20 Causes of Sales Problems
Below are 20 problems that cause VP of Sales and business owners great distress. These mostly sales process issues that result in poor sales. If you are having less than stellar sales results, see if one or more of these reasons are the culprit.
1) Belief that price is the number one business driver in the buyer's mind. Research says that it is the sales rep's competence (the ability to add value throughout the buying process), not price.
2) Losing profit margin due to sales reps selling on price - Sales rep has failed to establish value.
3) The customer sees the offering as a commodity because the sales rep does not add value by tying to business goals or gaps
4) Prolonged Sales cycle because the sales rep did not address the customer’s risk - risk (vs trust) is the biggest deterrent to buying.
5) Poor follow up allowing competition to “get a foot in the door” - poor follow up loses the equity of trust.
6) Not adding value at each step of the process - sales rep is focused on the transaction and on closing the deal versus helping the prospect buy.
7) Sales Reps not making quota due to shotgun approach on selling and too much focus on cold calling.
8) High turnover of reps - this is a management issue that can have many root causes that needs to look at the hiring process.
9) Sales managers not getting the most of out their people - sales managers focus on telling their reps what to do vs. coaching them to discover how great they can be.
10) Lack of adequate sales volume or activity - lack of social selling and networking skills leads to poor prospecting.
11) Lots of activity but poor closing ratio - rep is probably giving quotes too quickly without finding buying criteria.
12) Sales reps focus on relationship selling vs. adding value and building trust - old style of selling of being their friend.
13) Commission plan not achieving corporate goals - what is truly motivating the reps?
14) Lack of adequate systems to provide quality metrics for sales reps (CRM system that is designed for management’s usage, not empowering the sales rep to serve the customer)
15) Focus on sales metrics at the expense of serving the customer - focusing more on tracking metrics which are historical versus truly understanding the customer can cause a disconnection between buyer and sales organization.
16) Poor Forecasting – not meeting forecasts - Not understanding the buying criteria is a major cause of not closing.
17) Poor territory management – not getting enough business out of a given territory - personal producitivty issues and probably don't have clearly defined daily and weekly goals.
18) Marketing and Sales not in alignment with strategy and messaging - marketing is typically leading the charge and it should be the opposiite.
19) Operations and sales not in alignment with each other - poor communication and collaboration.
20) Operations not in alignment with customer - Operations runs the way they want to, not focused on what the customer needs.
CONCLUSION:
Each issue has a root cause that is based upon a belief, a habit or a lack of skill. Has your sales management and sales processes been examined lately? Has anyone made joint sales calls with your reps to see how they are actually performing to see if they actually align with 21st century buying practices? Are you tracking key metrics to identify where they might be struggling? The Internet and sociological changes altered the sales process and the way people buy. Has your business and sales processes made the change?
