If you are in sales and you just keep on talking instead of listening, you’re a DEAD MAN! Well, not literally, I hope. But as far as getting that sale, you might as well be walking among the non-living because chances are you won’t win over that client. They say that if you cross Selling with Talking, you get Stalking. So let’s not stalk our customers. Your goal should be to ask the right questions in order to get the prospect to talk as much as possible. The more they’re talking, the more you’re learning – learning about their needs, pains, requirements, and what it is that you might be able to help them with.
Listening is not something that comes natural for many people since it is human nature to prefer talking. And when people talk, their favorite topic is…you guessed it… THEMSELVES! People love talking about themselves. If you don’t believe that, try this little game next time you’re on a cross-country flight. Try asking the person sitting next to you open-ended questions such as, “What kind of work are you in?” and “What made you decide to go into that field” and “What sort of challenges do you find are most common in the work you do?” Watch how quickly they jump all over those questions. Why? Because they get to talk about their favorite subject – Themselves. I used to do this when I flew cross-country for a couple of years and would actually say nearly nothing the entire 5-hour flight, while my seating companion blabbered on the entire trip. It’s fun to do this, albeit rather trying on the nerves. But it is an excellent example of my point, not to mention excellent practice to help improve your listening skills.
So why is listening so important? Well, for one, we already mentioned that people prefer talking to listening. So, as a sales person you are actually letting them do what they want to do the most. Second, listening builds trust by showing you have respect for them. Also, listening compliments people by showing that you care. These are all reasons for listening that benefit the talker, or your prospective client. But what about you — the sales person. How can listening help you?
The secret to getting your prospect to tell you everything is to simply listen. Acquiring the skill of good listening will increase the amount of money you earn, period…end of story. As I mentioned earlier, you have to ask the right kinds of questions first in order to get them to talk to begin with. Ask open-ended question, or questions that don’t require a simple yes or no response. Open-ended questions typically begin with the words Who, What, When, Where, Why and How. Build more questions based on the responses you receive from your previous questions. Ask questions about their company, their customers, their plans, what sort of challenges they are experiencing, what they did in the past to try to resolve those problems, and more. Get them to open up, then shut up and listen. You will gather very valuable information that will help you to better qualify your prospects and make the sale by getting them to purchase the exact solution to the problems they just described. But how do you listen?
A very good listening technique is called “Active Listening”. Active listening involves a bit of body language and verbal queues. When they are speaking, respond to certain points or topics with comments such as, “Really!”, “No kidding!”, “Wow!”, “What happened then?”, or “Tell me more.” This creates an interaction, but without you having to actually say anything. It also shows that you’re paying attention and interested. Also, listen with your body. Lean forward and toward the client to show you are interested. Never slouch or sit back looking too relaxed, else it will appear that you are bored and disinterested. Take notes. Even if they are not very meaningful or helpful to you later, taking notes shows that you are interested enough to log parts of the dialog for future reference.
Practice this at home. No, I don’t mean talk to yourself in the mirror and wait for an answer. I mean try this out on your family and friends. Try these same techniques on them and two things will happen. First, you will hone your skills for when you are in a selling situation, and we now know how that will help you. Second, your family and friends will realize that you really care and may actually say, “Wow, you are such a good conversationalist.” when ironically, you were just being a good listener. So don’t be a “dead man” (or woman) – Be a good listener and watch your sales increase.
Russ Lombardo is President of PEAK Sales Consulting, LLC and an experienced CRM and Sales consultant, trainer, writer, speaker and radio show host. Russ works with businesses to help improve their customer acquisition and retention for increased revenue and success. Russ is author of the books, “CyberSelling”, “CRM For The Common Man” and “Smart Marketing”. He can be reached at 702-655-5652 and emailed at russ@peaksalesconsulting.com.
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