6 Self-defeating sales strategies

[vquestfilms.com]

Some good suggestions for sales:

1. Selling Over the Customer's Head

If you sell directly to the CEO after the executive you've been selling to seems ambivalent or hostile, you probably will not get the sale anyway and you'll have made that executive into your enemy for life.

2. Backing Off From a Strong Negotiation Position

If you offer a discount after insisting that your company never discounts, customers will rightly conclude not only that you were BSing them in the first place, but that you totally lack a backbone.

3. Dissing Your Competitors (or Theirs)

When you trash-talk your competition, the customer will assume that your own offerings are so weak that you must resort to low blows. And criticizing your customer's competitors always sounds like butt-kissing.

4. Giving a Sales Pitch

Nobody wants to hear a sales pitch. Ever. The moment you launch into one--either in person or online, your customers shut down. To engage a customer you must open a conversation, which is the opposite of giving a sales pitch.

5. Pulling Your Punches

Never be afraid to tell clients what they need to know when you feel they might be making a mistake. This includes advising them NOT to buy from you if your offering isn't right for them.

6. Assuming Customer Loyalty

It's all too easy to mistake client apathy for client loyalty. Any client that is not actively praising and proselytizing your firm and its offerings is open to changing vendors and may be actively looking to switch.

[Iron Duck Designs]

oooh I don't do any of that

[TINTZEUS]

yea... things not to do......just figured that out?

amazing. Most reps are hack installers....no joke here.

[vquestfilms.com]

I love this place!

[TINTZEUS]

Me Too.....are you my rep?

[vquestfilms.com]

Me Too.....are you my rep?

Who are you?

[TINTZEUS]

please...don't be afraid..ask me any questions you have....life ..business....squirrels

[Iron Duck Designs]

SQUIRREL!

the last point is no joke either, customer loyalty is weird anymore imo.

[Jayz81]

Another thing thats maybe #7 is this : Honesty.  There is so much BS in this industry. For example, I went to a ladies home and she had a 5'x5' window . Home was late 70's early 80's . original glass single pane annealed . The glass had a small hole in it from a pellet gun . really amazing that it had not shattered . 3 other shops told the lady that they could tint it , and it would not affect the glass in any way whatsoever . I told her she should get a new piece of glass and gave her 3 glass company referrals . Desperation causes forced sells. I have gone to seminars, read sales strategy books , etc etc etc . The best sales I have ever landed have come from honesty, followup , and patience . And honesty is highly underrated in this industry IMHO. 

[TintWizard]

honesty is highly underrated in this industry IMHO.

With a younger generation of clientele (customers) they may not be familiar with this term with being bombarded with so much dishonesty as the( new norm) this day and age. Hopefully they recognize it when exposed to it