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Discover Your Team’s Weaknesses

Guest post by: Joe Ippolito

Article Overview: As a sales leader, do you wonder why members of your team can't seem to perform to they level you expect?

Discover Your Team’s Weaknesses

As a sales leader, do you wonder why members of your team can't seem to perform to the level you expect? They talk a good game and have experience, but don't seem to improve. Many suffer from hidden weaknesses that are difficult to identify -- because these weaknesses exist within their own personal belief system. They sabotage the sale before they even get in front of the prospect. If these are identified during the interview process, you will avoid costly bad hires.

How many times has one of your salespeople come back from a call, you expected an order, but all they brought back was a "think it over?" One hidden weakness is a nonsupportive buy cycle. These salespeople believe the way they personally buy is normal. If their buying process includes research, price shopping and thinking it over, they will enable their prospects to do the same.

They will justify the prospect's actions by telling themselves that they would do the same thing.

How many times has one of your salespeople come back from a call saying, "We really hit it off," but then don't bring home the order? There's no denying that mutual respect between salesperson and prospect is critical to developing a business relationship, but the need to be liked is another hidden weakness. If being liked by the prospect is more important than asking tough questions, digging for the truth, or getting in front of decision makers, then the salesperson will accept stalls and put-offs for fear of being rejected.

How many times have you been with one of your salesperson during a proposal review when the prospect flips to the last page and declares, "Your price is too high!"

Many salespeople have difficulty discussing money. They cannot uncover a prospect's budget, they're unable to command a higher price, or they automatically cave in to price concessions.

These are only a few of the hidden weaknesses your salespeople may possess, but they are all deadly. Overcoming these will require ongoing training, sales process development and behavioral improvement. The payoff will be dramatically increased sales results.

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Article Tags: Decision Maker, Sales Manager, Weak Team



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