There’s nothing worse for a salesperson than going through the motions with a prospect only to have them change their minds at the last minute. It’s a whole lot of wasted time and effort. You may curse them and you may put it down to bad luck, but there’s much more to it than this.
The reason your prospect didn’t buy what you’re selling is likely because of something you did; otherwise, they would have immediately told you they weren’t interested. This guide is going to show you some of the main reasons why prospects can pull out of a sale at the last minute.
You Didn’t Take Their Needs into Account
Not taking into account the customer’s pain points is the biggest sin of them all. Old salespeople would talk to you about why you should buy their product. It didn’t matter that you didn’t want the product because they were convinced you absolutely had to buy it. Hard sales tactics like this used to have a positive return, but those days are long gone.
Now you have to take into account the needs of others. If your sales pitch is not primarily about what this product can do to resolve the challenges they are facing, you won’t close the sale. You need to know why the lead was even looking at your product in the first place.
You Targeted the Wrong Niche
Look at the average B2B business and the chances are their database is completely useless because the leads are from customers who are only vaguely related to your niche. You need to be laser-targeting the customers you pass on to the sales team.
Your marketing team may be concentrating entirely on the number of leads they are generating, but in reality, this doesn’t matter. All that matters is your bottom line and the number of leads you are converting into customers. If you targeted the wrong people from the beginning, you are always going to be fighting a losing battle.
The Lead Went Cold
Another major problem is that many businesses are working through their lead database oldest first. It makes logical sense, when you think about it. The oldest leads are those that need to be addressed before they expire entirely, but today leads are going to expire like milk.
Unless you address a lead within a day or so of first making contact, the chances are they are going to forget about you. Set a cut-off point and then address the newest leads first. Contact them as they come in because you have to remember that the average person is receiving a mountain of propositions every single day.
The Product Sucks
Sometimes you can have the perfect sales pitch delivered by the most convincing salesperson and someone still doesn’t buy because the product isn’t that good. It may be a depressing thought, but if few people are buying what you’re selling you may have to consider the fact that what you’re selling just isn’t that attractive.
But how do you find out about if this is the issue?
Look at your online reputation and what people are saying about you. Set up a Google Alerts notification for both your company name and your product name. If you’re getting poor reviews, this is a sign that people aren’t interested in what you’re selling anymore.
Word of mouth marketing is the most powerful form of marketing in the world today. If people are saying bad things, potential customers are going to turn away before you even get a chance to explain yourself.
Not Trying Hard Enough
On average, it can take up to 12 touches with your brand before someone will actually decide to buy something. Many old-fashioned salespeople give up after one or two attempts. This is where a lot of people are leaving money on the table, and it will come back to bite them later on. A whole 44% of salespeople give up after a single call.
If you have only spent a few occasions with your prospect it may be tempting to give up, but don’t because they may simply need more time to think about it. Or they may not be the person in charge of making purchases, such as in the case of B2B sales. Be persistent.
So Did You Figure Out Why Your Prospect Did Not Buy?
There are many reasons why you may not be making sales, but these are the main ones. What are you going to do to turn it all around?