It’s hard enough for sales pros to get an appointment with a prospect, never mind to close a deal. Avoid these five common sales blunders that scare off potential clients.

With a little bit of preparation and thoughtful consideration, sales professionals can avoid these five common mistakes that tend to spook prospects.

Don’t: Be Unprepared
You have a limited amount of time with each prospect, so if you spend that time learning fundamental information — such as where your offering fits (e.g., business need, organizational structure) — that is less time you have to present a solution to an existing problem and actually move the sale forward. Worse, the prospect will realize you’re unprepared, believe you’re wasting his or her time and take it as a sign of disrespect.

“This approach is one of most common sales mistakes,” Kelley Robertson, co-owner and operator of the Robertson Training Group, writes at About.com’s Small Business: Canada guide. “Invest the time learning about your prospect before you call them and before you try to schedule a meeting.”

Don’t: Smile and Dial
Whether over the phone, in person or by e-mail, many sales people still use an overly enthusiastic approach that channels insincerity. This “smile and dial” strategy, as MTD Sales Training founder Sean McPheat calls it, is among the biggest prospecting mistakes today.

“Consumers today are educated and have heard the old sales pitch before and they are tired of it. Your approach should be relaxed, professional and sincere,” according to McPheat. “You need to lose that big phony smile and tone down your enthusiasm. There is a time when you will get enthusiastic such as when explaining benefits, but it is not during your initial approach.”

Don’t: Talk Too Much
Actively listening is a crucial sales skill, but you can’t listen if you are talking. Sales professionals often miss important information by talking too much about themselves and their products. This can often leave a customer thinking the sales person does not care about his or her specific needs. BNET’s Sales Machine channel advises sales pros to “guide the conversation, but then listen and digest properly” to understand what the customer really wants and therefore “position your offering appropriately.”

“The 80/20 rule applies here,” business development expert Andre Boykin recommends in his Top 10 Selling Mistakes guide. “You should be listening 80 percent of the time and talking 20 percent of the time.”

Don’t: Try to Close Too Soon
If you’re already counting your commission, you might appear to the prospect like you’re only trying to cut a deal for your own reasons and not because you want to help the customer. “Hard sell tactics don’t work any longer…if indeed they ever did work. Customers who feel railroaded will simply not buy,” a separate Sales Machine commentary at BNET explains. “Because you’re focused exclusively on making the sale, the customer feels manipulated and, worst case, simply decides that you’re a pest.”

“You can ask confirming questions,” Enigin Sales suggests. “Listen to the customer’s answers carefully. If there’s still resistance, it’s too soon to close.”

Don’t: Make it about You
“The successful sales person always puts the prospect’s needs first,” Boykin makes clear. “If you are looking at things only from your viewpoint, your prospect will think you don’t have their best interest in mind.” Ultimately, the product or service you’re trying to sell can’t be all things to all people, so if you can’t meet the needs of the customer, stop pushing the sale and part ways.

“It’s always a mistake to sell a customer something that the customer doesn’t need. Rather than doggedly trying to sell to a prospect, make it clear that you’re absolutely not going to sell the customer anything that the customer doesn’t really need,” BNET’s Sales Machine recommends. “If it turns out that the customer really doesn’t need what you’ve got, leave and consider the sales call a major victory, because you’ve helped that customer avoid an unnecessary expense. As a bonus, you’ll build a reputation for having your customers’ best interests at heart.”

Resources

The Top 7 Sales Blunders
by Kelley Robertson
About.com Small Business: Canada

5 Deadly Prospecting Mistakes
by Sean McPheat
The MTD Sales Blog, Feb. 6, 2008

The 8 Most Crucial Sales Skills
by Geoffrey James
Sales Machine (BNET), July 14, 2011

Top 10 Selling Mistakes
by Andre Boykin
Winning the Sales Game

9 Dumb Ways to Blow an Initial Sales Call
by Geoffrey James
Sales Machine (BNET), June 7, 2011

Nine Sales Mistakes – How to Avoid 4
by Ben Willcock
Enigin Sales, May 12, 2011

9 Strategies for Selling Smarter
by Geoffrey James
Sales Machine (BNET), Sept. 2, 2011