The Art of Listening. Do You Realize This is a Conversation?
Normally my posts lean towards instructional, but I want to comment during this post. I want to comment on the importance of a truly undervalued skill....Listening.
In sales, and in life, listening is critical to our personal and professional success. A couple of years ago, I listened to a TED talk. (Side Note: If you don't follow TED, you should. It is a source of insightful, inspiring, and intriguing conversation).
Julian's presentation made me think about how integral the ability to listen is in sales. To me, it appears that sales people are always rushing to results. I think we are generally Type A personalities--assertive, eager to impress, hungry for the deal--and, as a result, we often forget that sales is a conversation.
I assert that being able to ask the RIGHT questions at the RIGHT time and then afterwards STOP and just let the other person talk is MORE (that's right, more) important than being able to "sell" your product. Now let me clarify--to me selling is a pitch. It is a prepackaged value proposition. A set of solutions that was defined before the current customer was ever met. A statement of what you know about your product and why you believe it is applicable to XYZ.
Overall, it is a generic proposition of why a person should buy. Only by listening to a customer's needs, concerns, fears, hopes can you truly position your product in a meaningful way. I am confident that the best sales people are those with an innate emotional understanding of others. The most consistent top performers, know how to ask a targeted questions aimed at uncovering a pain point, STOP and really listen to the prospects answers, (and then the hard part) CONTINUE to ask questions and have a conversation and continue to listen.
I think the CONTINUE is the hard part because sales people want to jump right back to what they are best at -- selling. If a prospect gives you one small piece of information that you can related back to your value proposition, resist the temptation to start selling again and instead ask more questions. I am sure that you will get much better results if you gather as much information as possible and really uncover their pain point. Don't just scratch the surface of their paint point, really dig by asking those targeted questions and once you have had an honest conversation then, and only then, start selling again.
I understand that some people are nervous asking questions because they might be uncomfortable with their level of industry understanding, product knowledge, etc. Here is the easiest trick in the book to ask good questions when you incorporate listening....Use the last piece of information the prospect gave you and turn it into a question.
You: How would you describe your biggest challenge right now?
Prospect: We are having a difficult time with Leadership Development. (Do you already know the sales people that would go right back to the pitch at this point and talk about how amazing their Leadership Development software/solution is?--You might be that person yourself!)
You: What specifically with Leadership Development is causing the difficulty?
Prospect: We are struggling to identify the right leaders for our organization.
You: What steps have you taken so far to find the "right" leaders for your organizational?
Prospect: We had our lower and middle managers take tests to identify those with potential for upper management, but the results weren't satisfactory.
You: What about the results weren't satisfactory?
You: What other steps have you taken?
You: What made you decide to focus on lower and middle managers for Leadership Development in the first place?
etc. etc.
By asking targeted, open-ended questions you can easily have a conversation where you sound very knowledgeable. Even more important, you can have a conversation where you build rapport with your client by showing them that you aren't trying to rush to results and that you do understand this is a conversation.
As always, email me at coldcallingmastery@gmail.com with any questions. I am happy to answer them! Leslie
In sales, and in life, listening is critical to our personal and professional success. A couple of years ago, I listened to a TED talk. (Side Note: If you don't follow TED, you should. It is a source of insightful, inspiring, and intriguing conversation).
You can view the talk by Julian Treasure titled 5 Ways to Listen Better here: http://www.ted.com/talks/julian_treasure_5_ways_to_listen_better.html
Julian's presentation made me think about how integral the ability to listen is in sales. To me, it appears that sales people are always rushing to results. I think we are generally Type A personalities--assertive, eager to impress, hungry for the deal--and, as a result, we often forget that sales is a conversation.
I assert that being able to ask the RIGHT questions at the RIGHT time and then afterwards STOP and just let the other person talk is MORE (that's right, more) important than being able to "sell" your product. Now let me clarify--to me selling is a pitch. It is a prepackaged value proposition. A set of solutions that was defined before the current customer was ever met. A statement of what you know about your product and why you believe it is applicable to XYZ.
Overall, it is a generic proposition of why a person should buy. Only by listening to a customer's needs, concerns, fears, hopes can you truly position your product in a meaningful way. I am confident that the best sales people are those with an innate emotional understanding of others. The most consistent top performers, know how to ask a targeted questions aimed at uncovering a pain point, STOP and really listen to the prospects answers, (and then the hard part) CONTINUE to ask questions and have a conversation and continue to listen.
I think the CONTINUE is the hard part because sales people want to jump right back to what they are best at -- selling. If a prospect gives you one small piece of information that you can related back to your value proposition, resist the temptation to start selling again and instead ask more questions. I am sure that you will get much better results if you gather as much information as possible and really uncover their pain point. Don't just scratch the surface of their paint point, really dig by asking those targeted questions and once you have had an honest conversation then, and only then, start selling again.
I understand that some people are nervous asking questions because they might be uncomfortable with their level of industry understanding, product knowledge, etc. Here is the easiest trick in the book to ask good questions when you incorporate listening....Use the last piece of information the prospect gave you and turn it into a question.
You: How would you describe your biggest challenge right now?
Prospect: We are having a difficult time with Leadership Development. (Do you already know the sales people that would go right back to the pitch at this point and talk about how amazing their Leadership Development software/solution is?--You might be that person yourself!)
You: What specifically with Leadership Development is causing the difficulty?
Prospect: We are struggling to identify the right leaders for our organization.
You: What steps have you taken so far to find the "right" leaders for your organizational?
Prospect: We had our lower and middle managers take tests to identify those with potential for upper management, but the results weren't satisfactory.
You: What about the results weren't satisfactory?
You: What other steps have you taken?
You: What made you decide to focus on lower and middle managers for Leadership Development in the first place?
etc. etc.
By asking targeted, open-ended questions you can easily have a conversation where you sound very knowledgeable. Even more important, you can have a conversation where you build rapport with your client by showing them that you aren't trying to rush to results and that you do understand this is a conversation.
As always, email me at coldcallingmastery@gmail.com with any questions. I am happy to answer them! Leslie
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