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LISTENING IS THE KEY . . .

The key to effective sales is listening, posturing, focus, empathy, and open end questions. Many of us have heard or have read someone sharing the same information before. Therefore your response or attitude may be I’m waiting to hear some new revelation or secret. Well, let’s break it down a little and that may make the personal impact that you are looking for.

First of all I recommend proper posturing once we’ve sat down at the kitchen table or are sitting across a prospective client’s desk. So when we are sitting down, if we make a point to cross our legs, this posture will not only appear relaxed and confident but it keeps us from leaning forward. This is the body language for an impatient pushy salesman.

Secondly, to achieve effective listening, work on developing a razor sharp focus on your client or customer and not on what you are going to say next. When we’re on target, it won’t matter what is going on in our personal lives or what is on television. All we will be tuned in to is what information is being shared with us. Believe me, your client will be immediately aware that you are totally present with them and no one else. You see, listening is all about the other person for when we say I hear you , that’s all about you. It’s a night and day difference! Ask any Sales Master Communicator like Tom Hopkins or Zig Ziglar and they’ll enthusiastically agree.

The next critical component to effective listening is empathy. This goes far beyond the I hear you , or I understand. So feed back the information that they have just shared with you so they know you have truly heard them. Now it’s time to truly empathize or emotionally agree with what they have just shared with you. An example would be I can’t believe that a person would actually say that to you. That was so insensitive, rude, and downright obnoxious. I absolutely would feel the same way that you do. Do you see the difference between just hearing them and actually empathizing with them?

The last step to effective listening is asking open end questions. We should do our homework or research on these before we have set an appointment or visit with a prospective client or family we are looking to serve. Asking open end questions that start with what, where, when, who, why, and how, are great ways to demonstrate how effective a listener you truly are. You say, well if I’m asking questions then I’m not listening. That is absolutely right! The key is to shut up after we ask these open end questions so we can focus on what they are telling us. Many of us realize that this is a lot easier said than done. How many times have we interrupted what an individual was sharing with us because we thought we knew what they were going to ask? If I’ve done it, after nearly forty years of sales experience, I know that you’ve done it as well.

Effective listening takes practice and many people will say that practice makes perfect. Well I hope perfect. Well I hope you’ve learned that this is a misconception as well. It’s not practice that makes perfect. It’s perfect practice that makes perfect! If you don’t believe this, imagine a golfer on a golf course practicing, over and over, an incorrect swing. How does that really help improve his game? So then, you say, when do we get the opportunity exercise this perfect practice? My response is what if you exercised truly effective listening with your spouse, kids, family friends, or coworkers? How quickly could you experience a dramatic difference in your effective listening skills? So I’m sure you can see that listening, posturing, focus, empathy, and open end questions are truly the key to effective sales.

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