5 sales excuses you need to stop making today

80% of sales are achieved by just 8% of the sales reps 

What about the rest? 

Well, they are busy making excuses. 

It seems enticing to take the path of ‘excuses’ to escape after a poor performance. But how far can you go by making various sales excuses?  One day you will reach the dead end, and you’ll have to stop.  

We all make mistakes. It is human nature to make mistakes and fail.  However, the top sales performers learn from those mistakes instead of covering them up with excuses. They take responsibility for their actions. 

 In today’s challenging sales environment, you are ought to face hurdles and even fall. However, do not ignore the failure by giving some excuses. Instead, get up and work harder.  

If your learn from defeat, you haven’t really lost” – Zig Ziglar  

Sales excuses you should stop immediately  

Sales excuses allow you to box yourself in your comfort zone, but they won’t let you grow. So, be honest with yourself about your weaknesses and put an end to excuses. Create a positive momentum with integrity and move forward.  

Below are a few sales excuses you should stop right now.  

“Our product price is too high” 

This is one of the most common sales excuses used by most sales professionals. 

Well, even the most expensive product can be sold if presented in the right way.  

Why do most people prefer expensive branded products when there are cheaper options available in the market?  

Well, yes some purchase to flaunt they can afford it, while many buy branded products for quality and durability.  

No matter what you are selling, you should be able to demonstrate the value of your product. Just taking a step back by saying the ‘price is too high’ won’t help in sales.  

People are even ready to purchase an expensive product if they find it beneficial.  

So focus on the benefits of your product; for that, it is important to understand the potential prospect’s needs and challenges.  

Once you discover the prospect’s business pain points and requirements, you just need to make them visualize how your product can help them.  

Use case studies to show them how you helped a business overcome a similar issue. Sales is all about gaining trust and persuading the prospect by communicating the value of your product. If you manage to do both of them, you can easily sell high-priced products. 

“The prospects aren’t responding”  

44% of sales reps give up after one follow-up  

The deals won’t move ahead in the sales pipeline without consistent follow-up. Prospects are extremely busy focusing on their revenue growth. So you have to nudge the prospects to remind them about your product. So follow up consistently. 

Besides calls and emails, you can even use the communication channel of text messages to follow-up with your prospects. Besides, you can automate your text messages using the modern sales tool. Most of the modern CRM allows you to create sequences of emails or texts to put your follow-up on autopilot.  

“The sales targets  are unrealistic”  

Sales managers often ponder over various factors before setting the targets. Do not question their decision if even one member of the team is able to achieve the same target.  

If the top sales performer can achieve the target, that just implies it isn’t unrealistic. All it requires is a little hard word.  

So change your sales approach and walk the extra mile to achieve your target. Track your sales performance. Create a sales report and identify your performance gap. Put in more effort and try to work on the improvement areas.  

“The competitors are stronger”

Pepsi wouldn’t have been so popular if it had said there is already a strong brand like Coca-Cola in the market.  

There are alternatives for each product. But that doesn’t mean your product is weak or nobody would purchase it. 

It depends on how you sell the product. There are chances that your competitors might have better features, but their product might be more expensive than yours. 

You need to explain this to your prospective buyer. Show them the brighter side. There are even chances that your product may have fewer features, but those features might be enough to overcome your target audience’s issues. So concentrate on the USP of your product instead of focusing on the competitors.  

“We aren’t getting high quality leads from the marketing team”  

Most of the sales reps conveniently play the blame game when they cannot achieve the sales quota. Instead of blaming the marketing team, collaborate with them. Share your requirements with them. Be explicit about what kind of lead you are looking for. Make sure they are clear with the buyer persona you are trying to target. Maintain a healthy relationship with them so that they can coordinate with you whenever they have any concerns. This will help them generate the best leads for you.  

Wrapping up  

Stop taking the easy way if you want to grow in your sales career. Stop making sales excuses and start taking responsibility for your action. If something is not going right, then correct it. Address the problems immediately. Keep analyzing your sales performance and work on the improvement areas.  

 You can take the help of a sales CRM to create customized reports. With a smart tool like Salesmate CRM, you can easily create sales reports and monitor your performance. You can manage your deals easily and automate most of the time, consuming tasks. It is the best tool to streamline your sales and convert your deal into sales. It helps you in increasing your efficiency and productivity.