Thirty seven years of copier sales has been a blessing. In those years, I've seen it all, and just when I think I can't learn anything new about copiers or sales is when I'm proven wrong. You can never stop increasing your knowledge of the industry nor your selling skills.
1) Resting on Your Laurels: Fantastic, you've made your annual quota, you're also in route to your first Presidents Club Trip. Golly, you did all of this in your first year! You're thinking this is pretty easy right? Now you're thinking that you can kick back a bit and you be more the like the veteran sales people in the office.
Just a minute their rookie. I hate to tell you this but your first year may have been a fluke. Seems you were fed many leads, had a low quota and you had the help from many of the veteran sales people in the office.
Let me tell you, the time will come when the leads will dry up, your quota will increase and those veteran reps are busy closing their own book of business. The thought of taking it easy for a few week or a month will be your downfall!
It's my best guess that more than eighty percent of rookie reps will be out of the copier industry in less than two years. I'm sure you want to be part of that twenty percent, right?
2) Listening: After having some success many reps will figure they've mastered the art of selling. Those reps will then make assumptions that they know what the client needs and will do most of the talking on appointments.
I too, thought this way once. It was not until I started losing business that I realized something was wrong. I was telling clients how great I was, how great our company was and assuming my recommendation of "xyz" copier was perfect for them. Later, I come to find out that another rep received their order because they uncovered a specific pain, or feature that the client needed. Crazy, because in most instances, my copiers did the same thing as the competitor but I was too caught up in what I thought was best.
After losing many deals, I finally started asking clients why they did not buy from me. I can remember hearing, "they other rep stated we could scan our documents back to word or excel files". I then stated, well ours can do that also, and the client responded with, sorry we already ordered from the other rep. My point, is that I was not asking questions, nor was I asking what the client needed. Thus, I was not letting the client speak, and how can you listen when you're doing all of the talking!
If the client wants a 35 page per minute A3 device, then help then with what they want and not what you think they need. If for some reason you believe that the 35 page per minute A3 device is not the right fit, then ask the client "why do they want that device?"
Tip: When you get an order, ask the DM why they ordered from you. This can help you understand what you are doing right.
3) Prospecting: I can remember many times over the years that I fell into the trap where I made a boat load of cash and stopped prospecting for a few weeks. That was the worst mistake I've ever made. Once you stop, it can take weeks and months to get you back to where you were. Yes, prospecting sucks, but having no cash sucks even worse. Never, ever stop prospecting!
4) Counting the Deal: A deal is not done until the equipment is delivered and paid for! If you're in sales you've got to have some superstitions.
Over the years, I counted many deals where I had a verbal, signed docs and delivered equipment. Those verbal commitments never panned out, the signed docs became worthless when an order was cancelled and the equipment that was delivered did not work properly.
Heck, I can remember signing an order for a wide format on a Friday. It was a great order with an awesome margin. It was money in the bank, right? Monday I had to call the client to ask and an additional question for the order and I was told that the client had passed away over the weekend.
Don't count anything in the win column until it's been delivered and paid for!
I've made all of those mistakes at some time in my career. I still make mistakes, but that's the great thing about making mistakes is that you learn from them.
If you have some other common mistakes that rookie copier sales people make, please post them in the reply section. I'm sure I've missed a few!
-=Good Selling=-
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