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The Worst Mistake Salespeople Make (And How to Avoid It)

One of the most common and detrimental mistakes salespeople make is talking about themselves first when engaging with a potential customer. This sales approach is fundamentally flawed because it fails to put the customer’s needs and interests at the forefront of the conversation. The reality is, when you’re trying to make a sale, the customer is the most important person in the room. They are the ones you need to impress, the ones you need to understand, and the ones you need to convince that your product or service is the right solution for them. Starting a sales conversation by talking about yourself, your company, or your offering is a surefire way to lose the customer’s attention and interest. In this in-depth blog post, we’ll explore why this sales approach is so problematic, and provide actionable strategies for avoiding this mistake and instead focusing the conversation on the customer from the very beginning. By the end, you’ll have a clear understanding of how to adjust your sales approach to be more customer-centric and effective.

The Problem with Talking About Yourself First

When you start a sales conversation by talking about yourself, your company, or your product/service, you’re making a critical error. Here’s why this approach is so problematic:
  • It’s Self-Centered: By leading with information about yourself, you’re essentially saying “I’m the most important person here, and you should care more about me than you do about yourself.” This is the opposite of what the customer wants or needs.
  • It Fails to Build Rapport: Customers want to feel heard, understood, and valued. When you immediately start talking about yourself, you miss the opportunity to build a meaningful connection and rapport with the customer.
  • It Doesn’t Address the Customer’s Needs: The customer doesn’t care about you or your company – they care about how you can solve their problems or improve their situation. By not addressing their needs upfront, you’re failing to demonstrate the value you can provide.
  • It’s Boring and Forgettable: Let’s face it – most people don’t find it interesting to listen to someone drone on about themselves and their company. This approach is unlikely to capture the customer’s attention or leave a lasting impression.
Ultimately, the customer should be the focus of the sales conversation, not you. When you make it all about you, you’re missing a critical opportunity to connect with the customer, understand their needs, and position your offering as the ideal solution.

Putting the Customer First

The key to avoiding this common sales mistake is to flip the script and make the customer the center of attention from the very beginning. Here’s how you can do that:

Start by Asking Questions

Rather than launching into a monologue about your company or product, start the conversation by asking the customer questions. This accomplishes a few important things:
  • It shows you’re interested in them: By asking questions, you demonstrate that you care about the customer’s needs, challenges, and goals.
  • It helps you gather important information: The questions you ask will give you valuable insights into the customer’s situation, which you can then use to tailor your pitch and positioning.
  • It engages the customer: Most people enjoy talking about themselves and their problems. By giving them the opportunity to do so, you’re more likely to capture their attention and keep them engaged.
Some examples of effective opening questions include:
  • “What are the biggest challenges you’re facing in your business right now?”
  • “What are your primary goals for the next 6-12 months?”
  • “How does your current
    solution work for you?”
  • “What’s been your experience with [similar products/services] in the past?”
The key is to ask open-ended questions that encourage the customer to share information, rather than yes/no questions that shut down the conversation.

Demonstrate Understanding

Once you’ve gathered some information about the customer’s needs and challenges, the next step is to demonstrate that you’ve been listening and that you understand their situation. This could involve summarizing what they’ve told you, highlighting specific pain points they’ve mentioned, or drawing connections between their goals and how your offering can help. The goal here is to show the customer that you’re not just waiting for your turn to talk, but that you’re actively engaged in understanding their unique circumstances. This builds trust and rapport, and positions you as a consultative partner rather than just a salesperson. For example, you might say something like: “It sounds like one of your biggest challenges right now is keeping up with the rapid growth of your business. You mentioned that your current
solution is struggling to scale, and that’s causing delays and frustration for your team. Is that an accurate understanding of where you’re at?”

Tie it Back to Your Offering

Once you’ve established a solid foundation of understanding, you can then transition the conversation to how your product or service can help address the customer’s specific needs and challenges. The key here is to avoid jumping straight into a pitch or product demo. Instead, continue to keep the focus on the customer by explaining how your offering can provide value in the context of their situation. This could involve:
  • Highlighting specific features or capabilities that directly address their pain points
  • Sharing case studies or success stories of how other customers in a similar position have benefited
  • Outlining the measurable impact your solution can have on their business objectives
The goal is to demonstrate that your offering is the ideal solution, not because of its features or your company, but because of how it can tangibly improve the customer’s situation. This customer-centric approach is much more effective than leading with a generic pitch.

Putting it All Together

By following this approach, you can avoid the common sales mistake of talking about yourself first and instead put the customer at the center of the conversation. Here’s what the flow might look like:
  • Open with Questions: Start by asking the customer open-ended questions to understand their needs, challenges, and goals.
  • Demonstrate Understanding: Summarize what you’ve learned about the customer’s situation to show you’ve been listening and that you grasp the key issues they’re facing.
  • Tie it Back to Your Offering: Explain how your product or service can specifically address the customer’s pain points and help them achieve their objectives.
This customer-centric approach accomplishes several important things:
  • It builds rapport and trust by showing the customer you’re genuinely interested in them
  • It allows you to gather valuable insights that you can use to tailor your pitch
  • It positions you as a consultative partner rather than just a salesperson
  • It increases the customer’s receptiveness to your offering by demonstrating its direct relevance and value
Ultimately, this sales approach is more effective because it puts the customer first. By avoiding the temptation to talk about yourself upfront, you’re much more likely to capture the customer’s attention, engage them in a meaningful dialogue, and position your offering as the ideal solution.
Michael Humblet

Michael Humblet

Michael Humblet is obsessed with designing, building, training and scaling sales machines and founder of  Chaomatic and School of Sales , focused on accelerating revenue growth. Michael is the author of Nobody Knows You. The book that explains how to fix the most basic issue to scale your growth. He is also the host of The Sales Acceleration Show, a sales and marketing focused Q&A show on how to accelerate your business.