Salespeople: Their Excuses and Why They're Incorrect

For salespeople, their excuses and why they’re incorrect and why they need to change their mindset. It is impossible to succeed at sales without action. You can have the best strategies in the world, but they won’t mean anything without action. In my experience, many sales professionals fail to take action because they’re constantly making excuses for not taking action.

The truth of the matter is that often these excuses are untrue scapegoats for actions, regardless of how they sound on paper. To demonstrate why, here are four reasons I’ve observed salespeople using to justify holding back. This leads to no results because they make excuses.

IT MUST BE 100% PERFECT

I’ve seen salespeople use this excuse the most often. They urge themselves to make everything perfect before putting a new sales process in place, for instance.

They’re not worried about putting their best foot forward; instead, they’re scared of getting started and making a move. That’s what I believe they mean when they make this excuse.

Since getting started right away allows you to be at bat more often than waiting for things to be perfect, you’re better off getting started before they’re perfect than waiting for them to be perfect. If you have more chances at-bats, you are more likely to hit a home run than the individual who waits until everything is perfectly in place before swinging.

Taking chances even if things aren’t perfect, even if it takes time. A successful salesperson is someone who does this. A greater number of swings increases your chances of closing a deal.

I CAN’T LOSE MY PROSPECT

When you are approaching the end of your sales cycle, do you suddenly begin to doubt whether you can close because you think the buyer will balk at your price tag? You still decide to lower the price even though you have no hard evidence to support it.

In spite of the tougher time doing business, you make the decision to reduce prices, figuring that losing some money is a better choice than losing the deal entirely. As a result, you continue to sell yourself short in hopes of not losing the prospect.

I have observed that whenever you give this excuse, what you are really doing is demonstrating a lack of confidence in the value you bring to the table. Prospects will not be able to accept your deal if you show them your low confidence. If you are not confident in yourself, how can they trust you? You weren’t denied before, but now they will.

Should your prospect balk at your pricing, you should not immediately negotiate. Rather than just a sales pitch, demonstrate genuine interest and flexibility with payment plans.

You should ask yourself whether you are properly qualifying prospects if they continue to negotiate even after you have demonstrated your expertise.

BUT I DON’T WANT TO LOOK DESPERATE

During the lead generation process, salespeople frequently use this excuse. If they do not receive a response after 1 or 2 cold calls, they stop following up altogether because they think they will look desperate. Prospects perceive them as unworthy of working with them if they seem desperate. These excuses are often used as an excuse to throw in the towel.

However, this excuse really means a salesperson is afraid the prospect will judge him or think he is overbearing. But how are you supposed to know whether they think you are overbearing until the prospect discloses it?

It’s always best to remember that you are there to help prospects with their problems, and there’s nothing intrusive about honestly trying to help somebody. Don’t believe or use the prospect’s desperate remarks as an excuse until they tell you they are. Keep pursuing the prospect until you get a response.

I HAVE TO TIME IT RIGHT

If you don’t think the timing is right, how often do you pass up sales opportunities? You might tell yourself your ideal customers won’t check their email during the holiday season, so you refrain from making any contact.

As with the excuse of wanting everything to be perfect, this is more often than not an excuse of fear of starting. I have found that the bestselling times tend to be at the worst times of the year. As an example, many businesses spend the remainder of their capital investment budget right around the holiday season. There isn’t any way to know whether they are out there on the lookout for effective outlets for that cash (e.g., looking for people like you)?

It is not a valid excuse to stall action due to bad timing.