Productive/Engaged salespeople are always more successful, have a tendency to stay longer and they attract more people like them to join the organization.  For more than four decades I have had the opportunity to observe salespeople…good ones/bad ones, young/old, new to the industry/veterans in the industry, product salespeople/services salespeople, B2B/B2C and many more.

Here is my list of the top 15 productivity killers for salespeople:

1. They spend too much time in the office
   • Attempting to sell by phone, email and/or text
2. They don’t create success plans or establish activity levels needed to be successful
3. Selling to everyone the same way
   • Millennials, Gen Xers and Baby Boomers all buy differently
4. Poor time management/Not showing up on time
5. Lack of professional/timely follow-up
6. Focusing on what they sell versus what their prospects buy/need
7. Calling too low in an organization
   • Selling to end-users versus decision makers
8. Inability/Unwillingness to change
9. Badmouthing the competition
10. Discounting price early and often
11. Selling features or functionality versus value to be gained
12. Death by demo
    • Demo should be the final step needed to close…not the first
13. Being unprepared
14. Not leveraging technology
15. Not creating scripts/templates

Naturally, the best salespeople do the exact opposite of these 15 behaviors!