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Listening Pays !!!

Written by: Craig Arnoff

Article Overview: In a typical 60-minute sales call, a salesperson spends 30 minutes talking about products or services, 9 minutes asking questions ,and 12 minutes letting the customer speak. Clearly, not enough time is spent asking questions and listening to customers - the only way salespeople can learn what it will take to quickly close the sale.

Listening Pays !!!

To produce exceptional sales results, salespeople must be effective communicators. However, salespeople tend to do more talking than listening. In a typical 60-minute sales call, a salesperson spends 30 minutes talking about products or services, 9 minutes asking questions ,and 12 minutes letting the customer speak. Clearly, not enough time is spent asking questions and listening to customers - the only way salespeople can learn what it will take to quickly close the sale.

So, how can you improve your sales results?

Listen to Understand, not Reply - Give your prospects and customers time to express their needs priorities and desires. Avoid interrupting or suggesting solutions until you hear them out.

Make Eye Contact - If you are taking notes during the sales call, glance up at customers frequently to show them you are interested in what they have to say.

Repeat Important Points - Summarize key points to insure you have understood them correctly and to show them how well you listened.

Listen Actively - To process everything customers say, keep your brain engaged. Think about how their needs match your product.

Ask Open Questions - Open questions, which elicit more than just a "yes" or "no" answer, encourage your customers to give you more information.
Listening is the key to sales success.
[top]

Remember, you have two ears and one mouth -
so use them in that ratio!

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Re: Ideas on Using Twitter for Business - [quote="evieparsons":2o69rd2a]1. Build an account and immediate start using Twitter Search to listen for your name, your competitor's names, words that relate to your space. (Listening always comes first.) 2. Add a picture. ( Shel reminds us of this.) We want to see you. 3. Talk to people about THEIR interests, too. I know this doesn't sell more widgets, but it shows us you are human. 4. Point out interesting things in your space, not just about you. 5. Share links to neat things in your community. ( wholefoods does this well). 6. Don't get stuck in the apology loop. Be helpful instead. ( jetblue gives travel tips.) 7. Be wary of always pimping your stuff. Your fans will love it. Others will tune out. 8. Promote your employees outside-of-work stories. ( TheHomeDepot does it well.) 9. Throw in a few humans, like RichardAtDELL, LionelAtDELL, etc. 10. Talk about non-business,[/quote:2o69rd2a] Hey thanks for these tips. Basically, help others in your market out and build relationships with people. Be someone who gives, not takes. I'll keep them in mind if I go back to social media marketing. I'm currently in the SEO phase of my business.


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