Ask the Experts: John Boe

"What is the biggest selling mistake you can make?"

The biggest selling mistake a sales rep can make, and there are dozens of worthy considerations, is not understanding the critical importance of customizing their presentation style to fit their prospect's temperament style. In short, when it comes to people, one size does not fit all. Each of the four temperament styles, Aggressive, Expressive, Passive and Analytical requires a slightly different marketing and presentation approach. The bottom line in the selling process is building trust and rapport, not lowest price or highest quality. Sales reps who have not yet learned how to identify their prospect's temperament style leave tons of business on the table for those reps who do.

In addition, I also encourage sales reps to educate themselves on nonverbal communication. Body language is the true language of selling and the majority of salespeople are simple unfamiliar with this subject. Most salespeople dramatically increase their sales effectiveness after they develop their "people skills." The walkaway advice to remember is that your prospect will never purchase your products or services until he or she first buys you as a person. Losing a sale typically has far more to do with a failure to build trust and rapport than it does with issues of products or price.