What are the most common mistakes when selling out internally and how to avoid them?

An internal sale is an excellent opportunity for companies to get rid of products that cannot be sold any other way. However, this process is not without the possibility of mistakes. In this article, you will find out what are the most common mistakes when selling internally and how to avoid them. 

• Internal selling in a company – when is it necessary?
• The 4 most common mistakes when selling internally
• Mistakes when selling internally – how to avoid them?

Explore what mistakes to avoid so that your sale goes quickly, smoothly and brings maximum benefit.

Internal sale in a company – when is it necessary?

An internal sale in a company is a way to create a special sales opportunity for employees or close contractors. It is especially often used when it is necessary to get rid of equipment that is no longer needed, such as electronics or other depreciated fixed assets. 

In such a case, the company usually decides to give the items away at a promotional, lower price to its employees. Instead of throwing away the equipment or giving it away to appropriate companies at cost, it is a good idea to opt for an employee sale, which generates additional revenue for the company, and at the same time influences employee satisfaction.

An in-company sale is also an excellent way to get rid of end-of-collection or slightly damaged items that do not represent consumer value, but are still functional or need minor adjustments. Employees can then get the items at a lower price, and the company frees up storage space and generates additional revenue.

The 4 most common mistakes when selling internally

Creating an in-company sale can be quite an effort on the organizational side. In the following article, you will learn about the most common mistakes that affect the failure of an inside sale. 

#1 Miscommunication

Without communicating about the opportunity to purchase equipment to all potential interested parties, your offer will not reach the audience – it may happen that some employees, such as those who perform their duties remotely, will not know about the sale organized at the company.

Another problematic element of communication is providing information about all the items included in the sale. Even if you create a list of items, the number of people interested in buying them may surprise you – if every potential buyer asks a detailed question about the product and asks for a technical description, you won’t be able to respond efficiently to all inquiries.

#2 Unspecified time frame

If you don’t specify a time frame for a special offer, you inform employees of an in-company sale and wait. Employees report at different intervals, some immediately, others after a few days, and still others inquire about the possibility of buying equipment several months after the sale is announced.

Determining the timeframe of a special opportunity motivates people to make a decision within the chosen timeframe. An additional factor influencing faster responses from potential buyers is the knowledge that the product is in wider demand.

#3 Internal sale without product catalog

An accurate, clear product catalog is a guarantee of a smooth sale.

When organizing an inside sale in without first cataloging the products, you are doomed to organizational chaos. Without defining a list of available equipment, along with photos and descriptions, you are unable to control the sale of more items at once.

Without a catalog of available products, you don’t have the ability to control the progress of the sale and provide your employees with a specific database of items with photos and technical descriptions. 

#4 Stationary form of sales

The success of a sale is affected by its form. If you only offer a stationary opportunity to purchase an item, through real contact with the employee responsible for the sale, you not only reduce the effectiveness of the sale over time, but also reduce the potential audience of your offer.

Remote employees do not get the opportunity to actively participate in the sale, and even if they can reserve an item – your offer is not fair, priority purchase is given to the person who reports first, in the case of a stationary sale in the office.

Mistakes at an internal sale – how to avoid them?

When organizing an internal sale in your company, pay attention to:

• Make information about the sale available to o all interested parties 

Ensure clear and transparent communication: it is best if you choose an electronic form of communication, so you can be sure that every interested person will be informed about the planned sale.

• Create a list of items with their descriptions

Gather all the items you want to include in your special offer, and create a catalog in which you include their names, photos and descriptions along with their prices. This way you will organize the entire sale process and be able to present one clear offer to all interested parties.

• Set a timeframe for your offer

If you decide to hold a sale, choose a start and end date for the event. This way you will motivate participants to attend the sale and make them make decisions to purchase items faster.

• Create an offer on a fair basis

Remember about remote employees – implementing an online item reservation system will make it possible for every person to join the sale on an equal basis.

A specialized tool for in-company sales, SilentClicks, will help you prepare an efficient and effective internal sale. It’s designed to streamline the sale processes with an emphasis on simple communication, easy auction flow and maximizing profits for the company.

Fast and effective sale with SilentClicks

SilentClicks is a tool with which you can easily create sales of a product in your company. SilentClicks is based on intuitive operation, thanks to which you can use auctions in three sales structures to choose from: Buy Now, English auction and Increment offer.

The bidding that you will run via SilentClicks will affect the dynamics of the sales process. Interested parties by participating in the auction can raise the price of the product, which will increase the profit from the sale.

The specialized tool for in-company sales, SilentClicks, is dedicated to creating closed auctions online. Thanks to that, your sales zone is only available to the participant’s invited via e-mail.

Within SilentClicks you create offers, using intuitive forms: you enter the required information, such as the name of the item, the number of items available and the minimum price (or predetermined price in the case of Buy Now auctions). You can attach a technical description and photos.

Each offer lasts for a predetermined time, but bidding auctions can be automatically extended with each price offer. Thanks to this, you take advantage of the opportunity to increase your profit to the maximum – each auction participant gets enough time to react and decide to raise the price offer.

It is worth knowing that SilentClicks doesn’t charge commission on the sale of products, and all profit goes to the benefit of the company. Therefore, you not only create effective, well-organized and convenient auctions for participants, but also generate additional, maximum income from the sale of items.

Key Takeaways: How to avoid internal sales mistakes?

The specialized tool for in-company sales, SilentClicks, is a solution that meets all the needs related to running an effective sale in your company:

• allows you to quickly create a product catalog
• allows you to create closed auctions and invite participants by e-mail
• engages sale participants to actively bid on items
• contributes to maximizing profits
• creates an offer on equal terms, available to every employee
• favors sales dynamics
• allows participating in the auction from anywhere, via any device with Internet access

Thanks to SilentClicks, you can easily organize an internal sale in your company and free up warehouse space in the most effective and quick way.