Bad mouth the competition. That always makes you look better.
If you (sales) know others at the organization, bad mouth HR to them. It never gets back to the people in HR. Never.

It’s actually hard to believe that organizations have Sales people that haven’t been trained in Sales 101.

Assuming that most vendors do provide sales training and/or hire experienced sales people, what are some additional perhaps more subtle sales blunders?

Some biggies are:

1) Not knowing very clearly (from a business/HR perspective) how your product will help the organization run its HR shop and overall business better than it does without your technology.

2) Not having honest discussions on the suitability of your product/service based on the needs/requirements/processes of the buyer’s organization

3) Not being able to advise the buyer on the various approaches (and the pros and cons) to the issue they are looking to solve.

4) Getting the right balance of follow-up so as not to hound the buyer but to keep in touch, make yourself available, and ask appropriate questions to help the buyer move forward.

5) Forgetting the golden rule in selling — Sell people what they want to buy!

Bill Kutik was right in the LinkedIn group: because of infrequent HR software purchases, companies really do need objective consultants — product/service interpreter/analysts if you will who can help champion, define and help manage the buying/implementation process (although “HR buyer” isn’t always literal HR, more of a collective executive management buyer).

I’ve worked with many HR suppliers large and small across the landscape — TA, TM, T&D, Wellness, LD, OD, WFP, EB — and too many of them still believe that flashy marketing spangles get them in the door and then your points above help them land a deal.

Forget about knowing the space, knowing the organizational (buyer) pain points and needs, educating the buyer by sharing best practices content applicable to their org, and the long daisy chain of marketing and sales activities that lead to the hopefully eventual sales conversation tipping point.

We’re the best-of-breed vendor! (queue cute dog images)

Really?

*sigh*

There ain’t no easy button.

@David – Thanks for the comment. We tend to forget the basics at times but these are the items than can make or break your sale.

@Tim – I know you can relate to these buddy. San Fran is great and hope life in Boston is well for you guys.