3 Mistakes MOST Sales Teams Make On Calls

Speaking to a CEO the other day they mentioned a disappointing call that they had with a sales rep, and I must admit it shocked me.

They'd taken a call with the sales rep from a large B2B SaaS brand who was going to pitch a high-end product.

The CEO logged into Zoom for the initial prospecting call...

Then the sales rep logged in.

The camera switched on...

The CEO was shocked...

Expecting a professional to be logging into the call, what they saw suggested the opposite.

The sales rep was wearing a sports branded hoodie, scruffy look, had a blurry camera and was sat in their kitchen.

Wait, what's wrong with taking calls in your kitchen? What if you have no where better to go?

As true as that is, what made this worse was the stack of dirty dishes very visible behind them.

To make matters worse, the sales rep had done zero research, knew nothing about the prospect, and was not prepared in any way for the call.

Look, it's 2025.

We've been making video calls in sales for a long time now, the standards need to be raised. I see this on a daily basis, salespeople with poor video setups.

Today I want to share the 3 BIGGEST mistakes salespeople make on calls and what you can do (without having to spend a lot of money) to seriously improve them.

Let's go:

1) Sales Reps Often Don't Do Enough RESEARCH.

I have one simple rule for researching prospects prior to calls:

The amount of time you spend researching a prospect should be proportional to the potential value of the sale.

If you working on what you think could be a big opportunity, do as much research as you can. If it's a smaller opportunity, don't waste too much time.

It can be anything from 5 minutes research to 30 minutes and should include:

• Researching their LinkedIn profile and activity.
• Researching their website and media.
• Researching them with AI.
• Researching their senior leaders.

2) Sales Reps Have POOR Video Setups For Calls.

Now I'm not suggesting you need some sort of TV studio setup here, but we have to establish a better standard than a laptop on a desk.

Salespeople should have a decent clear camera, a separate light, a microphone if needed, and a specific space to be on video calls. If you're working from home try to find somewhere that has a plain or nice background. If you're in the office try to find somewhere with minimal movements and noise.

You've then also got the detail of what you wear. I know a lot of salespeople dress casual, whether working from home or in the office. The key thing to remember is you should dress the way you would dress if you were meeting the prospect in person.

Either way this needs to have a set standard, which starts from the top. Leaders should be supporting their teams with this.

It's not expensive either, and I'd encourage every company to consider supplying key components:

• USB plug in light (not expensive, here's an example)
• USB camera/webcam (here's an example)
• Green screen if you don't have a suitable space or background (not expensive, here's an example)

3) Sales Reps NOT Using A Transcription Tool.

Before using a transcription tool I would spend a lot of time hand writing notes, which took away my attention and took me away from being fully immersed in the call.

Then a year ago I got introduced to Otter.ai .

Their AI transcription tool transcribes the ENTIRE call, then at the end it summarises it for you, sets all tasks and action points and gives you sales insights as well.

Now I can fully 100% focus on every prospect and customer call.

This has helped me increase success rates by over 45% and is helping me build stronger relationships with customers.

The best bit is you can actually start using it completely free. Give it a try here and see for yourself.

I also shared a 2-minute video with these tips this week if you want to check it out:

There you go!

Hopefully these will help you level up your sales call game. I'd love to know are you doing all 3 of these at the moment? Or is there anything you would add to this list?

Let me know in the comments!

Did we mention that you can get started with Otter.ai for free?

Their basic account is completely free, you only need to pay when you want more.

• It transcribes all of your Teams, Zoom and Google Meet calls.
• You can use it for in-person conversations as well via the app.
• The AI Pilot provides coaching, summaries and follow up emails.

Why not give it a try for free today and see for yourself just how incredible it is?