Sales Failure!! Paul tries to sell SEO services…. and fails!!

By Andy Preston | General Sales Tips

Nov 08

In this edition of the ‘Sales Failure!’ series, leading Sales Expert Andy Preston takes real-life examples of ineffective selling, and uses them as tools to learn how you can avoid the same mistakes, and what to do instead to improve your own sales results….

In this edition of ‘Sales Failure!’ we take the example of Paul (surname and company name withheld to save too much embarrassment!)

Paul attempted to ‘sell’ me his company’s SEO services via email recently, and it serves as a useful example to dissect his approach, and examine the lessons you can learn from it, in order to improve your own sales approaches and increase your sales!

So first of all, let’s take a look at Paul’s email ‘pitch’….

Hi,

Please forgive the direct approach. My name is Paul (surname withheld) and I work for (company name withheld) as a Marketing Consultant in your market sector. I have been looking at your website today and would like a few minutes of your time to have an informal chat with you.

I really like the site, but you may be curious as to why the site isn’t ranking, and with that in mind I wondered if you would like a free SEO audit of the site looking at keyword density and a detailed analysis of the back link profile.

That should give you an excellent insight, and hopefully allow us to develop a plan for getting the site into some top positions.

The audit is FREE and with no obligation. So do please get in touch.

Kind Regards

Paul

PS. I know you must get lots of contacts like this, but I promise I am a ‘real’ person based in our Birmingham office, and overall we are UK based staff serving numerous UK & International clients. More details of what we do below on (website withheld) or call us directly on the numbers below, Thanks

Okay, so let’s dissect Paul’s approach….

Now I’m not a huge fan of ‘cold’ email approaches to start with (see my ‘Selling By Email – 5 Mistakes’ article for more on my opinion on that) but there are some even bigger problems at play here.

So let’s take a look at some general ‘sales lessons’ we can learn from dissecting Paul’s email approach…

Sales Failure Lesson No 1 – Lack Of Personalisation

Here’s where Paul fails….. he starts the email with just ‘Hi’ – with no name after it! (even though he’s emailed me personally, and my web address is www.andypreston.com!

In addition he says in the first paragraph that he works as a Marketing Consultant in ‘your market sector’ – again it wouldn’t take a lot of personalising to have a much better impact, but Paul fails again here too!

If you’re making ANY kind of sales approach, whether that’s via email, phone or any other method you HAVE to personalise your communication, otherwise the other person will lose interest quickly!

In addition, lack of personalisation means that the prospect doesn’t feel valued and that they’re just one of a ‘number’ of people you’re emailing, or just another number on the ‘list’ that you’re calling! I’m sure that’s not the impression you’re looking to create, is it?

One of the key things that prospects want at the start of any sales approach is ‘Relevancy’. In other words, ‘why is this relevant to me, now, and why should i consider it important, and give my time and attention to it?’ Fail this part, and your sales approach could be over… before it’s even started!

Sales Failure Lesson No 2 – Stop Apologising For Selling!

Here’s where Paul fails….. he says ‘please forgive the direct approach‘

Paul manages to hit on one of my personal ‘bugbears’ here! In my opinion, no-one should need to apologise for being in sales, and no-one should need to apologise for just doing their job!

This problem stems from a lack of confidence, and an expectation of getting a negative response to the sales approach, so therefore the ‘salesperson’ thinks if they apologise first, it makes everything better!

In actual fact, it often has the opposite effect, and actually makes things worse!

Apologising, or asking permission actually lowers your Credibility in front of senior decision makers, and authoritative prospects. It can make them think you’re not confident in what you do, and therefore transfers a lack of confidence to them in you, your company and your products and services – plus it makes them think you’re someone at a junior level! Not good….

Sales Failure Lesson No 3 – Stop Telling Outright Lies!

Here’s where Paul fails….. he says ‘I really like the site, but you may be curious as to why the site isn’t ranking’

Actually, my site ranks very well the search terms I want – so that now causes Paul a ‘credibility’ problem. Either he doesn’t know the key words I’m optimising for (basic error!), or he lied when he said it isn’t ranking, and hasn’t really done any research into it whatsoever!

Either way, his credibility is now shot, and the likelihood of me believing anything else he says, or listening to his ideas is pretty much zero. This mistake alone could be enough for prospects to decide NOT to do business with him.

Outright lies or lack of research definitely don’t help your sales calls. Make sure you don’t fall into the same trap…

Sales Failure Lesson No 4 – Stop Confusing People!

Here’s where Paul fails….. he says ‘I wondered if you would like a free SEO audit of the site looking at keyword density and a detailed analysis of the back link profile.’

Now let’s move past the fact he’s making a free offer (I’ll come back to that in my next point!) and look at the words he’s used. ‘Keyword density’ and ‘detailed analysis of the back link profile’. Now although I know what they mean, most decision makers, and especially those in small businesses, wouldn’t!

Therefore he’s confused his target prospects before he’s even started! And here’s one of my big tips – people don’t buy when they’re confused. All you do is make them ‘retreat’ and potentially either decide not to go ahead with whatever purchase or offer they’re considering, or worst-case, go to one of your competitors that doesn’t make them feel confused and stupid!

You need to use language that’s simple to understand. Language that prospects can know exactly what you mean, and make sure you stay away from technical, high-level or company-specific language or acronyms. This has the effect of either confusing the prospect, or making them feel ‘left out’ – as if they don’t understand your terminology, they will feel ‘excluded’ from the discussion and therefore probably not buy!

Not the outcome you’re looking for, is it?

Sales Failure Lesson No 5 – Make Sure You Don’t Lose Control!

Here’s where Paul fails….. he says ‘The audit is FREE and with no obligation. So do please get in touch.’

Here’s the problem. Paul’s handing control over to the prospect with the phrase ‘do please get in touch’. Hardly a ‘call to action’ is it?!! No compelling event, no mention of him calling me, no commitment gained whatsoever…..so therefore has no control over whether I call him back or not!!
And the bigger problem. The ‘no obligation’ bit. Well done Paul, you’ve hit on another of my personal ‘bugbears’ here. In my opinion, OF COURSE THERE SHOULD BE OBLIGATION! It’s simply good negotiating to follow the influence pattern ‘if I do this for you, I want you to do this for me’…

The whole idea of doing the free SEO audit IS to make the prospect feel obligated to you, isn’t it? So why lie again here and say that it isn’t? This will just cause credibility issues once again!

‘No obligation’ is simply another phrase that is over-used by people that have confidence issues with selling. Those people would be far more effective at selling if they were proud of what they sell, confident in their own abilities and wanted to get ‘obligation’ and commitment from people. That would definitely result in higher sales figures!

So, In Summary….

You can see that with all the areas that Paul has made mistakes in that have led to his ‘Sales Failure’. Think about them when you’re conducting your own ‘new business’ sales efforts, whether that’s over the phone, face-to-face, or online. Then think about what you can do to improve them.. and of course, drop me a line here if you’re struggling! Good luck with your Sales!

Follow the tips above and watch your sales soar! I look forward to hearing how you get on……..

Andy Preston
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Andy Preston

Sales Motivational Speaker and Sales Trainer at Andy Preston
Andy Preston is a top International Sales Motivational Speaker, Sales Influencer and Master Sales Trainer.

Named as one of the World's Top Sales Gurus, Andy creates 'Stand Out Salespeople' worldwide, with his revolutionary 'Stand Out Selling' Sales System. 'Stand Out Selling' helps salespeople stand out from their competition, win more business, and do so at higher prices!

Previously a trained Professional Buyer, then the Top Salesperson in the UK, Andy Preston has now trained more than 160,000 Salespeople, in more than 50 countries, on 6 continents, since 2004!

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