Stop talking and start listening!
That’s a phrase you’ll hear if you’re around me. It’s an old cliché that it’s the ‘gift of the gab’ the ‘sell ice to the Eskimos’ that makes a great sales person- well, I have news for you – it’s this image which gives us all a bad rap!
Master Active listening skills for sales success
Understanding that a sale is nothing to do with you hoodwinking a client into buying something, it is so far removed from ‘persuading’ them to buy something, it isn’t ‘talk them into it’ or ‘sell it to them’ it’s all about listening to what they need.  And then aligning what you have to what they need (not what you think/assume they need).
So how do you master active listening skills? Well firstly, you need to recognise that you are only hearing what you want to hear. This means a great deal of communication is happening outside of your awareness. Taking a colleague to a meeting is interesting – they will hear different things to you.
Checklist for Effective Communication Styles
- Forget history with the client – it will blind you to what you think they want and you wont hear any contradictory information. Basically you’re blinded by assumption.
- Understand you are hearing what you want to hear.
- Understand that people have very different ways of communicating – and only 7% of our communication is words – a whooping 93% is voice and body language – so get in front of them for more effective communication.
So what’s next?
Want some training in how to be an effective communicator and better sales person? Have a look at our Sales Programs.
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