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Without a doubt, the sales force of a business is of great importance within the organizational structure due to its relevance in the economic factor and the operational performance that it can generate.

It should be noted that the sales team needs to understand the new business prospects so as not to be left behind in the face of current market demands, and its productivity must be more focused on being more assertive with prospects that can become customers.

Sometimes, when the sales force is not achieving the proposed objectives, managers commit a series of sins that can drastically affect the operation. These are:

1. Believe that salespeople are secretaries

Commercial managers or directors believe that the sales force must call and prospect the client, look for the appointment, confirm it, follow up on the agreements and other tasks. The reality is that salespeople have very different profiles from administrative assistants, they feel more comfortable in relationship and negotiation activities and are less dedicated to routine tasks that require dedication to detail; this can cause them to fail when assigned such tasks.

2. Not having enough information from prospects

It is a very common mistake to schedule without having a clear idea of ​​the prospect, without asking the right questions to find out if the client meets the profile that allows the speech to be adapted to obtain the really relevant information about the company. It is necessary to investigate the different sources of information such as the Internet page and social networks to approach the potential client.

3. Not scheduling with the right person

In many cases, the decision makers and the service ‘sufferers’ are different people within the company. To really find who to establish contact with, you have to know what «pains» are being resolved with the company’s value proposition in order to speak in the same language with the «sufferer» of the product.

4. Not knowing how to manage telephone objections to the appointment

It is necessary to understand that time is money for company executives. That is why it is important to generate empathy, speak in the same language as the client, understand their needs and how to solve them, make them understand that their challenges are the company’s challenges, use success stories with impact indicators, among others.

5. Be afraid to generate agreements

The executives in each appointment must generate an agreement. The mistake that commercial managers and directors make is not having clear indicators in this regard, from the next meeting to the submission of a proposal. From these indicators one begins to approach the fulfillment of the objectives.

6. Do not track the appointment

The most important thing about a date happens after the date. Was the information given clear enough? Was the information given relevant to the prospect? Did they reach an agreement? If you have already decided on another provider, what was the reason?

This information is valuable because it brings the reality of the commercial force closer to the product and how to sell it. We must be aware that much more than a commercial schedule, what is being collected is data from the client, the market, the competition and the sales force.

7. Allow the sales force to control the sales agenda

This leads to falling into a vicious circle of lack of control, distrust and lack of productivity. The sales force should not manage their agenda so as not to fall into the temptation of modifying it at will, as this can translate not only into unproductiveness, but also into a bad reputation with clients or prospects.

When a third party manages it, it allows a good relationship between management and the sales force, but there is also accurate and timely information that helps to monitor and improve prospects.

If you want to know how to reach your goals, you can consult our success story of Tourism on the fly and understand how their sales increased by 60% in one year.