Let’s get straight to the point, being in sales is not an easy gig.
So what are the most common sales problems and how do you fix them?
There are quite a few so we went through them and came up with the ones that we thought are most relatable in multiple industries and are the most common problems we hear about.
1. Problem: You are not getting enough organic web traffic to support your sales team.
When it comes to getting more sales, one of the most crucial parts of that is getting prospects in your pipeline and give your sales team the chance to make a sale. Having a good web presence can be very beneficial in providing you with a consistent supply of qualified prospects.
Solution
One way for you to get more web traffic onto your website is through Search Engine Optimization. This is the process of improving both the number and quality of the leads coming to your website. At Hook Agency, we talk through your ideal customers so we know who to target while doing our process. Our process includes things like keyword research to locate the topics people in your niche are searching for, link building to build up the authority of your website to get it to rank higher on search engine platforms, therefore being seen more often, and technical changes in the backend of your website.
2. Problem: Your follow-ups with your prospects are struggling.
One problem that people have is that when potential customers want information on a product or service, they contact the company but never get anyone to return their call. This makes it tough to make a sale and will cause you to lose many of these potential customers to the competition. Yes, some of them are not always qualified, but turning these can actually help you in the long run.
Solution
Find out what the reason is for not following up. See if it’s things like time, bad technology, limited resources, etc. Once you find the problem, it is going to make it much easier for you to put a plan in place to fix it. And when it comes to not following up with people because they are not qualified prospects, it can be really beneficial for you to respond to these, as they could have a few referrals for your business if you play your cards right.
3. Problem: You are taking up Too Much Time on Unqualified Prospects.
The opposite of the answer above, spending too much time on unqualified prospects can hurt your productivity and eat up a ton of wasted hours spent on something that is never going to happen. While it is great to be nice and resourceful, you also need to be smart with how you spend your time and find what is going to be in your best interest as well
Solution
A solution for you to solve this problem is by working with your marketing team and having them come up with the resources to answer these questions you are being asked. This way you can just direct them to your resources for any questions they have and free up more of your time for the prospects that matter.
4. Problem: Prospects Are Asking You Unexpected Questions.
When it comes to answering questions, it can be very tough to answer the unexpected ones. It leaves you thinking “out of all the questions in the world to ask, they just had to pick that one.” Unexpected questions can be tough because they can be out of your area of expertise or the questions may just be too technical. When a salesperson isn’t able to provide the customer with a good answer, it makes them less reliable hurting their chances of making the sale
Solution
Team up with your marketing department and go over where your prospects are coming from. Doing this will help you to get a better understanding of what they may know and help you to determine some of the questions they may be asking you.
5. Problem: Unclear Relationship Between Your Website and Sales Outcomes.
Although your sales team may not be directly involved with the maintenance of your website, they should be able to see where the prospects are coming from and what is drawing them into the website and what they are looking at.
Solution
Get an analytics system on your website that will show you data of where people are going on your site and how they are getting there. Having this information can help you to get a better idea of what information is beneficial to your customers, and what they are looking for.
6. Problem: Referral Business Is Low Despite Having Happy Customers.
If you can get referral business, it can be a tremendous asset for your business. It is able to bring down you cost per customer acquisition as well as bring you a steady stream of qualified customers. Getting referrals is something that doesn’t just happen out of nowhere though, even if your customers are happy with the work you are doing.
Solution
Sometimes people won’t know you want referrals unless you take initiative and make it clear to them. If you are looking for more referrals, try getting an incentive program to motivate people to bring referrals more referrals in.
7. Problem: Your Website Is Not Turning Visitors into Prospects.
A sign of having a good website is that it will help to make the job of the seller easier. If you can get a website that is focused on getting your business more leads, it will work wonders for your business and help take a lot of the pressure off of your sales team. If you have all of your prospects coming to you in every way other than your website, you have some things that need to be changed.
Solution
When you are not getting enough people to come onto your website, it can often be traced back to a lack of landing pages, and lack of content on your site. These are the heavy hitters for when it comes to getting more people onto your site and get you the leads that you are looking for.
8. Problem: Onboarding New Sales Team Members costs you money.
Building up a good team is not easy and takes a lot of time and effort in order to get the best candidates possible. You need to spend time advertising jobs, interviewing candidates, screening them, and then making them an offer, and then all the training that comes along after you hire them. Hiring is a process that not only costs you a lot of time, but can cost you a lot of money as well which is why it is so important for you to get it right.
Solution
You can’t rush the onboarding and training of your new employees. It is, however, important for you to get them the resources that they need in order to succeed and get up to speed as fast as possible. Have things like wiki’s and other documents for them to reference and go back to when they need it so they have something they can check over and read so you aren’t constantly having to look over their shoulder and micromanage them.
Give your employees incentive to keep learning by giving them access to educational resources such as online classes and books they can read and get more knowledge and level up.
9. Problem: Getting past and Moving on from Another Lost Deal.
Losing deals is not fun, period. It can be tough when you put so much time and effort into something and end up not getting it. It can feel like you let down your team, and yourself because you get revenue that comes from that.
Solution
Creating reports of your sales, both closed and lost ones, give you the ability to get insights of the history of your touches, demographics, and more. This gives you a better view of what is effective and ineffective and is a great insight into what could be causing you to lose a deal so you can make tweaks and changes to your process.
10. Problem: Keeping up with the Competition.
No matter the industry that you’re in, it is going to be constantly evolving and changing. The competition out there can be tough and they are always looking to get the edge on you and the other competitors out there meaning if they are doing things better than you in their sales process, you will have a tough time.
Solution
Since things out there are constantly changing and evolving, you need to follow and continue to change and evolve as well. There is new technology coming to the market constantly that you should be keeping track of so you can answer why your product is better than theirs. Buyers are more educated with all the information that is out there so it is important that you can find different ways to stand out.
Conclusion
Sales is a tough job that comes with problems in all shapes and sizes. However, you’re going to get problems no matter what profession you’re in so it is all about how you go about attacking those problems and learning from the mistakes that were made.
The more reps you get at something the better you are going to get which is why knowing the right solutions to different problems is important. This way you’re not wasting your time working on something that doesn’t work.
Hopefully, you are able to take a few things away from this list of common sales problems and how to fix them to correct those pesky sales mistakes.
