The stereotypical salesperson talks all the time. If that’s how you sell, you’re missing out on significant opportunities.
Throughout the sales cycle, prospects will drop clues as to what they’re thinking and how they’re feeling about you and your products or services. In other words, they’re telling you what they like and dislike and what’s important to them. This is precisely the information you need to close the sale, and they’re giving it to you! So if you don’t pay attention, you’ll have to work a lot harder to make the sale.
Active listening is an ideal technique for salespeople. In essence, it involves listening to a person, understanding what they’re saying, and responding with a brief summary of what they’ve just said. Using active listening with a prospect accomplishes two things. First, you will fully understand what the prospect has told you and you can use those clues to successfully close the sale. Second, you’ll be demonstrating respect for your prospect, which gives you a huge boost in the rapport-building department.
Few people (and fewer salespeople) are naturally good listeners. It will probably take significant time and effort on your part to break the bad listening habits you’ve developed. Once you do so, you’ll find the rewards are equally significant.
One of the most common barriers to good listening occurs when you hear something interesting and immediately start framing a reply or planning what you’ll do about what you’ve just heard. Of course, while you’re thinking about what the other person has said, you’re now tuning out the rest of what they’re saying. One trick to keep your mind on the speaker is to mentally echo what they’re saying as they say it.
When someone else is speaking, try to listen with your eyes as well as your ears. Body language is as important to conveying meaning as spoken language, so if you listen but don’t look you’ll miss half the message. Eye contact also lets the speaker know that you’re paying attention.
Once the speaker has finished talking, briefly summarize what they’ve said. For example, you might say “It sounds like you are happy with your current model, except that you wish it was a little smaller.” That shows the speaker that you were listening, and also gives them a chance to correct any misunderstandings right away. Summarizing the speaker’s meaning will also tend to draw out more details (“Yes, and I’d also like it in red…”) that can help you tailor your pitch more effectively.
Finally, if you have questions or comments try to present them in a non-confrontational way. For example, if a prospect says “I don’t see why you can’t deliver by Tuesday – that’s a whole week away!” you might say something like, “I know that not getting the delivery right away is frustrating, but we have a strict quality control and inspection process that we follow to make sure that you get top-quality equipment.”
By Wendy Connick
sales.about.com
Throughout the sales cycle, prospects will drop clues as to what they’re thinking and how they’re feeling about you and your products or services. In other words, they’re telling you what they like and dislike and what’s important to them. This is precisely the information you need to close the sale, and they’re giving it to you! So if you don’t pay attention, you’ll have to work a lot harder to make the sale.
Active listening is an ideal technique for salespeople. In essence, it involves listening to a person, understanding what they’re saying, and responding with a brief summary of what they’ve just said. Using active listening with a prospect accomplishes two things. First, you will fully understand what the prospect has told you and you can use those clues to successfully close the sale. Second, you’ll be demonstrating respect for your prospect, which gives you a huge boost in the rapport-building department.
Few people (and fewer salespeople) are naturally good listeners. It will probably take significant time and effort on your part to break the bad listening habits you’ve developed. Once you do so, you’ll find the rewards are equally significant.
One of the most common barriers to good listening occurs when you hear something interesting and immediately start framing a reply or planning what you’ll do about what you’ve just heard. Of course, while you’re thinking about what the other person has said, you’re now tuning out the rest of what they’re saying. One trick to keep your mind on the speaker is to mentally echo what they’re saying as they say it.
When someone else is speaking, try to listen with your eyes as well as your ears. Body language is as important to conveying meaning as spoken language, so if you listen but don’t look you’ll miss half the message. Eye contact also lets the speaker know that you’re paying attention.
Once the speaker has finished talking, briefly summarize what they’ve said. For example, you might say “It sounds like you are happy with your current model, except that you wish it was a little smaller.” That shows the speaker that you were listening, and also gives them a chance to correct any misunderstandings right away. Summarizing the speaker’s meaning will also tend to draw out more details (“Yes, and I’d also like it in red…”) that can help you tailor your pitch more effectively.
Finally, if you have questions or comments try to present them in a non-confrontational way. For example, if a prospect says “I don’t see why you can’t deliver by Tuesday – that’s a whole week away!” you might say something like, “I know that not getting the delivery right away is frustrating, but we have a strict quality control and inspection process that we follow to make sure that you get top-quality equipment.”
By Wendy Connick
sales.about.com
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