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Master The Art Of Listening
Written by: Meridith Elliott PowellArticle Overview: Listening is one of the most valuable skills in effective sales calling. If you listen, if you ask could questions and truly hear your prospects response, they will tell you when, how and why they would buy your product or service. Master the art of listening and you'll turn more prospects into clients!
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Master The Art Of Listening
I learn a lot from the groups
on Linked In, and I enjoy hearing the ideas and opinions of my fellow
professionals. Recently, I got involved in a discussion entitled "What do
you feel is the most important part of a sales call?" In other words
what is the one part, the one thing that either makes a call successful or not
successful. It was a huge discussion, so many professionals weighed in. There
was debate about how to open a sales call, debate on how to close the sales
call and debate on whether it is the client saying yes. Good information, but
kind of a silly discussion really. I mean is one part really good without the
others? Is one part really more important than the others?
However, as I sat and thought about it, the idea of listening kept coming to my
mind. Now, I am going to stop short of saying that listening is the most
important part of a sales call, but without it you will miss opportunities and
miss the advice of your client on when, how and why they want to buy.
You know you are on a good sales call when the client is doing most of the
talking based on the great questions that you asked. In fact, a great sales
call should be you talking just 20-percent of the time and the client talking
80-percent of the time. Talking, again, based on the great questions that you
asked. If you ask great questions and listen, the prospect will provide you
with a stream of ideas, clues and opportunities to sell your product or
service. People don't want you to tell them what they want, they want you to
share their story and have you respond with ideas and opportunities on how you
can benefit them.
So how do you become a great listener? How do you know you are a great
listener? How do you convey to the client you are really listening and hearing
what they are saying?
- Know your communication style. Great listening is one critical part of communication. You need to understand your strengths, weaknesses and what specifically you need to work on based on your natural style.
- Learn from others what to and not to do. This is my favorite piece of advice. Spend one whole day watching people that you interact with and observe whether they are listening to you. You will learn more from this process of how to be a great listener, what to and not to do, then any advice I can give you.
- Engage your whole body. Make eye contact with the prospect, and use facial expressions as they talk. If they say something amusing smile, if they are conveying serious information look intense, if they are saying something you agree with nod your head. Engaging more than just your ears will help you pay attention as well as let the prospect know you are paying attention.
- If you struggle to stay focused (and many of you will based on your natural communication style) take notes and agree verbally with the prospect saying yes or I understand. Doing little things to add a little activity to the listening process.
- Practice! Oh I know we hate to practice, but if you do your listening skills will improve. Spend ten minutes talking with a member of your family, a friend or your children and just listen. Then, when they are finished, attempt to repeat what you believe you heard. It is fun, and again you'll get better at listening and they will feel more valued and cared about.
- Lastly, do not interrupt. This one is hard for me as I get excited and want to jump in. Nothing is more distracting for the prospect than being interrupted. No matter how great your advice, information or ideas are, if you interrupt the prospect you have clearly stated you do not value what they are saying.
The funny thing about listening is as important as it is, we are never taught to do it. If you want to make selling easy and fun then learn to listen. If you want to turn your prospects into clients then learn to listen.
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Article Tags: active listening, business sales calls, business strategy, close more sales, sales call strategy, sales calls
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About the Author: Meridith Elliott Powell RSS for Meridith's articles - Visit Meridith's website  Click here to visit Meridith's website   Are You Giving Customer Reasons Not To Do Business With You 4 Must Know Strategies To Thrive In Any Economy Competitive Advantage Not What You Sell How You Sell It Team Building 5 Tips to Get Everyone On The Bus Beat The Economy By Building Relationships |
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