A few years ago, my family and I were having a tag sale in our driveway on a wonderful spring morning.  We invited a few of our friends and neighbors to bring some of their household items to display them along with our stuff, with the hopes that a passerby might be compelled to make a purchase. Is one of our gentlemen friends took advantage of this opportunity. Along with several small household items, be brought an exercise bike that was in excellent condition. An hour or so into the sale, an older gentleman pulled up and got out of his car to take a look at the variety of items available. He took a very keen interest in this exercise bike. After a short time, he asked what was the asking price for the item. Well, my friend had not given much thought to how much he was willing to accept apart with the bike. So, after a very short few moments, he told interested buyer you can have the bike or $500. The older gentleman scratched his head and thought for a moment and replied, “that sounds like a good price, I’ll take it.” without even thinking, my friend said, “okay, you can have it for $400!”

here is a clear case where the seller was not clearly listening or observing the signals of the buyer. To make a long story short, the potential buyer said he would come back later to buy the bike. Well guess what, he never came back! I wonder what he was thinking. Why would this guy offered to sell me this bike for $100 less than that offered to pay. Maybe something is wrong with it. Of course, we had a great laugh at this whole situation, and unfortunately my friend lost out on putting $500 in his pocket.

The situations happen all the time and the sales game. As salespeople, do we always feel the need to oversell. When I was a young buck, one of the experienced senior sales colleague I often work with told me something that I feel now was quite profound. Quite simply, he said “once you have asked for the sale, he who speaks first loses!” At the time, I thought this was a rather harsh statement, but there is a lot of truth in what he said.

I came across an article written by Colleen Francis that talks about things we do as salespeople to lose the sale.  She offers some great tips and ideas on how to avoid some of these pitfalls that cause us to lose valuable sales opportunities. I think as you read this article, it will remind you of the things you need to be aware of during the sales process to ensure yourself maximum success. Let us know what you think, as well as providing us any additional ideas and tips.

The Sale That Slipped Away: What Went Wrong? – RainToday.

Should the full article not be available at the above link, you can read the complete story in the business tips section of our website.  Read the full story, “The Sale That Slipped Away!”