It can be a mystery why one buyer responds to a specific sales pitch and another doesn’t. But it’s clear that engaging in these bad behaviors can derail deals.
Buyers ranked these 6 behaviors as immediate deal killers
In LinkedIn’s Fifth annual State of Sales report, global edition, buyers identified six behaviors they don’t want to see in the sales professionals who call on them.
“The biggest complaint from buyers is that sales professionals don’t take the time to learn about the prospect’s business and therefore are pushing a product rather than addressing a recognized need.”
Julie Thomas
Owner, President and CEO, ValueSelling Associates
Focus on better seller behavior
Here are the top five factors that would make a buyer more likely to select a sales professional’s company as a vendor.
Hand in hand with this, global buyers consistently ranked the following five factors in the top three that influence a purchase, a product or service.
1. Trust in the brand of product/service
2. Trust in relationship with salesperson
3. Price
4. Return on investment
5. Service after the sale
Dive deeper into the stats that are shaping the future of sales.
Sales professionals intuitively understand certain outreach approaches are less effective than others – and are tuned in to behaviors that turn off buyers.
1. Misleading information (36%)
2. Lack of personal messaging (35%)
3. Not understanding own product or services (34%)
4. Not understanding competitors’ product or services (32%)
5. Cold calling or emailing repeatedly (31%)
6. Not understanding buyer’s company and its needs (31%)
Activate your sales superpower
Sellers can easily address the first two behaviors: Tell the truth and strive to deliver personalized, relevant messaging.
The other four on the list reveal an often ignored reality of selling: Buyers look to sellers as the experts—ones who respect their time.
That’s why active listening is a sales superpower. And smart sales professionals are finding ways to activate it. Top-performing salespeople listen more than they speak on sales calls.*
LinkedIn data shows that salespeople have turned to learning courses as a response to the pandemic, and among the topics they learn more of are those on “active listening”, where minutes spent learning increased 4x in the last 12 months.
*According to Gong data
Ready to dive into the report to explore how LinkedIn can help you ahead with these industry trends?
