9 Sales Strategies To Avoid If You Want To Close More Deals

Today I’m going to drop some nuggets on SALES to help you crush more deals. I’ll be sharing with you some of the ‘bad’ strategies and mistakes that a lot of people in sales make. 

If you DON’T do these, you’ll be head of most average sales reps out there.  

I’m excited to have just qualified for my 9^th Presidents Club award in Sales. ‘P-club’ as they like to call it is for the top performers in a sales agency, and I’m honored to make the list again!  

I also enjoy sharing some of the strategies with you that has helped me be successful. One thing I’m most proud of is being able to do that without being high pressure or sales-ey. 

I think a lot of people who are not sales professionals (and many who are) miss out on an incredible amount of deals because they are either afraid to sell or they push too hard. 

The truth is there is a great middle ground where you aren’t like the Wolf of Wall Street and you aren’t too passive and just hope that people will reach out to you. 

That middle ground is what I call ‘selling with conviction’. You know your worth, you know what you have to offer, so you aren’t afraid to offer it to clients and you aren’t offended if they say no because you believe in yourself so much that your realize there are so many others who will be a good fit. 

If you are a coach or a consultant, a big part of financial success is to be able to market and sell your service (unless you want to be another broke coach). 

It literally pays to acquire these skills.  

Addition by subtraction: 

The lowest hanging fruit in getting better at anything is eliminating bad or ‘low yield’ strategies.  

For example, if I want to get better at focus, then I can ‘subtract’ as many distractions as possible. 

So I’m going to share some of the things that I see even sales professionals doing that if you subtract these, you’ll get better! 

The Pitch Slap –  

You’ve all been ‘pitch slapped’. This is where someone connects with you on social media and pitches right off the bat, they don’t even warm you up but just start talking about them and what they have to offer without even knowing what you need. 

I feel bad for people who use this strategy because I’m sure most of them are fine people, but just don’t realize that this is a horrible strategy for closing deals. 

They probably were taught to do this by someone else or just assume that there are clients waiting for a DM from them, ready to buy! 

They make it even worse by automating (which on LinkedIn can get your account suspended or banned) and hope that sheer numbers will make them close some deals. 

The Stalker –  

This is the strategy where Mr. Influencer tells you to hang out in the comments of posts by other social media influencers that have the same ‘ideal client’ as you.  

Another variation is to hi-jack other people’s Facebook groups and do this. 

You hang out like a creepo in the comments and then try to move them to the DM’s where you awkwardly try go get them on a call to ‘discover their pain points’ then sell them on your solution.  

What’s even worse is when these people use the bait and switch and try to make the other person think it’s a networking call or coffee chat, taking that person by complete surprise. 

Really shitty strategy.  

Spray & Pray –  

“It’s a numbers game”. This isn’t necessarily a bad strategy, but just one that very average people in sales use. The gist of it is the more (calls, texts, emails, DM’s) you make, the more sales calls you get, which amount to more deals. 

There is some truth to this, and that repetition can make your skills improve. 

The problem is, people hang onto this strategy for too long and they focus on ‘grinding harder’ instead of getting more skilled.  

For the best in sales, they learn how to leverage as well as up their close rate, and filter out unqualified leads.  

I call this the ‘spray and pray’ method because its all about spraying as many people with ‘touch point’s then praying they will work with you.  

Lack of follow up –  

This one is a super low hanging fruit that if you implement a good follow up strategy, it will pay off. 

Many clients WILL buy from you, they just need to get to know you first. Or they may not need what you have to offer right at that time, but will need it down the road. 

If you have a sales call with someone and it doesn’t turn into a sale, set up follow ups on your calendar to check in with them every few months.  

I’ve had so many great clients that have come a year or more after I initially met them, sometimes several years. But also a lot of clients end up doing repeat business over and over!  

Not asking for the sale – 

This is a tough one for a lot of people. They go through all of the work of prospecting or creating content and then seize up when the time comes to offer your services to the client.  

They seize up because of fear of rejection.  

The cool thing is if you have a content marketing strategy and use lead magnets, or properly qualify candidates before you hop on a call, you know there is interest. 

With a properly qualified candidate, you don’t even need to ‘pitch them’. Ask them the right questions and they will be asking for next steps; and if they don’t then you need to be able to ‘prescribe the solution’ that is best for them. 

There doesn’t need to be any fear in doing your client right and giving them a prescription based on your being the authority.   

And if they decline the offer, its not a rejection. They either don’t need what you have to offer or you haven’t provided the necessary clarification they need. Either way, its not a rejection. 

Trying to sell to early –  

Another common mistake that rookie’s and average sales reps make is they try to sell to early instead of nurturing a client along. 

In most cases, especially with higher ticket sales, the client needs to get to know who you are, like you and trust you. I call this the “KLT” factor (know, like and trust). This is one great reason to be a content creator is KLT can be built simply through your content. 

Also, sometimes clients aren’t even aware of their problems let alone the solutions so it pays off to meet them where they are at and nurture them along that journey.  

Not asking the client what they want or need – 

I’ll often get people pitching me on stuff that I have no interest in because they haven’t even taken the time to ask, they just assume. 

Asking the client what they want is a great way to 1) know what they actually need, and 2) it shows that you care and have a genuine interest in their goals. 

Its crazy to think about how many people DON’T ask what their prospects what they need. 

I get so many podcast pitches from people who have no clue what my podcast is about, but the kicker is they will say ‘Hey I listened to your Mindset Hackers podcast and its great! I have a client who’s an expert in leadership….’.

I know they didn’t listen to my podcast because I changed the name 8 months ago, also it has nothing to do with leadership. 

Putting the knife in the wound – 

I’ve literally heard sales coaches teaching people things like ‘you’ve got to twist the knife a little’ or ‘put some salt in that wound’.  

This comes from trying to leverage someone’s pain point to get them to try to action. 

The problem is they haven’t taken the time to even find out what your pain point is. 

Going after their pain point can trigger peoples EGO and insecurities; plus its bad form and doesn’t show empathy. 

Pain points are good to uncover and useful, but you’ve got to be delicate and lead with empathy, especially if it’s in the early phase of a relationship. 

You can uncover them through active listening and help them visualize a future desired state. 

Doing what everyone else is doing –  

When everyone does the same thing, the strategy gets played out.  

Its surprising how many people use the same exact pitch. Podcast agents always use the ‘hey I have really been enjoying your podcast!’ as their opener.  

Bad YouTube coaches always say ‘Hey your content is great, but you aren’t getting any views’. 

Marketers saying, ‘I help coaches make $30k per month in less than 90 days without lifting a finger’.  

It gets played out and people can tell. Do your own thing, it has a different vibe to it. 

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Simon