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Any number of factors can result in a lost sale, but often it’s just a basic selling mistake. Even the most seasoned executives make blunders in the sales process that are easily correctible. Before you lose more business, Jim Lewis, CEO of Princeton Sales Partners and author of Five Deadly Sins CEOs Make in Sales, recommends that you keep in mind these five selling sins:

1. Let me tell you about me. When making a presentation, it’s natural to want to tell a potential buyer about you, your company, and your offerings — the so-called “triad of self promotion.” However, it’s more important to show prospects that you have a genuine interest in their company, their customers, and their business challenges. These insights will provide you with a far better perspective of how you can help customers — the first step to becoming a trusted adviser.

2. Proposal black holes. Many businesspeople think proposals sell. Worse, they believe constant follow-up is the same thing as selling. The truth is, once a prospect has received a proposal, he or she doesn’t need the seller — the buyer has already concluded that either you understand his or her needs best or someone else does. The purpose of the proposal is to provide a summary of all your discussions. There shouldn’t be any surprises.

3. Process? What process? Most sellers don’t have a structured approach to finding, nurturing, and closing business — they simply wing it. Perhaps the most critical part of any good, repeatable sales process is the follow-up letter, which requires discipline. First, it must accurately represent what was said in your initial conversation with a buyer, not what you would have liked to say. Next, avoid selling in the document, or the buyer will dismiss it. Alternately, if you accurately document the buyer’s situation and the challenges he or she faces, your stature as a trusted adviser will increase.

4. Automating garbage. So-called sales dashboards that are available in most CRM or sales force automation products give the dangerous illusion that the business is under control. Here’s a test: pick three opportunities that are being tracked in your sales tracking system. Then ask yourself if the stage that describes the opportunity is based on customer behavior or a salesperson’s opinion. Are the stages graded the same way for all salespeople and all opportunities? Asking yourself these questions will help ensure that you are tracking sales progress, not merely sales activity.

5. Asking “farmers” to hunt. The selling process is much like hunting and farming. You need strategies and tactics in place to hunt for buyers and also to tend to current customers. Apply the sales prospecting techniques that are best suited to the salesperson’s goals and skills. In other words, don’t hire hunters to farm and farmers to hunt. Otherwise, you will be disappointed and probably go hungry.