Pro ball players who continually make mistakes are demoted to teams in the minor leagues. These players are called “bush leaguers.” Sales also has its share of bush leaguers, who constantly make the following mistakes:

• They talk too much on sales calls and don’t listen to customers enough.
• They present the same pitch in the same way to every customer.
• They assume information they don’t know, thereby taking the wrong action.
• They fidget with many prospects and don’t focus on the winnable ones.
• They don’t put themselves in their customers’ shoes.
• They don’t take the time to analyze their own performance.
• They don’t understand how to pool their available resources or use outside help.
• They set unrealistic customer expectations or make commitments that their product or company can’t fulfill.
• They meet with prospects without having a clear idea of what the prospects are trying to accomplish or what business problem those prospects are trying to solve.
• They don’t understand when to pursue and when to drop certain leads.
• They don’t know how to cope with losing a deal so they use it as an excuse to go into a slump.

Adapted from “Heavy Hitter Selling,” by Steve W. Martin, a sales consultant and creator of the Heavy Hitter Training program.

Tags: bush league, mistakes, salespeople, telltale signs, training