discovering What Your Customer Really Wants and Questions that Get Results: Innovative Ideas Managers Can Use to Improve Their Team’s Performance. He can be reached at 302-478-4443, cherry@pbresults.com or www.pbresults.com.