How You're Unknowingly Increasing Sales Risk

Selling is risky. You may not consciously think "risk management" when selling, but you almost certainly are managing risk. Many firms, however, face a double whammy: not only is their unconscious approach too risk-averse, but it actually results in higher risk. Here's how to avoid both horns of the dilemma.

Identifying Sales Risks

Make a list of the risks you face in selling. I'll bet it looks a lot like the following:

• Appearing unqualified
• Appearing to not understand the business
• Appearing to make inappropriate assumptions
• Appearing unprepared
• Price too high
• Not being understood by the client
• Being cut out of the process too early
• Not having the whole picture

It's easy to see how those risks, left unaddressed, can be fatal to a sale.

Mitigating Risk: The Usual Approaches

The movie Casablanca has the most quotes in Great Quotes in the Movies list of Top 100. One is Captain Renault's "Round up the usual suspects." In the case of sales risks, the "usual suspects" are the behaviors that increase the odds of incurring the risks from the list above.

• Stupid statements:
  For many firms, number one on the list of "usual suspects" is opening your mouth and saying something stupid. Saying something stupid is every professional's chronic, low-grade, neurotic fear. It can make you appear unqualified, uneducated, unprepared, and that you're making inappropriate assumptions.