Starting out as a salesman can be a very exciting period and one will be full of enthusiasm, and you’ll be itching to secure that first all important sale. One can be over confident or very nervous. Either way it can lead to sales mistakes. New sales people are prone to making sales mistakes. There is nothing to worry about and few bosses will expect perfection on the first day on the job.

However, knowing in advance some of the more common sales mistakes will help the new sales representative have a more pleasant and satisfying first day out on the job.

Below are 3 sales mistakes to avoid on your first day of sales:

1. One of the biggest sales mistakes is telling prospects you’re new on the job. It may be a tempting and natural thing to say when introducing yourself to a client for the first time. However, it doesn’t make it the right thing to do. Telling a client you’re new immediately puts you at a disadvantage and leaves you in a vulnerable position. It is important to come across as confident as possible and to appear to know your products inside and out.

2. It is a sales mistake to try to force a sale too quickly, take your time. The temptation is to impress the boss with a long list of sales. It is not likely to happen on your first day. It is important to size up the sales potential and to take notes. An early sales mistake is to stick to a rigid schedule until you get a feel for the job. Take the first day easy don’t expect too much it will be difficult to know quite where to start and how to begin. Choose the easiest jobs first to get a feel for the task and to get your feet wet.

3. A common sales mistake on the first day is to spend too much time with each prospect. It is important to get the balance right. You want to make the prospect to feel at ease and you’ll be eager to impress. Yes it is good to develop a rapport with new clients, but it is as equally important to spread your day to get the required number of calls in. Too few calls mean too few sales. Use your first day as a chance to develop a loose schedule for coming days.

The first day as a sales representative isn’t easy and you will make sales mistakes. You’ll be full of mixed emotions. You’ll want to get out there make lots of sales to impress the boss. You may be feeling nervous not knowing when it is right to try and close a sale. None of these things are of paramount importance on the first day. One should see the first day as a chance to get to know the products you’re selling and to know what to expect from the prospect.

The first day is a learning curve, a chance to test a customer or two, and to figure out a schedule so you can plan future working days to their best advantage. If you do make lots of sales on the first day then you to be congratulated but it isn’t the most important thing, the most important thing of all is to feel comfortable in the job and to learn as much as you can. If you’re lucky enough to go out on the first day with an experienced rep, watch and learn from everything he does, as he has had time and experience to get things right.