Rating Qualities

7
Applicable
For Beginners
Concrete Examples

How Not to Sell

Why You Can't Close the Deal and How
to Fix It (The How Not to Succeed Series)
Mike Wicks | HarperCollins Leadership © 2020

Mike Wicks spells out in detailed lists what salespeople must not do if they wish to succeed.
His unconventional sales book has much to offer. Proactive salespeople who review his lists will
do well. However, some of his warnings are silly. For example, how many salespeople need to
be told not to style their hair into a Mohawk? Dedicated salespeople should heed Wicks’ more
sensible advice – and there’s plenty of that – to build sales by avoiding complexity and common
mistakes.

Take-Aways
• The sales process isn’t complicated, but many salespeople make it so.
• Salespeople should reach out to a variety of people, not only their peers.
• A poor first impression can make it virtually impossible to sell anything.
• You can become a stronger salesperson if you fix what you don’t do.
• Become an expert about your product, industry and customers.
• Be an avid student of your buyers’ personalities and inclinations.
• Develop your mastery of presenting, countering objections, closing sales and dealing with
prospects.
• Focus your sales presentations on your buyers’ problems and present them with solutions.
• Buyers now hold all the cards.

www.getabstract.com

BatchLoginContext[cu=5435443,asp=4934,subs=0,free=0,lo=en,co=TR] 2021-01-08 20:13:17 CET

 Summary

The sales process isn’t complicated, but many salespeople make it so.

Professional selling always comes down to the relationship between two people – the salesperson
and the prospect. Often, it’s salespeople, not prospects, who undermine this relationship. In fact,
maladroit salespeople can find dozens of ways to mess up their sales, but salespeople don't need to
work in fear.

“Nothing happens in a company until someone sells something.”

Actually, the sales process isn’t that complicated, though salespeople can turn it into a labyrinth
with a million dead-ends. To avoid the pitfalls, set a straightforward path by knowing your field
and focusing on your buyers.

Salespeople should reach out to a variety of people, not only their peers.

Selling to people who aren’t like you can be tough, but if you confine your sales efforts only to your
peers, you won’t make much money.

“Around 90% of salespeople give up after the fourth call. Statistics, however, show that
when it comes to prospects, more than three-quarters say no four times before they make
their purchase.”

To develop profitable relationships with people who differ from you, become a chameleon and
adapt yourself to them and their concerns. Many salespeople can’t make this adjustment, but
you can if you think of it as turning your attention totally to your clients, even those you may not
understand at first.

A poor first impression can make it virtually impossible to sell anything.

Salespeople must be observant and acutely sensitive to the moods, styles and personalities of their
prospects. To get on their wavelength, adjust how you come across. Your goal is to be in harmony
with your potential buyer.

“Today’s successful salesperson is likable, reliable and oozes integrity.”

If you do not align with your prospects, you may inadvertently turn them off by being out of step
with how they dress, act, speak or carry themselves. Within the first 30 seconds of meeting you,
prospects intuitively make tacit assumptions about what kind of person you are and whether they
will feel good about you. This is simple human nature. The prospect’s gut reaction to you, although
not necessarily rational, boils down to liking you or not. That instinctive response will influence
whether someone buys from you. This is why your first – and follow-up – impressions are so

www.getabstract.com
2 of 6

BatchLoginContext[cu=5435443,asp=4934,subs=0,free=0,lo=en,co=TR] 2021-01-08 20:13:17 CET

 important. This highlights the need to develop objective self-awareness. Know who you are and
how people – including your prospects – feel about you.

You can become a stronger salesperson if you fix what you don’t do.

Weak salespeople must strengthen their work and improve their results. To become a stronger
salesperson, you need to:

• Operate strategically. Pay attention to targets and goals.

• Learn from setbacks and failures. You can gain crucial lessons from deals that don’t work out.
• Stay positive and upbeat with your clients and colleagues. Shelve your negative
feelings, including anger.
• Carefully serve your small clients, not just the big shots.
• Educate yourself about your offerings. You can’t just hand a prospect a brochure
anymore. Build up deep knowledge in your area of sales, and read the relevant trade journals.
Recognize the value of research. Knowledge is power, and it enhances your credibility.
• Be sincere, straight and honest. Faking authenticity doesn’t work.
• Put in the necessary hours to make enough calls, including cold calls.
• Work past your last planned sales appointment. If you finish early, spend time prospecting
instead of stopping for the day.
• Engage in advanced sales training and work to improve your sales skills.
• Plan your sales calls. Always show up on time for sales appointments.
• Persevere when prospects turn you down.
• Show prospects the features and benefits that make your goods or services special. Don’t fall for
the myth that customers care only about price.
• Stay on top of your paperwork and record-keeping.
• Listen to your prospects. They have important information to share.
• Get to know your customers. Show concern about helping them achieve their goals instead of
focusing only on your sales objectives. Build relationships with your clients, and stay in touch
with former buyers.
• Follow up on sales. Weak salespeople worry that if they contact their buyers after the sale, the
buyers will cancel the order. Deciding to keep your head down and stay out of sight is not a
winning sales philosophy.
• Use trial closes.
• Spot your prospects’ buying signals, and understand that their objections are genuine.
• Use PowerPoint effectively to make factual sales presentations. Don’t try to be flashy.
• “Ask for the order.”
• Send thank-you cards to customers after successful sales.

www.getabstract.com
3 of 6

BatchLoginContext[cu=5435443,asp=4934,subs=0,free=0,lo=en,co=TR] 2021-01-08 20:13:17 CET

 Become an expert about your product, industry and customers.

Successful salespeople acquire and leverage knowledge. They learn all they can about their
buyers – who they are, what they want, and what they like and don’t like.

“Sales is only complicated if you let it become more about getting the order and less about
meeting your customers’ needs.”

Additionally, good salespeople strive to become experts about their products or services, their
industry and their competition. This knowledge gives productive salespeople a business
advantage. Top salespeople are curious, constantly on the lookout for the next big opportunity and
always asking: “What if…?”

Be an avid student of your buyers’ personalities and inclinations.

Selling is the ultimate people business. To do well, you must be acutely tuned into your
buyers’ personalities and inclinations. Selling is a professional endeavor that requires you to know
a great deal not only about your products, services and industry, but also about your prospects
and their businesses.

“Prospects can spot a slick sales pitch from a mile away; sales presentations need to be
delivered in an inclusive, interactive fashion and not as a product or salesperson’s ego
trip.”

Do you know everything you should about your customers? Are they complex corporations? Small
businesses? Franchises? Family-owned enterprises? Do you understand their organizational
structure and decision-making process? What about their finances? Can they afford what you’re
selling? Which internal executives have the authority to make purchases? Are you in touch with
the right people?

You also need a sound working knowledge of your own company. Fully commit to your company,
not because it pays you, but because you believe in it, its offerings and its mission. Be loyal to your
firm. You can’t expect prospects to be enthusiastic about your company if you’re not.

Develop your mastery of presenting, countering objections, closing sales and

dealing with prospects.

Leading salespeople can handle all aspects of selling, including presentations, answering
objections, closing contracts and following up. They aren’t afraid to ask prospects for their
business straight out.

“Salespeople the world over seem to find every way possible to screw up getting the
order, when in reality closing a sale is the natural conclusion to a positive interaction

www.getabstract.com
4 of 6

BatchLoginContext[cu=5435443,asp=4934,subs=0,free=0,lo=en,co=TR] 2021-01-08 20:13:17 CET

 between those with a need and those with something that can satisfy that need at a price
the prospect can afford to pay.”

To top salespeople, the closing phase is a satisfying exercise, the logical culmination of their
previous positive sales activities and interactions with prospects. The contract is a logical, sensible
agreement between two parties who share a transaction. One has a need and the other can fulfill it
at an acceptable price. In contrast, weak salespeople falter and stumble when they try to close and
can’t quite wrap up the deal.

Focus your sales presentations on your buyers’ problems and present them with
solutions.

Salespeople must present effectively to succeed. To impress your audience, detail the challenges
that face your prospects and explain how your offering can solve those problems. Open with
relevant facts and figures, and stress how you will accomplish the client’s goals.

“Sales is only complicated if you let it become more about getting the order and less about
meeting your customers’ needs.”

Keep your presentation brief – no more than 20 minutes. On each PowerPoint slide, include
no more than 10 short bullet points in readable text.Touch only briefly on your firm’s stature
and experience, and don’t feature detailed financial information on your slides. Use hand-outs
instead. When you are done, take questions. Focus on painting a positive picture of how things will
change when the prospect buys from you.

Buyers now hold all the cards.

Sales have always been tough, but they’re becoming tougher because customers have gained all
the power. Be assured that your prospects have researched their product options on line, including
price comparisons, so they are far more informed than clients were in the past. Today’s customers
also can buy from suppliers who are based almost anywhere, from your town to the other side of
the planet.

“Back in the 1950s, salespeople had all the power; today that power has shifted to the
customer. Never before have salespeople had to sell to such knowledgeable people.”

With such challenges, salespeople must operate at the top of their game. Now you know what bad
salespeople do or don’t do. Here’s what great salespeople do:

• Maintain integrity.
• Adapt their sales persona to make each prospect comfortable.
• Stay well-informed, likable, reliable and trustworthy.
• Offer research that helps buyers make purchasing decisions.

www.getabstract.com
5 of 6

BatchLoginContext[cu=5435443,asp=4934,subs=0,free=0,lo=en,co=TR] 2021-01-08 20:13:17 CET

 • Select prospects carefully, and pitch to firms that need and can afford their offerings.
• Treat buyers as respected partners in decision-making.
• Figure out what customers need. Understand their personalities and build lasting relationships.
• Delve into prospects’ objections, including hidden objections.
• Listen instead of doing all the talking.
• Read prospects’ buying signals.Ask open-ended questions and probe for more information.
• Suggest purchases that serve their clients instead of being pushy.
• Stay in touch with customers and maintain strong relationships so clients see them as a
valuable resource.

About the Author

Senior writer at Kevin Anderson & Associates, Mike Wicks has written or collaborated on more
than 20 books, e-books and training manuals. The Military Writers Society of America named his
Fire from the Sky: A Diary Over Japan as the best military memoir of 2005.

Did you like this summary?

Buy book or audiobook
http://getab.li/40969

This document is restricted to the personal use of Gokcen Kesgin Oztug (gokcen.kesgin.oztug@signify.com)
getAbstract maintains complete editorial responsibility for all parts of this review. All rights reserved. No part of this review may be reproduced or
transmitted in any form or by any means – electronic, photocopying or otherwise – without prior written permission of getAbstract AG (Switzerland).

6 of 6

BatchLoginContext[cu=5435443,asp=4934,subs=0,free=0,lo=en,co=TR] 2021-01-08 20:13:17 CET