Selling: Good Habits Open More Doors
April 4, 2025
PLAY TO WIN: Breaking Bad Habits That Hold Sales Teams Back
In competitive markets, sales teams must do more than just play the game—they must play to win.
Yet, many organizations unknowingly develop bad habits that keep them stuck in a cycle of mediocrity, missed targets, and frustrated leadership.
Winning sales teams are disciplined, focused, and adaptable. They shed bad habits, refine their strategies, and execute with precision. Here are 10 common bad habits that prevent sales organizations from moving forward—and how to break them.
- Lack of a Clear Sales Process
🚫 Bad Habit: Some teams operate without a structured sales process, leading to inconsistency, lost deals, and inefficiency.
✅ Play to Win: Define a repeatable sales process with clear steps (prospecting, qualification, needs assessment, proposal, closing, follow-up). Train every rep to follow it and use data to refine it.
- Chasing Unqualified Leads
🚫 Bad Habit: Reps waste time on leads that will never convert, hoping for a miracle.
✅ Play to Win: Implement a lead qualification system based on criteria like budget, authority, need, and timeline (BANT). Focus on high-potential leads that align with your ideal customer profile.
- Talking More Than Listening
🚫 Bad Habit: Salespeople dominate conversations, pushing products instead of solving customer problems.
✅ Play to Win: Use active listening. Follow the 70/30 rule—listen 70% of the time, speak 30%. Ask open-ended questions to uncover real needs and position your solution effectively.
- Neglecting Follow-Ups
🚫 Bad Habit: Many deals are lost because sales reps don’t follow up, assuming disinterest after one or two touchpoints.
✅ Play to Win: Automate and personalize follow-ups. Use CRM reminders, email sequences, and phone check-ins. The average deal takes 5-7 touches to close—stay persistent.
- Fear of Asking for the Sale
🚫 Bad Habit: Sales reps hesitate, waiting for customers to make the first move instead of confidently closing the deal.
✅ Play to Win: Train reps on closing techniques like the assumptive close (“When would you like to start?”) and the urgency close (“This discount expires Friday—shall we lock it in?”).
- Over-Reliance on Discounts
🚫 Bad Habit: Instead of demonstrating value, sales teams rely on discounts to win deals, eroding margins and brand positioning.
✅ Play to Win: Focus on the ROI of your product or service. Highlight cost savings, efficiency gains, and competitive advantages. Only discount strategically, not as a default.
- Ignoring Data and Metrics
🚫 Bad Habit: Many sales teams fail to track and analyze performance, relying on gut instincts instead of data-driven decisions.
✅ Play to Win: Regularly review KPIs such as conversion rates, average deal size, and sales cycle length. Use data to optimize tactics and coaching.
- Lack of Accountability
🚫 Bad Habit: Sales teams with weak accountability allow underperformance to persist, dragging down results.
✅ Play to Win: Set clear expectations and hold regular pipeline reviews. Use performance dashboards and coaching to ensure every rep is contributing.
- Failure to Adapt to Market Changes
🚫 Bad Habit: Sticking to outdated sales tactics when buyer behavior and technology evolve.
✅ Play to Win: Stay ahead by continuously learning. Train your team on the latest sales methodologies, social selling strategies, and digital tools.
- Poor Team Collaboration
🚫 Bad Habit: Sales reps operate in silos, failing to collaborate with marketing, customer service, and each other.
✅ Play to Win: Foster cross-team collaboration. Align marketing and sales on lead generation strategies and ensure customer feedback informs future sales approaches.
Conclusion: Win or Be Left Behind
Sales is a high-stakes game, and only the best teams rise to the top. Breaking these 10 bad habits can mean the difference between stagnation and success. The best sales organizations don’t just show up to play—they show up to win.
Are you playing to win? Or are bad habits keeping you from closing the deal? Time to level up. 🚀
Paul Fioravanti, MBA, MPA, CTP, is the CEO & Managing Partner of QORVAL Partners, LLC, a FL-based advisory firm (founded 1996 by Jim Malone, six-time Fortune 100/500 CEO) Qorval is a US-based turnaround, restructuring, business optimization and interim management firm. Fioravanti is a proven turnaround CEO with experience in more than 90 situations in more than 40 industries. He earned his MBA and MPA from the University of Rhode Island and completed advanced post-master’s research in finance and marketing at Bryant University. He is a Certified Turnaround Professional and member of the Turnaround Management Association, the Private Directors Association, Association for Corporate Growth (ACG), Association of Merger & Acquisition Advisors (AM&MA), the American Bankruptcy Institute, and IMCUSA. Copyright 2025, Qorval Partners LLC and/or Paul Fioravanti, MBA, MPA, CTP. All rights reserved. No reproduction or redistribution without permission.
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