Pitfalls of The Sales Professional

Believing you are the best is a common tendency for winners. You fall into the trap of believing you have reached the ultimate level of superiority. Although this can serve as a good motivation, it can lead to a string of misguided beliefs that, eventually, end in complacency.

When you begin to think that enough has been done, you become less conscious of the last performance and begin to relax your standards of service and the management of your accounts.

Loyalty Versus Longevity

Successful salespeople also have the tendency to fall into the trap of customer loyalty.

The battle cry of the 1990s was 'The Customer Is King.' This motto has been adopted by many organizations. Some even display large signs that repeatedly remind internal staff to drop whatever they are doing just to give the customer what he wants.

There is nothing wrong with that, for so long as

a) There is only one customer at a time;

b) The customer is asking something that is reasonable and realistic; and

c) There is reciprocity from the customer or prospect.

Based on countless research studies, customer loyalty acquired through the principle of The Customer Is King can turn out to be a double-edge sword.

More often than not, it leads to the belief that the customer will be loyal for as long as you give him what he wants. Once the customer sees you are willing to bend the rules to regularly accommodate his requests, your effectiveness as a salesperson is undermined.

In the first place, this type of customer loyalty mindset is difficult to implement when a customer continues to compare and starts being demanding in terms of the lowest price in the market.

What is more practical to implement is the principle of customer longevity. As the business organization shows signs of support for the customer and gives him incentives and value-added perks, then the customer will continue to engage in a relationship with the company.

Familiarity Breeds...

A professional salesperson knows when and how to distance himself from the client. Distancing yourself provides a certain degree of professionalism and an aura of respect. Putting certain parameters in place early on will ensure that your relationship is not abused.

But even when faced with an unreasonably demanding client, the sales professional cannot act in a resentful or hostile manner. Always act with proper decorum and diplomacy no matter what.

Ethics Versus Volume

As a salesperson, you have to know when to draw the line in every aspect of your relationship with the client. First of all, understand that there are two sides to your relationship: ethics and how much of the client's business do you want to have—although some would say even the aspect of how much business you want has to do with ethics.

The ethics aspect has to do with both the amount of business volume and how strong the company culture is. But in the business aspect, the main issue is sales revenue as well as a keen sense of whether an account is reaching its saturation point.

Pricing

If after all is said and done, your customer continues to dwell on price, then you, the sales professional, have not been successful in building up your customer's understanding of your value-driven proposition. If you had been successful, you would have deflected the price issue.

As you build the relationship with your customer, how much your product costs becomes less of a concern. It should, eventually, be replaced by the quality of your service and your commitment to the relationship.

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