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After more than 26 years in sales and sales management, I’ve heard many excuses from struggling salespeople. Here are the most popular ones and my thoughts on each.

The Top Excuses That Lead to Sales Failure

• Our Prices Are Too High

First and foremost, if low price were the only factor, there would only be one company in business in each industry: the company with the lowest price. My guess is that you have many competitors. I’m also guessing that the lowest-price provider has the smallest segment of the market, or they’re really close to the bottom. This is because they have the least to offer. As the saying goes, “You can have low price or you can have value and service.”

Very few people want the least value and service. In fact, study after study shows that only seven percent of people buy on price. This seven percent also complain the most and are the least loyal. How about you? Do you always buy based upon the lowest price? Do your family and friends? Truth be told, I can’t think of anything that I pay the lowest price for. In almost every industry I’ve been in, I was selling the highest priced, or one of the highest priced, items in that industry, and I sold far more than any of my competitors. Not only will people pay for more service, more peace of mind, and fewer headaches, most people, at least the smart and successful ones, seek it out. They are actually looking to spend more in order to live a happier, more carefree life.

Considering that 93 percent of people buy on value and 7 percent on price, if you constantly find yourself in a price war, you are not adequately selling yourself and your products’ value, thus people simply see you as commodity. Work hard to find your value and to find a way to articulate it to have the most impact.

• It’s the Economy or My Market

Can the economy affect business? Yes. Yet, in every industry, there are companies and salespeople that do more business in a “bad” economy than they were doing in the previous good one. A down economy weeds out those that were just riding the good-economy wave. As a result, although there is less business to be had in a down economy, there are also fewer competitors fighting for the business.

Performance comes down to one thing: activity level. Most salespeople do less, usually much less, in a down-economy, buying into the negative news. Meanwhile, the salespeople who are working harder and investing more time, effort and energy, are scooping up all the business. So while a tough economy may make business more difficult, it is absolutely up to you and your activity level to create your own economy. And for the people who think that their particular market is a problem, the fact is there are people in your market, selling the same products to the same customers, and they are selling a lot more than you and not only surviving but thriving, so it’s not the market.

• The Successful People Are Just Lucky

This one usually follows the “it’s the economy” or “my market” excuse, when I point out the salespeople who are thriving. The unsuccessful people always have a reason as to why the successful people are successful and it never has anything to do with the real reason. The successful people are out doing what needs to be done in order to be successful. They are making the calls, following up, building the relationships, and doing the hard work that the unsuccessful people are avoiding.

• That Won’t Work With the People I Call On

I generally hear this one when it comes to working hard and performing “unpleasant” tasks such as prospecting. People use this blanket excuse because they are afraid to face rejection and don’t want to step out of their comfort zone. As with Excuse #2, your market and customers are not that unique and different. Again, there are people in your market, talking to the same people you are, and they have high contact rates, plenty of prospects, and plenty of sales, and no, they aren’t simply lucky.

• There’s Too Much Competition

This one comes from the same salespeople who use the “price,” “economy” and “market” excuses. These are people who haven’t prepared and thus don’t have a compelling value proposition.

• The People I’m Talking to Just Don’t Get It

This one comes from salespeople who are unprepared and lack compelling reasons as to why their product and solution are the best. Like many of the excuses above, this one can come down to a lack of conviction and being sold on your product, but more than that, it usually comes down to a simple lack of preparation. Typically these excuse-makers don’t have a solid presentation, sales skills, closing skills, and answers to objections and other questions or issues that arise on the sales call.

Bottom Line

As a salesperson you are supposed to be a professional communicator, therefore, if someone doesn’t get it, it’s your fault, not theirs.

When it comes to excuses, everyone always thinks that their situation is different and worse than everyone else’s, but neither is true. What is true is that whatever excuse you have, there is someone out there in the world who had it worse and overcame it. So stop working so hard on excuses and start working hard on the activities that will make you successful.

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