#29: 6 Rookie Mistakes That Make You Look Weak

Read time: 3 min

Today, I’m going to discuss the most common mistakes I hear on coaching calls and how to correct them immediately.

On average, between myself and my team we listen to about three dozen calls weekly. I’d say 97% of them are from founders. I hear the same things repeated over and over that are deal killers.

The problem is most founders have know idea what they’re doing wrong, because they don’t know what they don’t know. Once they come onboard the first thing we do is have them send over call recordings. And like clockwork it is the same shit on every call. Once we point out where mistakes are being made, immediately their calls begin to go differently.

“It’s good to learn from mistakes, but it’s better to learn from other people’s mistakes.”

~Warren Buffett

Let’s take a look at six of the most common mistakes I hear.

1. Leading the witness.

2. Being way too agreeable.

3. Selling a product, rather than solving a problem.

4. Asking rhetorical rather than open ended questions

5. Doing Bio’s at the beginning of discovery/demo calls.

6. Interrupting the prospect when their sharing useful information.

   
   
   

   1. Leading The Witness
      Leading the witness is giving them the answer before asking the question.
      
      

      An example, would be, "So what are you doing to generate business at the TOFU, things like LI and cold outreach?" This is leading the witness. You’re giving them the answer. Don't do this. Ask a question directly, and stop talking. Don’t add commas. An example would be — “What are you doing now to generate TOFU?”
      
      
      
      

   2. Being Too Agreeable

      Saying things like: “aha, ok, yeah, right, I see”, etc.
      
      You're trying to be agreeable, but in fact you're conveying to the prospect, "Hurry Up And Stop Talking Because I Want To Share," and it's disruptive. Instead, don't say a word, or make any gestures. Just listen. Everything you’re trying to convey to the prospect will organically happen if you are quiet when they’re talking, listen, and ask great follow up questions.
      
      
      
      

   3. Asking Rhetorical Rather Than Open Ended Questions
      Don't ask questions with yes or no responses. You're trying to extract info to understand. Don’t make it easy for them to not provide context.
      
      Instead, begin questions with, “Help me understand..., Can you walk me through..., What has been your... How do you currently…”
      
      
      
      

   4. Selling a Product, Rather Than Solving a Problem.
      Throwing s**t against the wall and seeing what sticks is not selling. Asking well crafted questions and unpacking their responses is the path to solving. Don't sell - solve.

      
      The way to successful selling is by first identifying where the source of pain/frustration lies. This is done through asking questions and listening (i.e. discovery.) Then you can show them a path out of that pain (i.e. demo.) If you try and just sell them on your product being the right solution without first understanding their pain, it becomes very hard to close deals.
      
      
      
      

   5. Interrupting The Prospect when Their Divulging Useful Info.
      Don't interrupt prospect when they’re speaking. Let them flesh out their thoughts, because oftentimes they give you all the info you need if you just let them talk. There are cases where the prospect can go into left field. In this situation the way you get them back on the path is by asking a question. That’s how you regain control of the conversation.
      
      
      
      

   6. Doing Bio’s At The Beginning Of a Call
      Bio’s at the beginning of a call is arguably the biggest waste of time. No one cares. Unless they explicitly ask you, what’s your background, or why did you build the company, then provide that context. Other than that it’s completely unnecessary. You have 30 minutes to extract all the qualifying information you need and schedule the demo. Every minute is precious. You have to use it wisely. Prospects are interested in one thing. Can you help me solve this problem so I can stop thinking about it. That’s it. The entire customer buying journey should be based on answering and conveying through a process how you can do so. Do bio’s only if asked to share.

      
      

If you’re doing some, or all of these, correct them now. Remember at all times during the process you are either coming from a place of strength or weakness. It’s the little things that you do, and are unaware of that add up and convey competence, or a lack thereof.

 

That’s it for today folks.

See you all next week!

Darren

P.S. If you’re ready to level up you can book a call with me here.