Despite it being 2019, the saying “old habits die hard” is still rampant in our world especially in the world of sales. In this line of work, the human mind needs to be constantly disciplined and robust. The capacity for which we have shown throughout the ages proves that we, in the corporate world, are strong-willed, ambitious, skilled, and highly motivated.
Unfortunately, humanity also comes with many negative traits such as being lazy, selfish, the need for perfection and, being critical of everything while being hypocritical themselves. In sales especially, it is always these toxic habits that result in poor results, bad sales achievements and, ultimately making yourself look like a bad salesperson.
Even in your personal life, toxic habits are always a must to avoid. It reflects bad character; you would be deemed as unapproachable by your peers, and potential employers wouldn’t consider hiring you because they can foresee you would not be a productive staff to their company.
In this article, Sales Ninja lists down some of the bad sales habits that you must avoid for your benefit.
- Procrastination
One of the worst habits that you should never have in any line of work. This is probably a bigger hit towards salespeople because whilst waiting for a reply or the times in between to search for new clients, they would dilly-dally, chat a lot, play mobile games, or spend a suspiciously awful long time in the bathroom.
This is not to be confused with laziness as that is an entirely different habit of its own. Laziness is the refusal of doing certain work diligently and continuously; procrastinating is the delay of doing ANY type of work deliberately.
Why is this toxic?
Because productivity depends on you being focused on the task at hand. Any intentional deviation from the said task and you’re wasting your time as well wasting your team’s time, thus delaying your sales even further.
2. Negativity
Ever thought about what would happen if the client doesn’t like your idea? Or maybe the product doesn’t suit the needs of the client and you have nothing else to offer? What about the customization which you lack thereof?
Negativity isn’t just something that pushes you to succumb to your own fear but also desists your ability to think outside the box which heavily impacts your sales. The way you approach your peers or management is different, your perception of the sales process is dialed down and this would naturally result in you complaining about everything.
Why is this toxic?
These negative thoughts are what block the effectiveness of selling practically anything. You tend to think about the minor details of the outcome to a point that we lose focus on what really matters: closing the sale.
3. Tardiness
Have you ever had that one friend that is always late for a project or a social gathering almost every single time? Most people would either be early or on time but there is always that one friend that is consistently late. Sadly, salespeople are not immune to this habit. Coming late to work, being late to an appointment, waking up late, or even the infamous tagline:
“I’m on my way, another 10 minutes.” When in truth, they just got out of bed.
It’s true, being late can sometimes be out of our control such as traffic, accidents, medical emergencies, and family abruptions but these are rare cases and can be avoided entirely if planned properly and informing others. The ones that are habitually late only use “emergencies” as excuses and not doing anything to improve their situation.
Why is this toxic?
In sales, time is everything. And time can be managed by the individual as if it were micromanagement. If a person constantly suffers real-life issues and emergencies to be late for many things, they should really get their priorities and life checked out.
4. Too many emails
Instead of prospecting for new leads which is essential to produce sales results by acquiring new customers, they would write a lot of singular and unique emails to individuals to either look busy, fill up their time, or use emailing as a quick escape from cold-calling. Many salespeople submit to the habit of procrastination to clear their emails and let it overwhelmingly pile up or, in worst cases, into the next day.
Why is this toxic?
Like time, much of it is wasted by doing the same thing over and over. Not only that, but it also pulls your attention away from the more IMPORTANT tasks such as drafting and sending proposals, communicating with the other teams for product delivery, etc.
Writing emails, especially non-sales related emails, should be attended near the end of the day.
5. Calling Quits
This habit applies during the first attempts at contacting the potential client. Most salespeople give up after attempting to contact the client to chase the sales after the first few times… Believe it or not, a few times or even 5 times is considerably low compared to top performers.
The minimum you should do, according to Matt Heinz (President of Heinz Marketing), is to try at least SIX TO EIGHT times before giving up on a lead. Daily. Different times of the day.
Why is this toxic?
This habit just shows how much determination you have and how motivated you are to accomplish your mission. Top sales performers almost never give up chasing a lead until they get in touch with the right person and this is nothing compared to top performers chasing to close the sale.
6. Complaining and whining
This is a shout out to the ones that like to blame everything but themselves. Many salespeople complain about their “poor” leads received, blaming other people for their own shortfalls, hitting dead ends whenever objections come, etc. This correlates to thinking negative outcomes since complaints stem from negativity itself.
Why is this toxic?
You are just exhaling carbon dioxide. Salespeople are all about taking action as well as taking the initiative to change what they can change or adjust themselves to the new situation. As they say, if you want something done right, you have to do it yourself.
7. Pre-Judgmental
How else to get sales when you already want to target someone based on their appearances? Based on how a person looks, a bad salesperson would totally ignore or try to ignore someone because they are wearing t-shirts and shorts. Likewise, they would give full service to someone in a suit or an elegant dress.
Why this is toxic?
The market is huge, but you choose to limit your choice of clientele, thus, limiting your own sales which result to lower sales achievement overall.
Instead of assuming anyone or all coming in can be a customer, they only go after the ones whose wealth is presumed to reflect their clothing. This is more observant among developers and automotive salespeople. Never pre-judge.
And Finally…
8. Laziness
One the most (if not the no.1) toxic habit for anyone to have but especially dangerous for salespeople. Since sales is a proactive and a constant daily battle, laziness is a habit none of us can afford to have but some still, sadly, do.
Why is this toxic?
Salespeople who have this habit can be apparent by how they behave towards their bosses, clients, and even their colleagues. They would refuse to work properly or will do something very, very slowly.
HOWEVER, this is not to say lazy people and a lazy habit are similar, if anything it is quite the opposite. Many people are hard workers but are lazy towards specific tasks. And then, there are lazy people but can complete multiple tasks only in a different and more unique manner.
Mindset and Motivation Training
Each of these habits stems from a poor mindset. Fortunately, the mind can be reshaped and disciplined to ensure anyone can be successful and a productive member of the company. All that is left is one’s willingness to step out of their comfort zone and make a change for the betterment of themselves and the people around them.
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