The Silent Deal Killers: Subtle Mistakes That Costs You Sales

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Welcome to the Next Level Selling, Next Level Life Podcast with your host, Mad Mike.
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The podcast where sales techniques meet real-life transformation.
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If you're ready to crush your sales game and elevate your life to new heights,
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you have found your podcast.
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Mad Mike isn't just a motivational sales trainer, he's a relentless sales coach
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ready to challenge your limits and elevate your game. Are you ready to take this thing to the top?
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Because it's go time with your host, Mad Mike.
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What's up, everybody? It's Mad Mike here with your Next Level Selling,
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Next Level Life podcast. Hope you're doing great no matter where you're at.
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So look, today we're going to dive into something that's quietly killing your
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deals and you probably don't even know what's happening.
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We're talking about the silent deal killers.
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Sounds like a novel. These subtle mistakes that sneak into your sales process,
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they cost you commission checks before you even realize what went wrong. Picture this.
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You've built great rapport, given a killer presentation, handled objections
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like a pro, but somehow the deal still falls apart. Why?
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It's not always the big obvious mistakes. It's the small unnoticed ones that
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slowly erode trust, confidence, and urgency.
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And that's exactly what we're going to be breaking down today.
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So if you want to start closing more deals and losing fewer opportunities.
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Stick around because by the end of this episode, you'll know exactly how to
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fix these silent deal killers once and for all. So let's get into it. Okay.
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What is deal killer? Number one over talking instead of listening over talking.
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This is one that I had to learn quite honestly.
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Those of you that know me personally and those of you that don't listen to my
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podcast, you know, I like to talk.
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So, you know, over-talking instead of listening, look, I get it. You're excited.
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You want to slow the customer down personally. You're trying to show them everything
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the product can do. Maybe you're nervous.
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You fill the silence with words, but here's the hard truth.
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When you talk too much, you lose the sale. And I've had those customers that
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kind of come at you kind of fast. And so we naturally go back at them fast.
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And so slow down, you know, calm your nerves.
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You got to, you don't have to fill all the silence with words.
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And because the fact of the matter is the more you talk, the less the customer feels heard.
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And when customers don't feel heard, they don't feel valued.
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And when they don't feel valued, they simply don't buy.
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How do you fix it? Well, follow the 80-20 rule. Listen 80% of the time,
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talk 20%. It's really quite simple. you've heard this before and it's really true.
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You know, if you're talking too much, deliberately pull it back,
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turn it down a notch. All right.
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Always make sure you're asking open-ended questions like what's more important to you in this decision?
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What concerns do you have about
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making this move today? And then shut the hell up and let them answer.
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You'll be amazed at what they tell you. And that information is actually what closes the deal.
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Deal killer number two, lack of energy or enthusiasm. I've never been accused of this one.
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I've always had enthusiasm, but some people don't.
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So look, lack of energy. Sales is a transfer of emotion. I've talked about this
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before in other podcasts.
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You have to learn how to transfer your energy, transfer the emotion.
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If you sound bored, disengaged, or robotic, guess what?
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The customer will mirror that energy. I've seen salespeople lose deals just
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because they didn't seem excited about what they were selling.
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If you don't believe in it, why should they?
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Be aware of your tone, your facial expressions, your body language.
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Even if you've had a tough day, reset each and every time before you interact with customers.
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Remember, it's lights, camera, action.
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All right? It's not about being an actor. You need to be your genuine self.
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But damn it, get excited. Jim Rohn says, nothing happens until someone gets
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excited and that someone is you.
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Customers don't care if you're tired. They care if you believe in what you're selling.
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Deal killer number three, weak or indecisive language.
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Weak or indecisive language. You know, phrases like, I think this might be a
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good fit for you, or maybe this will work.
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What? You think, or maybe, no, damn it, you know it will work for them,
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okay? I know this will work.
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Whenever you say words like maybe, and I think that is weak.
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Weak salespeople don't close deals. How do you fix it? Well, it's simple.
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Use strong, confident phrasing. Instead of saying, I think this might help you,
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say, based on what you told me, this is exactly what you need.
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Do you see the difference?
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Confidence sells. Indecision doesn't. Stop being weak with your language.
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Look, I've told you before, practice, get in front of a mirror.
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Hell, get you a microphone, kind of like this podcast mic.
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Get a microphone, put on some headphones, listen to your voice,
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listen to your tonality, okay?
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Deal killer number four, ignoring micro objections.
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Now, here's one that flies right under the radar every time.
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People are like, what the hell is a micro objection?
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Sometimes a customer won't come right out and say, I have a concern.
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Instead, they'll hesitate. they cross their arms or they go quiet.
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These are little signs that are red flags that most salespeople miss.
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So look, how do you fix it? Well, you simply pay attention to body language and hesitation.
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If you sense resistance, call it out. Look, Mr. and Mrs. Customer,
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I noticed you paused when we talked about the payment.
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What's on your mind? Just be direct.
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Sometimes I think salespeople try to come up with some magic sentence that they
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think is, I don't know, going to trick the prospect into thinking something.
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Then just ask them, what is on your mind?
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You know, the old saying, penny for your thoughts.
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What are you thinking? What is on your mind?
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This simply brings objections to the surface so you can basically handle them
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before they kill the deal.
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Look, guys, you want objections if, well, you don't want them.
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What I'm trying to say is if there's an objection hidden inside of your prospect,
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you have to ask the questions to get the objections out.
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All right. Get them out of the customer so you can deal with it.
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You're the professional. If you know your product and you know what you're doing,
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you'll have no problem overcoming the objection.
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Deal killer number five, selling features instead of outcomes.
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Most salespeople talk about the features, the benefits instead of the outcomes.
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Example, this car has heated seats. Okay.
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And why should the customer care? Unless the customer told you,
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I have to have heated seats in the car.
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If it doesn't have heated seats, then I don't even want to look at the car.
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Okay. Then you can show them the car and say, I got great news.
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It has heated seats. But if they don't talk about heated seats,
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then don't talk about it. Don't bring it up. All right.
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Tie every feature to the benefit. Instead of this car has heated seats,
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say something like, look, this means you'll never have to start your mornings freezing again.
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So you can talk about benefits without saying the actual benefit.
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Look, it's got navigation.
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You don't have to say that. It's got heated seats. Don't say that.
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Make up a story with what you're saying. You know, you don't have to worry about
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getting up in the morning.
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We sell LoJack on our cars, you know, and I like LoJack. I think it's a great
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product. I've been selling it for years.
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I've never had one customer, not one, bitch about it. So I'm not trying to sell it to you right now.
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I'm just trying to make the point that I don't sell LoJack as an anti-theft device.
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I sell LoJack as those mornings when it's freezing, you know,
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when you walk outside and you go to crank your car and you're already running
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late for work and the damn thing won't start because the battery's dead.
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This low jack product, this device will let you know before the battery dies.
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It will let you know. So you can avoid that.
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Those are the ways that you come across properly to a customer to sell a benefit or a feature. Okay.
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So sell the outcome, not the product.
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Deal killer number six, poor body language and eye contact, poor body language
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and eye contact, crossed arms, lack of eye contact, fidgeting.
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It all signals that you're nervous or you quite frankly are dishonest.
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I don't understand people that don't make, now don't make like serial killer,
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you know, eye contact staring into their eyes and looking all crazy,
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but you want to make eye contact. You don't want to be fidgeting.
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Get rid of your nervousness. Okay. How do you do this is simply maintain a good, strong eye contact.
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You know, when you know your shit, when you know what you're doing,
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when you know what you're talking about, you shouldn't have a problem maintaining
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strong eye contact because what? It displays confidence.
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You want to have an open posture. You want to make sure you have controlled
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movements. Don't be all spastic and talking like a crazy person like I do sometimes.
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And I'm flailing my arms around. Control yourself. All right.
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People trust confidence.
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Deal killer number seven, failing to create urgency.
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If you injure a pitch with, let me know what you think, you've already lost.
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Man, and I hear this to this day. I still hear people saying this.
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Well, just let me know what you think.
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Without urgency, customers procrastinate and they talk themselves out of the sale.
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Create urgency without pressure. Use scarcity. You know, it's got limited availability.
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We have a lot of leads coming in on this particular unit.
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Exclusivity. You know, I've got some special incentives on this right now.
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They're timeline based. They're going to go away.
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For example, this pricing is only available until the end of the day.
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If we get this wrapped up now, I can lock it in for you. Okay.
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Listen, when I was buying a house, my realtor, he was like, you got to lock
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in the rate now. You got to lock in the rate now. It's for your benefit.
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Well, I know rates move and everything, but dear God, it probably could have
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waited until the next day, but that's exactly what he told me. And guess what I did?
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I did it. I did exactly what he told me to do.
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Deal killer number eight, mishandling objections with defensiveness.
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Mishandling objections with defensiveness. It cracks me up when people embattle
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their prospect and they get all defensive.
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When customers object, don't get defensive.
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Objections aren't rejection. They're just buying signals. They don't have enough information.
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Welcome objections with curiosity. Instead of arguing, just simply ask,
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well, that's a great question. What specifically concerns you about that?
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What specifically concerns you about that? Dig deeper, find out what it is.
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Sometimes it's not even a real objection. All right. This basically shifts the
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dynamic, keeps the conversation open. That's all it does.
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Deal killer number nine, poor follow-up. Oh my God.
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Now for the record, I just, I think I said this on my last podcast.
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Don't call someone on the phone and say, well, Bill, I just wanted to follow up.
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Following up doesn't mean you say the words follow-up, just freaking follow-up.
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All right. the final deal seal deal killer being bad follow-up 80% of all sales
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require at least five to seven follow-ups five to seven okay.
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But most reps, you're not going to believe this, and well, you probably should,
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but you don't want to admit it.
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Most sales reps that I've ever met, they stop following up at the most three
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times. Three times they quit following up.
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Five to seven times minimum. And I used to work when I was a stockbroker.
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I worked for Ken Fisher, writes for Forbes magazines.
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I was one of his nationwide sales guys that traveled the country,
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and then I covered Tennessee for a while. And I remember talking to Ken Fisher
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and, and I said to him, I said, Ken, when do you stop following up with people?
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Cause he had a bank of like 90, you know, people on the phone that called all day long.
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And, you know, if it was illegal to call a prospect, they were calling.
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I said, Ken, when do you stop calling people? He said, when they buy or when they're dead.
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And that's about it. You know, and the whole point was, is that you keep following up.
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But the bottom line is, is most salespeople stop. It takes a minimum of five
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to seven contacts to get someone to become a customer.
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So follow up with value. Instead of saying, hey, you know, Mr.
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Prospect, I was just checking in.
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How about saying something useful like, hey, Mr. Prospect, I found an article
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that answers your financing question. I really thought you might find it helpful.
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People want value. Call them with a real reason.
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Give them some information. You know, people love it when you teach them something
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that they haven't heard before. Okay.
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So stay on their radar without being annoying. I call that being pleasantly
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persistent, pleasantly persistent.
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All right. So call into action. Let's recap real quick.
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So stop over talking and start listening, bring energy and enthusiasm.
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Use confident, decisive language, address objections proactively. and,
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Sell outcomes, not features. Master your damn body language and maybe your body odor. Sorry.
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Master your body language. Create urgency without pressure.
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Handle objections with curiosity, not defensiveness. Remember,
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folks, never in battle your prospects.
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And of course, for the love of commissions, follow up.
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Okay, so here's your challenge, right? So over the next week,
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what you need to do is a self-audit on your sales process. Pay attention to
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your tone, your body language, and your phrasing.
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Fix just one of these silent deal killers. And I promise you,
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you'll start closing more deals. I promise.
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Now go back, write these down and work on them.
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I say this all the time, but most salespeople don't do it because you're too
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lazy. You got other things to do.
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I know we have families and some people, you know, well, there's a lot of young
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salespeople out there that don't have anything. They've got an apartment and
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they got a few bills to pay.
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And all you got to do right now is crush it.
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All right. So I don't care if you've got a family. No one's busier than me.
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I mean, wife, kids, five grandkids, dog, cats, mother-in-law.
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I have wonderful parents that are still alive that are getting up there in age.
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I mean, I am a busy, busy man.
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And I still find time not only to do these podcasts and I do these,
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I swear to God, I do them for you. I do.
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Okay. So not only do I do the podcast for you, I do my own self-development,
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61 years of age as of me recording this podcast.
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Okay. And I still learn and I go, and I do, I go through training myself.
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So not only do I take training, I do training, I give training. All right.
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And I'm always learning. We all have to get better every day, ladies and gentlemen.
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Okay. And if you do these things, stop killing the deals. all right with the silent deal killers.
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And if you do this stuff, I will see every one of you killers out there at the top.
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Let's go out, make it a great day.
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Thanks for tuning in to the next level selling next level life podcast.
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Don't forget to subscribe and leave a review wherever you listen to your favorite
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podcasts, ready to elevate your sales, health, and life.
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Visit nextlevelselling.pro and discover how to take your game to the next level.
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And remember, we'll see you.
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Music.