Are You ‘Warming Up’ Prospects For Your Competition?

By Andy Preston | General Sales Tips

Jun 20

In this article, leading Sales Expert Andy Preston explains why most salespeople and business owners struggle to convert their sales opportunities….. and often end up ‘warming’ up business for their competition…….……

So many salespeople and businesses fail to convert their sales opportunities properly. In my Sales Training sessions, we talk about this a lot!

Some are so bad at it, they may as well have the title ‘Business Development Manager – For The Competition’ as their job title!

Here are 6 sales mistakes that a lot of people make…..

Sales Mistake No 1 – Non-Sales Staff Handling Sales Opportunities

Non-Sales staff involved with the sales process (e.g. estimators, admin staff, operational staff, office managers etc) don’t think like salespeople.

They think ‘how can I do my job efficiently and give the customer all the information they require’. Not ‘how do I turn this sales opportunity into an order?’

Without proper training and a ‘sales mindset’ for all staff involved with the sales process, I can guarantee you that you’re losing business you should be winning.

Sales Mistake No 2 – Your ‘Opportunity Qualification’ Is Awful

I’m often very surprised just how poor most people are at qualifying their sales opportunities. Sales Qualification should happen on EVERY sales opportunity, and the bigger the deal, the more important it is!


Yet most companies (especially on incoming leads or sales pipeline) don’t ask the right questions and qualify the opportunities properly. They just give out information, be ‘nice’ to prospects, and ‘hope’ to win the deal.

Pathetic. That’s costing you money too.

[PS – If you don’t know what sales questions you should be asking, REQUEST YOUR FREE ‘7 AREAS OF QUESTIONING’ VIDEO HERE to find out the areas you should be asking questions BEFORE sending ANY proposal!]

Sales Mistake No 3 – Not Making Sales A Priority

I can never get my head around this. Why don’t companies make sales a priority? Sales should ALWAYS be a priority!

If you’re not closing sales you don’t have a business. Regardless of how good your product is. Regardless of how good your customer service is. Regardless of how nice your staff are.

Sales is THE most important thing to a business. If you don’t get the prospect to buy from you, they’ll likely buy from your competitor.

That’s costing you money! Why would you throw it away like that?

Sales Mistake No 4 – Emailing Instead Of Calling

This is one of my personal favourites! Far too many salespeople email instead of call!

I know. It’s hard to get through to that prospect.oops
I know. It’s more ‘time efficient’ to send an email.
I know. There’s less rejection if you send an email.

But sending emails instead of calling will cost you business.

One of my favourite sayings is ‘Emails Inform, Salespeople Persuade’.

If you’re just informing people of something (like confirming a verbally agreed meeting time and venue, or sending an agenda etc), then email is fine.

If you need to PERSUADE someone to do something, then voice or face-to-face is infinitely better!

Failure to do this is also costing you money. Got it?

Sales Mistake No 5 – Not Getting Back To People Fast Enough

One of the most important factors in influencing a prospect to your point of view, and even converting the business (if they are making a fast decision) is your speed of response to their enquiry.

If you’ve been to a sales training session or seminar of mine, or seen me online, you’ll have heard me mention this before. Probably several times. But are you doing it?!! And are you doing it every time!

Being first-to-respond gives you the advantage. Do you want the advantage? Or are you giving it to your competitors?

Sales Mistake No 6 – Failure To Train Your Team Properly

When was the last time you properly trained the people dealing with your sales opportunities?

And I don’t mean watching how someone else does it, or ‘learning on the job’. I mean getting some expertise from outside the business, who has specific expertise in this area, to help you and the team formulate a specific process for winning more sales opportunities?

Done properly this is the best investment you can make, and will provide pretty much immediate payback and ROI, and produce improved sales results for months and years to come.

Why wouldn’t you want to do that?

If you are interested in me working with you or your team to overcome some of their problems with sales pipeline,managing their sales opportunities, cold calling and prospecting, or converting incoming leads then contact me here, or call +44 161 401 0142 to see how I can help you!

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

(This article is copyright Andy Preston 2004-2019. To copy or syndicate this or any part of this article contact Andy Preston for guidelines).

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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 130,000 Salespeople, in more than 40 countries, on 6 continents, since 2004!

Andy is best known for his work in 5 specific areas...

1) Prospecting/Cold Calling/Business Development
2) Converting Incoming Sales Leads
3) Consultative Selling and Pipeline Management
4) Standing Out From The Competition
5) Helping Salespeople Close More Deals!

With more testimonials than any other Sales Expert online (330+ on LinkedIn alone), Andy's work is recognised worldwide.

You can contact Andy here for more information, and how he may be able to help you!

Andy's Recent Accolades.......

* The World's Top Recommended Sales Expert
* Ranked UK's Top Sales Trainer - LinkedIn
* #2 In The Top 20 UK Sales Blogs - Lolly.co
* Top Sales Expert - Geniecast
* Top Sales Influencer - WittyParrott
* Top Sales Experts To Follow On Twitter - Evan Carmichael
* 10 Sales Experts Every Salesperson Should Follow On Twitter - Etail Insights
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