A vital key to sales success is listening. The ability to listen well is absolutely indispensable for success in all human relationships and is probably the single most important skill for today's selling professional.
Most people believe that to be good in sales, you have got to be a good talker. You often hear people say, "You have the gift of gab; you should be in sales!" Nothing could be further from the truth. As many as 75 percent of top sales people are defined as introverts on psychological tests. They would much rather listen than talk in a sales situation. Poor salespeople dominate the talking, but top salespeople dominate the listening.
Sales Superstars practice the 70/30 rule. They talk and ask questions 30 percent of the time and then listen intently to their customers 70 percent of the time.
Sales expert Brian Tracy calls listening "white magic." His research demonstrates that listening exerts an almost magical effect on human relationships. It causes people to relax and open up.
Top salespeople know that people don't care what they know until they know how much they care. They know the quickest way to show that you care is by listening.
There are tons of books, audiotapes, and video courses all teaching listening skills. While most are worthwhile, the single most important principle to becoming a more effective listener is simply to employ a technique called The Golden Silence.
The Golden Silence is at the core of a dialogue style that has longer pauses between questions and answers than other styles. It's not a gimmick. It's a universally reliable technique for creating excellent communication.
The Golden Silence, unfortunately, is not used often enough by salespeople. According to the Purchasing Managers Association of America's annual survey, year after year, the biggest single complaint of professional purchasers is that salespeople talk too much and listen too little.
Most salespeople, when they take time to ask questions at all, seem less interested in listening to the response than in getting on with the other questions they want to ask. This often creates "question shock," when too many questions are fired at the customer in a Sam Donaldson staccato. The buyer gets confused by so many questions and feels like they are being interrogated. This leads to the customer closing up, which in turn shuts down their interest in buying the product or service.
The Golden Silence solves the question shock problem and leads to excellent communication. To use The Golden Silence, you, the salesperson, simply pause for three-four seconds at two key places in the dialog process—after you ask a question and after your customer responds. Introducing these two pauses into your sales call questioning process will dramatically—and immediately—improve the quality and quantity of the information you receive.
The reason is simple. When you practice The Golden Silence after you ask a question, it gives the customer much more time to reflect and respond with solid information. By pausing after they respond, you are giving yourself a greater chance of really understanding what they said. Additionally, by pausing after they respond, the customer will often go on and elaborate further.
The Golden Silence will seem uncomfortable at first. It may give you some 'nerves' when there is so much silence, but the payoffs after you get used to employing it are enormous. If you practice it for even a short time, it will become second nature, and you will become a more effective communicator with whomever you are conversing.
The Golden Silence may not be a magic wand, but it generates more positive information than any other single listening skill or technique I've seen. Silence may not be golden in and of itself, but it's as good as gold because of the improved information it brings you. Start using The Golden Silence and watch the effectiveness of your communications skyrocket.
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George Ludwig is a recognized
authority on sales strategy and
peak performance psychology. An
international speaker, trainer, and
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Mutual, CIGNA, and numerous others
improve sales force effectiveness
and performance.
Though it's George's strategies and
processes that help corporations
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performance, it's his tremendous
energy and dynamism that spark the
transformation. Again and again,
clients remark on his amazing
ability to unleash human capacity
and inspire men and women to break
out of their comfort zones. The
result is a whole new type of
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His customized presentations teach
achievers to make stunning advances
in their lives. From helping
salespeople realize cherished
dreams to helping corporations
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empowered, emboldened, and
clamoring for more.
George is the best-selling author
of Power Selling: Seven Strategies
for Cracking the Sales Code and
Wise Moves: 60 Quick Tips to
Improve Your Position in Life &
Business.
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