Say, What? The Lost Art of Listening & How it Can Affect Your Success
Most people are surprised to learn that they majority of their waking hours are spent listening. However, not all listening is created equal. In a sales situation, true listing is vital to your success. Often-times, salespeople place far too much emphasis on delivering their message; in other words: talking. They are determined to get their point across, and that does little more than frustrate and alienate their potential client. When hyper-focused on their own message, they are missing tremendous opportunities to build relationships and further the sales process. Active, effective listening is a practiced skill that involves receiving, interpreting and responding to another’s spoken message. Active listening is a key component of client communication and it creates a high level of efficiency in the sales process
Your ability to actively listen to your customer determines your ability to understand their message and solve their problem. And by solving their problem, you will be closing the sale.
A salesperson’s performance relies on their ability to observe and react accordingly. Salespeople learn what to say by listening to their customers and by observing their customer’s reactions. This consciousness improves their sales metrics. The mindful salesperson’s attention remains on their customer interaction as it unfolds moment by moment. More observant salespeople will be adept and nimble learners. They’ll observe and process things about their customer’s beliefs, values, objectives, mood, challenges and perspectives. Once observant salespeople learn these things, they can modify their presentations to make them more compelling to their audience. An observant salesperson is better equipped to select which selling points customers will be most receptive to hearing. And a receptive client is much more likely to make a purchase.
One if the greatest missteps salespeople make is not listening to their customers. Inevitably, they hold their breath then launch straight into their s ales pitch without hearing what the client is telling them. This practice is riddled with problems; namely, it lacks a consultative component. This is a classic case of pushing a product instead of solving a problem, and pressuring and pigeonholing a prospect into a one-size-fits-all solution that doesn’t fit all.
When a salesperson doesn’t listen, and listen actively, it sends these messages to the potential customer:
On the other hand, when a salesperson actively listens, both parties benefit in several ways:
As listening skills are first practiced, then perfected, the salesperson will become increasingly efficient; they will make more sales in less time due to being able to quickly channel their efforts to more a qualified target..
When actively listening, the listener carefully pays attention to the words of the speaker and responds accordingly. On the other hand, if the salesperson is only passively listening and just waiting for their moment to pounce, the listener only hears the speaker’s statement in a blur of noise as there are waiting for their moment to interject.
An active listener is one that pays complete attention to the physical details of the speaker, for example, appearance, body language and facial expressions. These cues play a crucial role in translating the meaning of the spoken matter. Conversely, a passive listener neglects the physical aspects of the speaker, and the content of what is being spoken, as they are not really interested in what is being said.
Active listening is a skill that will serve a professional well throughout their career. For some it may come naturally, for others it will need to be nurtured and developed. Once it is fostered and practiced regularly, a salesperson will notice an increased ease in client communications, a strengthening of client relationships and an ease in closing sales.