A high number that very few are aware of. Of course, these sales obstacles cost a lot of money every year in lost revenue and lost customers. What does it look like in your sales team?
Many different sales obstacles
Since 85 percent of all sellers we tested (which is over 1 million sellers) have obstacles in sales, there is much to gain from your team having as low and as few of these as possible. We have determined 16 different types of sales obstacles and all of them we have found can be worked away or at least ensure that they do not destroy your sales. Some common sales obstacles are:
Role Denial
Discomfort with the sales role which can be expressed in a rigid overly positive attitude.
Indecisiveness
Energy is lost due to a reflexive fear of being perceived as too assertive or pushy. Can handle it by waiting for the “right opportunity ” or praising relationship building before closing deals .
Stage fright
Discomfort due to concern about selling in front of group or large crowd.
Social Differentiation
Discomfort associated with initiating contact with customers who are perceived to have great wealth, power, or superior education.
Telephobia
Discomfort associated with using the phone to prospect.
Discomfort with prospecting online
Discomfort associated with using modern resources such as social media and/or web-based conferencing tools as tools in prospecting and/or making oneself visible.
Complex Selling
Discomfort associated with prospecting and selling in complex sales environments that may involve contacting senior executives, contacting multiple decision makers, preparing professionally written quotes, and patiently and methodically handling complex, long-term negotiations.
Sales barriers not only reduce activity, sales barriers also affect the ability to create contact with customers or prospects during the business meeting itself.
20 questions provide answers to whether you have obstacles to sales
The test we use has almost 300 questions, but I think many people might be a little curious about whether they themselves have obstacles or not. That’s why we’ve come up with 20 questions you can answer to see if you or your sales team should invest in joining a sales hurdle program or not. We have chosen to call it the productivity check , which you will find further down in the text. If you come out without obstacles, you are probably a fantastically good seller and that is also a quality assurance that you have been honest or know yourself quite well. Likewise, if you’re not performing at your peak and you’re hitting obstacles, that’s likely what’s preventing you from achieving success.
If you work on your sales obstacles in the team, you will not only perform better, but also increase well-being at work. This means that your salespeople have a tendency to stay longer, which results in reduced recruitment costs and start-up distances. In other words, you increase revenue and reduce recruitment costs over time.
Make sure you have fuel in the tank
It is not enough to just have a low level of sales barriers. You need fuel in the tank too, i.e. motivation! That motivation should be used to create the contacts needed to reach your sales goals. These are factors we also take into account in the professional test. That motivation must then be used to reach your sales goals by initiating contact with customers
and prospects to the extent required for you and yours to reach your goals.
So if you want to perform better, my answer is to make sure you are loaded with motivation, know what you want to use it for and have broken this down into daily goals that you are passionate about doing. Finally, make sure there are no sales obstacles stopping you from connecting with prospects and customers!
I’ll end with a book tip that I think all sales managers should read and understand the meaning of and that is Without a Doubt by Dudley and Bryant.
Written By: Christer B Jansson, CEO and founder of Confident Approach
Contact us if you want to test yourself and discover your own sales obstacles.
