The Top 5 Reasons You Aren’t Closing Enough Sales Leads

If you have a lot of leads, but you're just not closing enough of them, there can be several reasons why your leads aren't closing, so the first thing you have to do is figure out why.

Here are the top 5 reasons why sales close rates are often so poor.

1. The Leads Are No Good

Whether your salespeople tell you or not (and they usually do), it could just be that the leads are no good. They may be stale, they may be weak, or they may not be qualified. If your leads aren't closing, though, you can't just look at what happened in the late stages of the sell cycle, you have to wind the clock back and see how they were generated. That's where the problem usually starts.

2. Poor Positioning

In this case, the leads are good, but your offering may not be aligned with the prospect's needs. Just as there may be many a slip between the lip and the cup, you may have been able to generate initial interest, but converting that to commitment and action could be being prevented by a bad fit that you don't know about.

3. Channel Issues

If you sell through independent reps or distributors, while unlikely, it may be that they aren't being compensated adequately to close your leads. More likely, though, is that they simply aren't paying attention. They could also be substituting on you. They may not be trained properly. Or they may just have other priorities. You will need to go into the belly of the beast to find out what's going on, and not going on - so you can fix it.

4. Sales Team Issues

There are dozens of skills needed for effective B2B sales, and dozens more ways a sale can fail. You will have to ride with your sales people, and find out what's going on - right from the horse's mouth, so to say.

5. Decision Issues

Sometimes the answer is hidden in the prospect's decision process. You will have to interview your prospects and find out why they didn't buy, and how you could have made it turn out better.

The bottom line is that B2B sales is a contact sport. So, you will often have to go out in the field and figure out what it's going to take to carry the ball over the goal line. So you can win every time.