Top Sales 3.0 Skill? Listening
Susan breaks up with Jack, a man her mother adored, and begins dating Mike. Every time her mother calls, she asks Susan about Jack, how is he doing, what is he doing, if she ever sees him, etc. One day, Susan becomes so annoyed, she finally says, “Mom, enough about Jack! It’s over! I’m dating Mike. Ask me something about Mike!” Her mother pauses and says, “So what does Mike think of Jack?”
Some salespeople do the same thing with their buyers as Susan’s Mom does with Susan. No matter what their buyers say, they respond on their own track and talk about their company and its benefits. Why? They’re excited about what they sell. They believe in it. And, they have a big quota. All well and good, but that enthusiasm, pride and motivation can seriously backfire.
In this market, there is tremendous pressure to produce revenues and results NOW. There is also pressure to build broad, long-term, partnerships with clients. The ideal would be to combine the two and be able to build those broad big revenue relationships NOW.
It would be easier to take out your own appendix.
It takes time for the latter sale, a lot more listening time to develop big business.
Why Listening?
For two reasons.
First, listening is a time-related issue. In this high-tech world, time is the overwhelming limited resource. If you skim over buyers’ real needs and expectations, you’re wasting their time (and yours) and irritating them in the process. So, listening is not just a nice-to-have skill; it is essential for being perceived as value-added in peoples’ busy lives.
Second, listening is a human nature thing. When people really listen to us, whether it’s our significant other, our doctor, or the guy selling us a new computer, we tend to feel cared about, important, and secure. Strong listening builds trust. Strong listening in selling elevates you to the level of expert in the eyes of the other person. Strong listening encourages people to share information and feelings.
Bottom-line, strong listening produces a more robust discussion that is most likely to pay off big-time in increased revenues.
What's Your LQ?
You need to be intensely focused on the other person, to have a kind of “listening intelligence.” That means
- Seeing buyers with the intention to understand them and their situations first before you talk. ideas/solutions (Think: I am here to help the buyer win and, as a result, I will win as well.)
- Paying attention and responding to the other person’s expressed/observed emotions, (e.g. Buyer: shaking his head while saying, “We really need this to work.” Rep: “My sense is this is more than usually important. What is going on that makes success here so important now?”)
- Asking questions for clarity. (Why? What does that mean to you? Tell me more…), and, last, but not least…
- Suppressing your need to listen to the sweet, dulcet sounds of your own familiar voice
To Win Big, Listen Big
While no one ever listened him/herself out of a sale, many have talked themselves out of one.
Why do people succeed? Is it because they're smart? Or are they just lucky? Neither. Analyst Richard St. John condenses years of interviews into an unmissable 3-minute slideshow on the real secrets of success.
Help Your People Succeed! Give them the "smarts" to bring in the broadest business possible. Contact me today to speak at your next sales meeting: 212 876 1875 amiller@annemiller.com
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I am constantly reminded how important it is to be as visual as possible whenever you want to engage other people in your product, service, or cause. Here are two wonderful examples that prove “A picture is worth 1000 words”
