6 Sales Mistakes Hurting Your Team: STOP Selling Too Soon and START Coaching Better Salespeople

Sales is hard. Salespeople operate in a highly competitive environment, face constant pressure to perform, navigate different customers and opportunities, and deal with rejection and uncertainty. So why make the job even harder with avoidable mistakes?

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In this episode of Sales [UN]Training, Kelly Riggs identifies six common "bonehead mistakes" that can create friction, resistance, and lost opportunities. He explains why salespeople often mistake rapport building for a real relationship, talk too much in an effort to control the conversation, and fail to ask the questions that uncover meaningful customer challenges.

Kelly also examines the tendency to sell on the first call, lead with product too quickly, and jump on the first perceived opportunity before understanding whether there is a genuine fit. Another frequently overlooked mistake is failing to secure the next appointment before leaving the current conversation, allowing momentum to disappear.

But the problem isn't only technique. Kelly explores how a salesperson's mindset can dramatically affect performance, particularly when rejection, fear, and pressure begin to influence how they approach customers. He challenges salespeople to stop treating customers as if they are inherently more important and instead recognize the value they bring to the conversation.

For sales leaders, this episode offers an important reminder: developing salespeople means more than product training. Coaching, confidence, professional behavior, curiosity, and a consultative approach all play a role in helping salespeople perform at a higher level.

If you lead a sales team, this episode will give you plenty to consider—and plenty to coach.

Kelly Riggs is an author, speaker, and business consultant for executives and companies throughout the United States and Canada. He has written two books: 1-on-1 Management: What Every Great Manager Knows That You Don't and Quit Whining and Start SELLING! A Step-by-Step Guide to a Hall of Fame Career in Sales.

Get more Kelly: www.BizLockerRoom.com.

Widely recognized as a powerful speaker and performance coach in the areas of sales, management leadership, and strategic planning, Kelly is a former sales executive, a two-time national Salesperson-of-the-Year, a business owner, and a member of the Forbes' Coaches Council since 2019.

Music and Editing by Pod About It Productions @dougbranson