Extended warranty sales reps aren’t hurting for prospects. Just consider the following numbers:
All those items will drive the extended contract industry to be worth an estimated $170 billion by 2028.
A growing industry like this should lead to equally lucrative payouts… if you can sidestep these common sales pitfalls.
Common Sales Mistake #1: Calling People Who Will Sue You
It’s a fact that every car and appliance will need to be repaired at some point.
Logically, that means just about everyone should at least consider what you’re selling. But there’s no better way to kill any chance at a sale than by contacting a lead that doesn’t want to be bothered.
Odds are, at least some of your leads will fall into that camp.
That graph, courtesy of Statista, shows the number of people who are on the US Do Not Call Registry: More than 244 million in all.
Those millions of people aren’t just those who don’t want to be called, they may take you to court if you do—and that can cost you big.
The FTC has battled on behalf of those people and collected more than $121 million from the offending companies.
Fortunately, your sales reps can avoid that mistake by using our Known Litigator list.
Inline CRM automatically integrates with DNC.com to provide real-time lists of “leads” who lead somewhere, alright… to a waste of time, money and maybe in front of a judge.
Sales Pitfall #2: Not Knowing Enough
How many times have you made a sale like this?
You: “Hi, I’m from {company}. Would you like to buy an extended warranty?”
Lead: “Yes.”
Probably not many.
Now, you’ll have your share of “Yes”es. But to get there, you’ll probably need a fair share of conversations which will undoubtedly involve questions. And when you’re asked, you need to know your stuff, inside and out.
Forrester conducted a survey and the respondents were… less than impressed with their sales rep:
57% thought that sales reps weren’t knowledgeable about their industry.
70% said the reps couldn’t answer the questions they were asked.
77% said the reps didn’t understand how their company’s product could help.
78% said the reps didn’t even have any case studies or examples they could share with them.
The takeaways here are many: Give your sales reps time to onboard and ramp up, make them listen to sales calls from more successful reps, or maybe give them a little more structure. Which leads us to…
Sales Mistake to Avoid #3: Winging It
Studies suggest it takes 15 months before a sales rep becomes a top performer. And if the average rep makes 60 phone calls a day, that equals 18,000 calls before they’re maxing out their talent.
There should be a way to fast-track their performance, right? Well, there is with Inline’s sales scripting builder.
With this feature, you can:
- Structure your sales calls
- Accelerate training
- Customize conversation flow based on answers
- Remain legally compliant
Even better, you’ll be able to pinpoint where prospects get hung up and adjust as needed to close more sales. That’s the power of data. Speaking of which, here’s another mistake sales reps make…
Ignoring Data That Can Prioritize Leads
There’s an old saying that ties into selling: “The first rule of fishing is fish where the fish are.”
And as we mentioned earlier, there are hundreds of millions of fish in the extended warranty sea.
Believe it or not, more than a third of companies don’t use any sort of attribution model to measure marketing performance!
That means lures are being cast in empty waters, or the wrong bait is being used based on the prospect type. Talk about a waste of money!
But with Inline, you have all the data you need to know how to sell which product to whom.
Our favorite reports to run include:
- Most Popular Day for Sales
- Close Rate by Rep
- Follow Up Success Rate
- Cancellation Rate
There are literally hundreds of extra CRM reports you can run in our system to make your reps efficient selling machines.
Another Common Sales Mistake: Talking Too Much
Every prospect wants to feel like they’re being listened to, that their needs are understood.
But too often, they feel their sales rep is sucking up all the air. And a study from Saleshacker shows how that affects success.
Now, there are other experts who think sales reps should give prospects even more of the floor: 80% of the time!
Either way, it’s clear that the more you talk, the less likely your prospects are to buy.
The Final Sales Pitfall: Being Too Pushy
Perspective is completely subjective.
Need proof?
Half of any given prospect thinks a sales rep is pushy (whether they’re actually pushing for a sale aggressively or not).
Contrast that with the 17% of sales reps who admit that their approach is a little… more direct.
That’s a pretty big discrepancy.
So how can you combat it?
By giving your prospects the option to buy what you’re selling on their own time.
Our Buy Now functionality is a simple way to follow up with your customers, complete with their quote and coverage. All they need to do is click a button to start entering their payment information when they’ve decided they’re ready.
But before you send, spend a little time personalizing the email you send. Even personalizing the CTA to include their address, vehicle or first name can make your conversion rates jump 42%!
Ready For Your Sales Reps to Climb the Leaderboard?
Now that you know some common sales pitfalls and how to avoid those mistakes, schedule a demo or test drive our CRM for free!
