Three Things A Sales Professional Must Avoid

We all know there some things you just don’t do as a sales person. Customers aren’t in the habit of being forgiving especially before the sales person has been able to establish a strong relationship. Even after you’ve been become a household name in a client’s business there some faux pas that are hard to recover from. Here are three major actions to avoid:

Cell Phone Ringers
Back in the day when I owned a good size company and had sales people rolling through my office daily, cell phone ringers made me crazy. As soon as I heard a cell phone ring my attention was gone. Now it may seem petty but this was my office and my time. To me it doesn’t take much effort to turn your ringer to vibrate. The salesperson already had a hill to climb because I didn’t have time for whatever they were selling in the first place, and I had little interest in buying unless I was going to be “wowed”. Keeping the attention of your audience is critical and cell phone ringers can rob you of that quickly

Looking Like A Ragamuffin
Maybe it’s unfair to rate the value of the product on appearance of it’s representative but we all do it. I can’t understand why businesses allow their sales representatives to visit prospects or customers looking like a rag bag. Don’t visit a customer dressed like you can’t afford your own product. Muddy shoes and wrinkles will shut down your target quicker than anything. Your credibility has a lot to do with first impressions regardless of how great you’re product is or how brilliant you might be. A rough appearance can make many clients uncomfortable. Make sure you don’t look homeless or hungry, it’s never a good sign if a customer feels like they need to feed you or lock the door when you arrive.


Talking About Religion or Politics
If you want to shoot yourself in the foot as soon as you get out of the gate, bring up political opinions or talk about your church. Now chit chat is critical in building a relationship with a client but keep it general and away from hot button issues initially. If a customer brings up their political stance or religious following, be polite and change the subject quickly. Never, never, never bring either of these topics up yourself. We all know you have an opinion but you are there to sell a product not your religious or political agenda. Keep Pandora’s box closed and steer clear of these topics.