Why Sales People Fail

I've been delivering sales training for over seven years and there is a pattern of behavior I continue to observe. There is a tendency to make assumptions about potential clients and that clients have the same feelings/reservations as you do. Both create barriers to successful selling and more specifically barriers to creating successful relationships. Sales is more about the relationship and learning more about current and future needs and less about the product. I train bank professionals on how to build customer relationships and the most important aspect of the process is asking permission to gather information, and that requires asking questions. The single biggest barrier is that most of the participants will tell me I wouldn't want someone to ask me "that"question. Well it's not about you, it's about learning more about their needs so that you can meet those needs successfully. Just because you might not like someone asking you that question doesn't mean the client feels the same way. In other words don't assume the customer feels the same way as you do and you will be more successful at meeting their needs and building the relationship.