The WORST Sales Habits | How to Spot & Stop These!

Bad sales habits. These form unconsciously. We do them inside the home when communicating with customers, either in person or in writing. And these bad sales habits will cost you deals. Listen, I've had a unique opportunity being this young baby face guy. I was the youngest person at the company as chief operating officer training people my dad's age and I had the least amount of experience. So I know what it's like to face those uphill battles. By the way, for anyone who's struggling in sales, I've been there. But for those of you who've been in sales for a bit or even if you're new, you are creating habits whether you'd to admit it or not. Now, these bad habits are completely unconscious for many. And I'm going to help you pinpoint what those are so you can stop them. Because if you keep doing these things that I'm about to share with you, you will lose deals, lose confidence from homeowners, lose trust, and unfortunately at times look like an idiot. And I know no one wants to do that. So I'm super excited to help you pinpoint. Maybe you have these, maybe you don't. And if I miss any, drop a comment below. First I want to say welcome or welcome back. My name is Adam Bensman, the roof strategist in everything I do Here, on this YouTube channel, in my podcast and in my program, the Roofing Sales Success formula is designed to help you and your team smash your income goal and give every customer an amazing experience. So as we get started, if you haven't yet done it, I do have a free offer for you to get a copy of my pitch like a pro Roofing Sales Training video library sent right to your inbox. It's every video I've ever done, organized by category, and it's a great tool for training new salespeople and a great tool for folks with a bit more experience. Experience. Maybe that's you trying to fine tune your closing or you're pitching at the door. Your body language. I got playlists for darn near everything. So click the link here in the video or podcast description or head over to the roofstrategist.com right now for your free copy. Now let's break down sales bad habits. I got five of them for you. Let's hit them in order. Number one is the ums and filler words. This is the language of someone who lacks confidence using like, we can like do that for you. There are these filler words to buy yourself time to think and oftentimes people use them as A bridge, because they're filling space to make them feel more confident. Excuse me, comfortable and confident. But as they use them over and over again, they become ingrained. So as you're speaking, instead of allowing for a natural pause, you use these filler words, and it makes you look nervous, it makes you look insecure, lacking confidence. And then homeowners look at you and they feel like you're being deceitful or deceiving, which means not trustworthy. And what's the first pillar we need to knock down in sales? To develop trust and create the need and then overcome the money issue. So trust is the big one. And using ums and filler words in the house just are instant credibility killers. So, number two, by the way, we're all guilty of that one, myself included. Number two is answering your phone, answering calls or texts while you're with a customer. I watch people do this all the time. And if you're one of these people that does the dreadful, put your finger up in someone's face to give them one second, I am so important. I have this phone call. And answering it, never, ever do that. Now it's a little less invasive when you just get your phone out. But habit number one, guys and gals, is I want you to silence your phone before you walk in the house. Turn those notifications off. There's nothing that tells someone you're not that important, because what's happening here is far more important than you. That becomes a trust, and people hate it. In fact, I hate it when people do it to me. All right, number three, we have the no punctuation text messages. I've been seeing these more and more where I'll get emails or text messages, and it almost looks like someone is under a drug induced mania that will send four Facebook messages at max length with not one period, comma, exclamation point, question mark, capitalized letter, anything. And I'm starting to see that people correspond with their customers in the same way. It is so important that you communicate clearly by just using basic punctuation. You don't need to be a whiz with words. You don't need to get a master's degree in English or writing. You just need to learn how to communicate your messages clearly. And this punctuation error with no capital letters, hey, it might fly with some friends in a super casual level. And you've heard me say that we need to communicate with our customers like we would with our friends, but that doesn't mean with a lack of professionalism. So please if you're guilty of the long giant run on sentence, no punctuation, text or email, I'm telling you now, it's making you look stupid. And the funny thing is I've communicated with people who do this in writing, but when I get with them face to face or over zoom or on a phone call, they're really intelligent, bright people. So use punctuation. Fair enough. All right, let's go into number four here. That's the TMI guy or gal. TMI stands for Too much information. This there's something about and I'm going to say it. Brian Tracy, I credit you for this one. I think he called it excusitis where we have excuses for everything. And crews are notorious for this. Right? You're late. Oh well, we were on the way to the landfill or the transfer station and then we got a flat tire on the trailer and then the hydraulic line and then the battery was dead on the dump. Whatever. Like there's always the things and no matter what, there's an excuse for everything. There's no one ever takes ownership. And sometimes these excuse itis people, the sales reps that are in the home will give too much information. Hey listen, I'm really sorry. I had just the squeeziest stomach this morning. I tell you. I ate something that really didn't sit well with me and I was up all night on both ends and all of a sudden you're just like oh God, please no. But you know the type, the people who over share. So when you're working with customers, it's okay to find that common ground. But there's a line when you cross. This line of like over connecting and over humanizing yourself in the experience that it just makes people uncomfortable. They're not your doctor, they're not your best friend, alright? So find that common ground. But learn where to draw that professional line so you don't give too much information. And this leads me to number five, which is probably the most common and that is fidgeting, by the way. I should have looked up how to spell fidgeting. So we're going to just stop with fidget and then if I spelled this wrong, you can drop a comment and tease me. So fidgeting, this is darty eyes. When you're looking at someone, you know the type, the people who are talking to you and they don't. They don't really remember what they were going to say so they're trying to make it up on the spot and then they do what I'm doing. Now and they look up and you can tell that they kind of. They'll use filler words like digging up for what they're trying communicate. And what it does is it says you have no idea what you're talking about. You're pulling this out of your hinder and you're blowing smoke. And even if you know the answer, even if you're trying your best, you don't want to fidget. Fidgeting, hands, sharp movements, squirreling around when you're standing there like this, being darty. This tells people from a body language signaling standpoint that you're not safe, you can't be trusted. Slow, calm, even gestures and movements create confidence. Show that you command authority. So if you're naturally a fidgety person, and I've dealt with a few, the shoulders twitching, the hands twitching, your eyes twitching, your head twitching, calm down. A book I'd recommend for you is Breathe by James Nestor. It's actually a really powerful book to help you get a little bit more control of your body, because I know some of this stuff is anxiety and nerves. So there you have it. The five biggest and worst sales habits that I see people making in the home that are costing them sales. Killing trust, killing confidence, and telling homeowners that you're not to be chosen, that you're coming across like an idiot. We don't want that. And these are things that you can consciously become aware of and shift and start closing more deals. So there you have it. Ums and filler words, answering calls or texts while you're in an appointment, using no punctuation in your written communication, sharing way too much information, and fidgeting in the house. If I missed one, do drop a comment below because it'll help someone else who might be doing this become more conscious. And that's what I love to do here in this community, is create that space for all of us to learn together. Because here we are as a unit, as a team, as a community, trying to smash our income goal and give every customer an amazing experience. Super appreciate your time with me here today. Just because your and my time is about to wrap up doesn't mean it needs to. So if you want to keep hanging with me, click right here. YouTube thinks you're really going to dig this video. And if you haven't yet done it, click right here to get a free copy of my pitch like a pro roofing sales training video library sent right to your inbox and I will see you on the next one.