Rich Grof your Sales Coach and Business Coach for Sales Coaching Canada and Business Coaching Canada including Toronto, Barrie, Ontario, Calgary and Winnipeg

Simple Stress-Free Secrets to Get More Business Now! Day 6

Dear Business Owner:

Welcome to Day Six, the last day of our six part series, “Simple Stress-Free Secrets to Get More Business Now!” Today’s topic is one of the most important…

Mistakes Business and Sales Professionals Make that Could Lose the Sale.

In Day Five, we talked about the benefits of having a structured Client Agreement. By making sure upfront that, with each new sales prospect, you work out expectations and communication style, you’ll:

eliminate misunderstandings (and time-wasters)
build trust and credibility that lasts
increase repeat and referral business

Today’s session is all about the wisdom that you can only get by making mistakes. After individually providing sales and business coaching to hundreds of business and sales professionals through their sales cycle, I discovered what it takes to help anyone produce BIG results. And I’ve done that without the hard-core sales
machine mentality. These sales methods promote a high level of professionalism and integrity that allow you to build your business to last.

It’s impossible to cover all the sales coaching lessons learned in this one lesson. The topic is simply too vast. So, I’m going to cover five of the most common mistakes that can make a significant difference in your sales conversion. That way you will have the best information to help you make profitable changes in your business. If you’d like to learn other lessons that can make a big difference in your sales conversion success, I encourage you to check out

The Unstoppable Sales Conversion System

Let’s get started.

Mistake #1 – Not Tracking Prospecting Effort and Sales Results

The first mistake that most business owners make is that they don’t keep statistics on their sales conversion efforts. Yes, that sounds simple. But it’s the number one thing that most business and sales people overlook. When business or sales people start to track their efforts and commit to recording their efforts, they improve the results they get.

In fact, I think tracking is so important that I’ve created an entire system with a performance dashboard, tracking forms and “how to” instructions. If you’re interested in finding out more, visit The Unstoppable Sales Conversion System.

Mistake #2 – “Winging” a Sales Prospect Interview

The second mistake that most business owners make is that they don’t have a process to interview sales prospects. I recommend that you:

sit down and think through your initial prospect interview
create an intake form to help make sure you cover all the important information

Otherwise, you’re just trusting your instincts and winging it.

Don’t get me wrong. I’m in favor of using your instincts in the sales process. But, I prefer to have a solid ironclad sales process to use those instincts within. Remember,

if you’re winging it, you’ll be losing it!

You may be saying, “I know what you mean and I’m sure I’m not winging it at all.” If that is you, then the next question is: What is your process? If you want to improve your process and add to your success:

Write it down.
After each category, ask yourself, “What is the purpose of each step?”
Then ask, “What can I do to make it better?”

Here’s a typical example. I had a client who came to business coaching with a problem. She noticed that she had two types of sales prospects that she was attracting. One type was the perfect client. They were ready to work with her, respected her and where loyal long after the sale was complete. The other type she attracted was aloof and had an uncommitted personality. You know the type…the one that has a hard time committing to anything. They seem to have the brake on all the way through the sales process.
After I examined her sales process, I discovered she was using a style of questions that attracted this uncommitted type of personality. We went through the steps above. In a few sessions, I was able to change what she said and turn that once uncommitted sales prospect into a committed solid prospect. As a bonus, she learned how to identify which sales prospects were not a desired fit. That saved her lots of valuable time.
She was able to make more sales in less time and skip all the frustration.

Mistake #3 – Not Following Up

The third mistake that most business owners make is that they don’t follow up with their sales prospects. Yes it’s true! Approximately 40% of sales and business people don’t have a sales follow-up system. Of the ones who do have a system, less than 10% have what I would call a bullet-proof sales prospect follow-up system. Think of the lost business and profit that is being missed!

Here’s a great story. One client was a top-producing realtor who wanted to change the way he was working. When we started coaching him in his business, he was working all the time and seemed to be in a frenzy every day. Even though he was making good money, he felt he could not take time off with his young children without suffering in sales. After reviewing his sales conversion cycle, we discovered he was a master at converting sales prospects into clients and keeping them once he started to work with them. In fact, he rarely lost sales prospects once the sales process had started and most of them bought quickly. By all accounts, his sales conversion statistics looked fantastic. That is, until we talked about his sales prospect lead follow-up system. His approach was: work with the sales prospects now or forget about them! That’s right. If he was unable to get an appointment to do an initial sales prospect interview when he first spoke to them, he’d just forget about them.

After we placed a simple sales prospect lead follow-up system in place, he was able to convert over 60% of the sales leads that were already in his system. He didn’t need to prospect as much to get the same income. He is currently living out his dream of spending most nights with his family and having long summer vacations while making the same income.

Remember… A good follow-up system is simple and powerfully effective.

Mistake #4 – Not “Leading” the Sales Process

The fourth mistake that most business owners and sales professionals make is that they have the wrong attitude and a way of behaving that keeps people from working with them. That is; they don’t lead. When you think about it, sales is a form of leadership. Leadership, or your ability to influence someone to move in a direction that is beneficial to them, is a set of skills and principles that anyone can learn.

Bonus – Here’s a bonus that will help you improve your leadership right now. Leaders ask the questions! Ask all types of questions including:

open-ended
closed-ended
fact-finding
inquiries
emotional connectors

If you learn how to ask all the different types of questions at the right times, you’ll completely change your leadership level overnight.

Client leadership is such an important topic that I’ve included it in The Unstoppable Sales Conversion System as a bonus item. That’s because I know that having strong leadership skills is directly related to your success. Just focusing on your leadership skills can increase your sales.

One sales person doubled her six-figure income in one year of working with me. She became the top in her area just three years later with a growth rate of over 350% for that time period! Here’s the interesting part…we never talked about her business — just her leadership style!

Mistake #5 – Quitting Too Soon

The fifth mistake that most business owners and sales professionals make is that they quit too soon. I call this the “I tried that” trap. This trap really is an extension of the #1 mistake of not tracking your progress and results. “Trying something” as opposed to having a process and working it, is effectively jumping into sales without all the right training and understanding to make it work. If you “try” often enough you may stumble into success. But in most cases, all that happens is you become frustrated and discouraged.

Before you quit, step back and consider this…

You’re not quitting because it doesn’t work. You’re quitting because you don’t have a process to track your efforts to identify and perfect what does work in your sales cycle.

Having a clear understanding of what needs to happen in your sales conversion process and having a solid plan of action to work through your sales process until it’s perfected will cut your learning curve and success time dramatically.

A Special Note from Rich Grof…

Thanks for taking part in our six part series “Simple Stress-Free Secrets to Get More Business Now!”
I hope you found at least one golden nugget that you can take with you and use right away. If you’d like to learn more about how to close more sales with less time
and effort, check out The Unstoppable Sales Conversion System: Even if you already have a sales conversion system, it’s not uncommon for a business or sales professional to have their results go up by 20%, 50% or even 100% from our program.

Right now you might be saying, “Wow I have learned so much. What else is there?” That’s a question that pops up frequently. I can assure you that we’ve just scratched the surface of what we have to offer you!

In the Unstoppable Sales Conversion System you’ll learn:

How to use our proven system to change your sales conversion percentage from hit-and-miss to a solid 80-90% immediately, just like our members enjoy.
How to use your client’s emotional language to gain trust and build rapport faster than you thought possible, giving you instant confidence and credibility.
How emotional hooks can be used to get prospects chasing you down to work with you.
How to leverage the 7 steps prospects go through before they purchase to gain new prospects and FREE money you never before had access to.
How to communicate your unique differentiator to get paid more with higher client satisfaction and effectively boost your referrals immediately!
I’ll even give you my secret weapon – The 7 techniques to catch a prospect’s interest NOW!
Custom forms and support material to make your success easier and faster.

Basically, everything you need to become a master at Sales Conversion!

Are you ready for the success of your dreams?

“I want more information on The Unstoppable Sales Conversion System”

Have questions that need answers? Book a complimentary strategy session and get the straight answers to your questions—no sales pitch just excellent information. See how easy your success can be. Book here…

“I have questions that need answers, and would like to talk with someone”

On a personal note, I love to hear of your success, so please send me any constructive comments that you may have, requests or success stories. I love to hear which tips
worked for you and how you put them to use. We’ll use this valuable feedback to share with others and make this program even better! You never know, you might be the next success story that I feature in my upcoming programs. Please email me at rich@richgrof.com.

To Your Success

Rich Grof

For information on Business Coaching

For more information on Sales Coaching

Want to Review a Past Issue on this E-course?

Day 1 – Why is Sales Conversion So Important to My Business?

Learn the Magic Formula that gives you FREE money without spending more time or working harder.

Day 2 – What is Your Sales Prospect REALLY Asking For?

Every sales prospect has an emotional gain or “hook” that motivates them to buy a product or service. As a business or sales professional, you can use this hook to communicate the value your product or service brings and close more sales.

Day 3 – How Do You Know if Your Sales Prospect is Motivated?

Every sales prospect needs to go through a motivational process or series of steps before they buy from your business. Learn what those steps are and how to leverage them to help your client move forward.

Day 4 – What is My Unique Differentiator and Why is it Important to My Business?

We all have the unique capabilities or skills that we bring to the marketplace to serve others in our business. Learn how to find your unique differentiator and use it to stand above the crowd.

Day 5 – How to Build Client Loyalty by Using Client Agreements in Your Business.

A solid client agreement is more than building rapport and trust. It’s the framework for a solid profitable business relationship. Learn how to structure this agreement, what to include to make it work and how to increase your client’s loyalty overnight.

Rich Grofis a Transformational Catalyst who has worked with hundreds of business leaders and sales professionals each year helping them achieve new levels of success in their business and personal lives. He has a unique ability in breaking down the barriers to success into a simple and easily implemented format. Rich brings high energy to all his seminars, professional keynotes and coaching, helping clients and audiences achieve the motivation that launches them into action.For those wanting more out of their business career and personal life, Rich Grof and RG Performance Development is an excellent connection to the dreams they want to create.

For information on Business Coaching

For more information on Sales Coaching