The 5 Worst Things a Salesperson Can Do

There’s probably a reason why you went into sales. Maybe it was the money and the ability to be in control of how much you make, or maybe people always told you that you’d make a great salesperson, and you decided to listen to them and give it a try.

Whatever your reason is, you owe it to yourself to be the best salesperson you can possibly be. There’s certainly no shortage of sales advice, and technology like Spiro’s sales automation CRM is out there to help you close more deals, but it’s equally important to know what not to do if you want to succeed. Here are the five worst things that a salesperson can possibly do:

1. Think about themselves

One of the worst things that a salesperson can do when trying to close a deal is focus on what they want. Countless deals have been ruined because instead of thinking about the customer’s needs and how to solve them, the salesperson thinks about themselves, and tries to force the customer to do what they want. It’s always important to remember that your goal is to make your customer happy, and you do that by solving their problem, not your own. As the great Zig Ziglar said, “You can have everything in life you want if you will just help enough other people get what they want.”

2. Go Negative

Sales can wear you down. Think about it; you’re constantly dealing with rejection, you’re under intense pressure from management to produce, and you’re always starting over after a new month, quarter, year, etc. But while your lizard brain might try to trick you into becoming negative, you have to fight the urge and always keep an optimistic perspective. Think of rejection like this; every “no” you hear is just putting you one step closer to a “yes.” Stay away from the people at work who are constantly complaining about management, the comp plan, whatever. There will always be something to complain about, but negativity gets you absolutely nowhere, unless your bank can cash complaints.

3. Count deals too early

Successful salespeople are optimistic. But being too optimistic can also be a problem. While forecasting is acceptable, and sometimes required in certain companies and industries, it’s a huge mistake to count a deal before the paperwork has been signed and even then, you should probably wait until some sort of payment has been made before popping open the champagne. This is especially true for new sales reps, as prospects oftentimes show interest and make verbal commitments without any intention of following through. But all salespeople will eventually learn that the Be-Back Bus almost never comes back.

4. Lie

This is not a controversial position to take: don’t lie. Just don’t do it. If you need to lie to a customer to close a sale, then you should go sell another product, because the one you’re selling isn’t providing enough value. Lying to customers does a disservice to your reputation, it does a disservice to your company and your co-workers, and it gives other salespeople a bad reputation, one that isn’t deserved by the overwhelming majority of honest, hard-working sales reps. Worse yet, in some circumstances you could even find yourself in court for lying, so just don’t do it.

5. Give up

There’s nothing sadder than a salesperson who has given up trying. If you’ve spent enough time in sales, you’ve seen it. A bad few weeks turn into a prolonged slump, and the slump turns into apathy and self-loathing. After a salesperson has given up trying, they usually just sit around waiting for someone to put them out of their misery. Sales is not for everyone, but it’s especially not for those who don’t want to go down swinging. To succeed in sales, you must develop persistence. The beauty in sales is that you almost always get another chance to redeem yourself, but not if you’ve convinced yourself otherwise.